Evelyn’s smile widened, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “Oh, you didn’t know? Charlotte’s surgery tomorrow—the heart she’s waiting for? It’s mine.”
His expression shifted from confusion to disbelief, then horror. “Stop joking, Evelyn. This isn’t funny.”
“I’m not joking.” Her voice was ice. “Check with her doctor if you don’t believe me. The contract’s been signed, the preparations are done. Once she has my heart, you can live happily ever after with her. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”
Christopher staggered back a step, his face pale. “Why… Why would you do this?”
“Why not?” Evelyn’s tone was indifferent. “I’m tired, Christopher. Tired of fighting, tired of being hurt, tired of hoping for something that’s never going to happen. If my death can give someone else a chance at happiness, then so be it.”
He stared at her, stunned, the weight of her words crashing down on him. For the first time, he saw the emptiness in her eyes, the scars she had hidden behind her quiet smiles and sharp words.
“Evelyn…” he began, but she cut him off.
“Don’t,” she said firmly, her gaze hardening. “Save your pity for someone who needs it. Go. Charlotte needs you.”
Christopher hesitated, torn between staying and leaving, but the sound of the ambulance fading into the distance made his decision for him. He turned and walked out the door, leaving Evelyn alone once again.
As the door clicked shut, Evelyn leaned back against the headboard, her hands trembling ever so slightly. She closed her eyes, letting out a shaky breath.
In the quiet of the room, she whispered to herself, “It’s better this way.”
But the silence that followed was deafening, pressing against her like an unbearable weight. For all her talk of being tired, of wanting to let go, the emptiness still hurt.
And yet, she smiled—a bitter, hollow smile. Because this, too, was part of her truth.
She had loved. She had lost. And now, she was ready to disappear.
Evelyn had once been a beacon of kindness and warmth—a girl who wore a tough exterior but had a heart too soft for this world. She would grumble about the stray cats near her house, calling them nuisances, yet secretly leave bowls of food by the gate.
Once, when one of those stray cats died, she buried it under a tree, her eyes red and swollen from crying. She didn’t eat for a whole day afterward.