Falling in Love With A One-Night Stand

The next morning, Joanna ran into Irene, the nurse, on her way back to the ward from the cafeteria. She had just turned around when Irene excitedly grabbed her arm and exclaimed, “Joanna, we received your surgery fee!”

Joanna went completely still. She assumed she wouldn’t be able to have the surgery and didn’t hold out much hope. So, she was at a loss for words when she received the unexpected news.

Noticing that Joanna froze, Irene extended her hand and waved it in front of Joanna’s face, asking, “What happened? The dean just arrived and said the doctors will give you a checkup in the next few days. Then, you can have the surgery.”

“Oh, okay.” Joanna regained her composure and smiled. Still, Joanna felt that something had gone wrong. She had called Bill several times last night, but he didn’t answer. Coincidentally, she found out this morning that he had given her the money for the surgery. Somehow, she had the impression that there was some sort of link between those things.

As she turned to return to her ward, Johanna took her phone from her pocket. Irene stopped her again before she could make a call, saying, “By the way, Joanna, Bill asked me to give you this.*’

Then Irene reached behind the front desk and pulled out a cardboard box. Joanna had no idea what was inside the box because it was sealed. She frowned, pointed to herself, and asked, “Is this from him? Why didn’t he just hand it to me?”

Irene shook her head and pushed the cardboard box into her hand, saying, “Bill gave this to me the night before he left and asked me to give it 487 What Remains of Him to you this morning. | asked him why he didn’t give it to you personally, but he didn’t reply.”

“Okay.”

Joanna weighed the cardboard box before bringing it into her ward. ‘She dumped the stuff inside the box onto the bed and discovered that they were all papers and files. She flipped through them casually before sitting down and unpacking them. After unpacking all the files, she discovered an envelope glued to the bottom of the box.

her long to recognize that it was Bill’s handwriting. Johanna frowned and had an ominous feeling. When she

will be dead by the time you read this

believe what she

time. Gradually, she accepted the cruel fact and let go of her hand, and her phone then dropped to the

for a few moments before throwing all of the paper on the bed to the floor as if she were insane. She then sat on the floor in the chaos and began crying loudly, thinking to herself, Why, Bill? Why?! Why did you have to

Irene was 487 What Remains of Him about to hand over her shift when

clutched Irene’s sleeves with both hands as if she were clutching the

“Okay.”

and Joanna then were both trembling as they stared at Bill’s portrait on the TV screen. The news only mentioned the incident’s time and location and some other basic details. Because the police could not contact Bill’s relatives, they

never offend anyone. And she reached out and pointed

sanity by this point. “I have to go to the police station and retrieve Bill’s belongings,” Johanna said, letting go of her

had happened, Irene paused for

male officer approached them. He had just smoked a cigarette, so he smelled strongly of smoke. He pulled a sealed plastic bag from the cabinet behind him and asked, “You

clung to the table to keep herself from falling over. “There’s a picture of us together in