Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Jessica paused, deep in thought, before saying, "Let's not mention this to Mom and Dad for now. Mom's health isn't good enough for a transplant, and she still needs Dad to take care of her. If they found out how sick I am, I don't think they could handle it, and even if they agreed, there's no guarantee they'd be a match. As for telling Herbert..."

She looked up at Vince, her voice soft. "I'm afraid I'll never be able to repay what I owe him."

"You know how he feels about you, don't you?"

She nodded. "Yeah. He left the Wheeler family for me, and he helped me recover from my speech loss. If I turn to him again for help with this, how could I ever repay him?"

Vince pressed his lips together. "So you're not considering choosing him?"

"He's a good man. But with everything I'm dealing with... I just don't feel like I deserve him."

Vince shook his head. "Don't be silly. Don't talk about who 'deserves' whom. But if you're not planning to be with him, you should be honest sooner rather than later. Don't let him waste his time."

He'd never force Jessica into a relationship she didn't want.

"I honestly didn't realize at first, but I've started to sense it over time. Even so, I've always treated him as a friend. Suddenly avoiding him would just feel strange. And since he hasn't brought anything up himself, if I go out of my way to talk to him about it, it would almost seem like I'm overthinking things. So for now, I'd rather just act like I don't know and keep treating him as a friend. I don't want to trouble him with this."

"In that case, how about we go abroad for treatment? We can look for resources both here and overseas-the surgery can be done elsewhere, where the technology's more advanced. I really hope this time we can get you well," Vince said, his voice gentle.

for Larkin's sudden illness, Jessica hadn't planned on coming back just yet. Her plan was to return the day she signed the

the day to finalize the

with Timothy's condition still uncertain, there was no guarantee she could go through

these two days are over, we'll know what's happening with Timothy. If he's okay and able to get to the courthouse, I'll wait until we've signed

Timothy wasn't well, she couldn't just leave

two guardians-father

custody on the condition

happened to him, she couldn't just walk away from

anything bad to happen to Timothy.

sure he

herself to

she

phone rang again. It

She answered on speaker.

They're at the hospital now. Today they'll

going to do everything we