Lily cried and fumbled with her seatbelt, flustered—yet made no move to actually get out.

Sure enough, Alex caved. "Serena, how about we take Lily back to the hospital first, then head home? She's a girl, and she's not in a good headspace right now. I can't let her go back alone."

I said nothing. I just opened the back door and stepped out.

Someone who actually wants to leave doesn't hesitate like that.

"No need to drive me. I'll get there myself." I slammed the door shut.

Alex sighed. "What are you making a fuss about now?"

Before I could respond, Lily cut in, voice trembling. "Serena seems upset. Go comfort her. You spoiled her."

Alex rolled up the window, hit the gas, and sped off in a cloud of dust.

I blinked back tears and opened the app again.

After adding a hundred-dollar tip, I finally got a ride to Cheese's regular vet. A familiar doctor ran a full panel of tests.

"She's anemic, and there are signs of mild recurring inflammation around her pancreas. Combined with the blood donation, her body's stress response is significant." The doctor pulled up the results. "It's not critical, but she'll need to stay for observation—two days, IV fluids, nutritional support."

I exhaled slowly.

By the time I got home, it was already late. Alex's room was dark—he probably wasn't back yet.

I didn't bother waiting and focused on packing my things.

Just as I was dragging my suitcase toward the door, Alex called.

"Serena, Cheese just donated blood. I bought a bunch of snacks it likes to help it recover."

"The delivery's at the door. Go grab it."

I glanced at the pile of snacks on the floor, then tossed them straight into the trash.

"Cheese hasn't been able to have goat milk since it was a kitten. With this many goat-milk snacks, are you sure it's Cheese who likes them—or Salad?"

Alex muttered, "That's weird. They're from the same litter—how come Salad's fine with goat milk, but Cheese…"

My heart skipped.

So when he bought me a cat, he'd bought Lily one too.

But none of that mattered anymore.

I glanced at my suitcase and was about to hang up when Lily's anxious voice came through the receiver.

"Alex, Salad's not doing well. We might need Cheese to donate blood again."

Because I was still on the line, Alex instinctively refused.

"Cheese already donated once. Can't you find another cat?"

Lily sniffled. "It's the middle of the night. It's really hard to find one."