Life and Death

Five months later

Elise was in the hospital delivery room. She had gone into labor unexpectedly at home and had called an ambulance.

Unfortunately, Chloe had to go on a business trip urgently the day before. Since neither of them had expected her to suddenly go into labor all of a sudden like this, Elise had insisted that Chloe should go on this trip despite her protests.

Chloe had been the one taking care of her nonstop throughout her whole pregnancy and Elise really wanted her to go on this trip because although it was a work trip, it was in París and she would have plenty of time to enjoy herself before the trip ended.

Chloe had only left after Elise had reassured her again and again that she would be alright without her for a few days.

It was just the second day of Chloe's trip and Elise didn't want to make her panic, so she didn't call her even after she arrived at the hospital.

Now she was alone inside the delivery room, without any friends or family.

Elise was going through excruciating pain but she gritted her teeth and held on. It felt like it took forever but her baby was finally born.

Before she could even see her baby's face, a nurse bundled him up and walked out of the room hurriedly.

Another nurse, who was in the delivery room, said, "congratulations, you had a baby boy, let's get you cleaned up now".

Elise knew that the first minute of a baby's birth was quite important for their survival so she could only obediently sit there while the nurse helped her get clean. She was a little sad though that she hadn't even been able to see her baby's face.

Elise didn't know how long she had been waiting when the door to her room finally opened and the doctor who had helped her deliver the baby entered.

But instead of bringing her baby with her like she had expected, the doctor had come alone with an apologetic look on her face.

Upon seeing this, Elise immediately had a bad feeling and asked in a frantic voice, "Where is my baby? Why didn't you bring my baby with you"?

The doctor lowered her head and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry, but unfortunately your baby died due to complications".

Elise felt her whole world shatter with that one sentence. She stumbled out of bed, not caring about the iv hooked to her hand.

"No, no, no," she kept repeating the same thing again and again as she broke down. "How is this possible?"

"There was a complication with the baby's lungs and he didn't survive", the doctor answered vaguely.

After she knew that she was pregnant, Elise had finally gotten the energy to work towards fixing her mental health. She had resumed working towards her dreams, just like she had promised herself.

She had even meticulously planned everything, looking up information on how to take care of her baby and even attending various classes.

Elise had finally been able to smile and laugh wholeheartedly, but now it seemed like god really didn't want her to be happy.

***

Rachel looked at the baby in the nurse's arms. The baby was sleeping peacefully while Rachel looked at him with hatred.

She leaned close to the newborn's ears and whispered, "you will now be my tool to gain Roman's affection. But don't worry, once we have our own children, I will personally send both you and your mother to afterlife".

Perhaps he sensed the negative aura from Rachel, but the little baby started crying uncontrollably.

Rachel had an annoyed expression on her face as she said, "Remember what you have to say to Roman. I will take you there three days later. Until then, take care of the baby and make sure that Elise doesn't cause a scene or anything".

The nurse nodded her head.

"Don't worry, I won't go back on my words", Rachel added, afraid that the nurse might let something slip.

After receiving the nurse's words, Rachel left the hospital with a pleased expression on her face.

After her plan from last time had failed, Roman had distanced himself from her, even going as far as to avoid her.

Fortunately, she had gotten to know about Elise's pregnancy. When she confirmed that Elise had no intention of announcing the pregnancy to Roman, Rachel had started working on her plan and she had now succeeded without a hitch.

'Didn't you try to seduce Roman? You should have thought twice about the consequences before you tried'.

***

Noah Smith was on the way to visit his elder brother, who was currently on the VIP floor of the hospital. His brother, who was a meticulous person, had accidentally eaten a fruit salad with strawberries in it which he was allergic to.

Noah actually found it quite hilarious.

His mother had called him earlier and ordered him to go check on his brother, as he was the only one in the family who was in this city beside his brother.

Noah had been called to film an ad for a company here and his big brother (Oliver) had also joined him on the trip as he had to oversee a branch company in the city.

It had been a long time since Noah had gone anywhere together with his family. Ever since his sister had gone missing all those years ago, his family had started to fall apart at seams even though it didn't seem like it on the outside.

His mother was the one who had suffered the most, even spiralling into depression. Everyone in the family had agreed to make sure to free their schedule to accompany her. They always racked their brains for ways to cheer her up, but they could see her get even worse more day by day.

Everyone wished to find his missing sister, but it had been almost twenty years since she had gone missing and there wasn't much progress at all.

Noah was deep in thought when he nearly collided with someone. He stopped himself just in time and was about to apologise. However, when he saw the person's face, he suddenly froze.

It was because the young woman before him resembled his mother quite a bit. Noah wanted to take another look at the woman, but she kept walking as if she had not even noticed him.

Noah thought to himself, 'maybe I was mistaken because I was thinking about mom'?

But still, he could not get the haunted expression that he had seen on her face out of his mind.

'Since she is inside the hospital, I can always investigate her i guess' He thought to himself, 'and I can't just run around in public too, what if someone recognises me? It won't be good if the paparazzi finds me'.

Noah was trying to reason with himself not to go after the woman, but he felt as if he was making a mistake.

He had already almost reached the VIP floor when he sighed. "Fuck it. I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't see her. But where could she be? It's a big hospital after all".

Noah had taken the stairs to avoid being seen by any fans. He first decided to take stairs that led downstairs to try his luck, but there were no signs of Elise even in the parking lot.

"She probably went home," Noah said to himself.

He walked back up to the third floor again. "hmm, let me try searching upstairs. I'll let it be if I can't find her there".

Although Noah knew that no one would really hang out on the stairs for no reason, he still felt almost compelled to check.

Trusting his gut, Noah climbed up the staircase. He couldn't find her even when he had passed the top floor.

Now there was only a small rooftop that was left. Noah felt a little disappointed but was about to leave to find Oliver when he discovered that the door leading to the rooftop was actually not locked. It was closed but not locked.

'Is she perhaps on the rooftop'?

Noah pulled the door opened and entered the rooftop.

The scene he saw there almost gave him a heart attack.

***

Elise had left the hospital room in a numb state. She didn't know what to do now. She had no idea how she was going to reveal the news to Chloe.

She had actually arrived at the rooftop while wandering here and there, lost in her sadness.

Elise looked down at the buildings and roads that she could see from there. She even contemplated jumping for a second, but quickly stopped the thought. Even though she had lost her child, there was still Chloe.

If not for herself, she had to continue living for her.

She knew that Chloe would blame herself if she took her life right now, and Elise couldn't do that to the only person who had ever truly been there for her.

Elise could feel tears form in her eyes. The tears that she had stubbornly held back time and time again, she didn't have enough willpower to hold them back anymore.

So Elise just sat there, letting the tears finally flow.

When her tears ran dry she could not cry anymore, Elise stood up from the edge of the rooftop where she was sitting so that she could get down.

But all of a sudden someone let out a shout, startling her so much that she tripped and started falling backwards.

（πーπ）