Three Months to Live, Yet He Never Knew

Summer, go play a Happy Birthday song for Evelyn.

Nathan sat on the sofa with Evelyn nestled in his arms.

He was ordering me to perform for his mistress.

My right hand had been crushed by a falling beam three years ago. I could no longer play a complete piece.

But I couldn't refuse. Because my brother was still lying in the ICU, and Nathan controlled his ventilator.

I endured the piercing pain, pressing one key at a time.

Evelyn walked over and poured red wine on my crippled hand. "That sounds awful."

The wine stained his mistress's shoes, but Nathan didn't even bat an eye.

"Kneel down. Clean her shoes."

I knelt.

In front of everyone, I bent my once-proud back and used my sleeve to wipe the wine stains from the tips of her shoes, bit by bit.

I looked at Nathan one last time.

He didn't know I had terminal brain cancer. I only had three months left.

Summer POV

"Summer, malignant brain tumor, terminal stage. The tumor's location is compressing your optic nerve and pain center. Surgery carries extreme risks. Without intervention, you have at most three months to live."

I looked at the brain scan in my hands, my face deathly pale, but my eyes showed not a trace of emotion.

I simply nodded quietly and slipped the scan into a paper bag. "I understand. Doctor, no need to arrange hospitalization. Just prescribe me some painkillers. I'll notify the hospital on my last day. Please help me arrange organ donation. My corneas... if they're still usable, please donate those as well."

I saw the doctor freeze. He seemed to have never encountered a young person facing death with such calm. He tried to dissuade me again, but I only smiled palely, stood up, thanked him, and left.

Walking out of the hospital entrance, the December wind cut through my thin coat like a knife. I pulled it tighter. The phone in my pocket suddenly vibrated violently.

One name flashed on the screen: Nathan.

I swiped to answer. The man's voice was low and cold, without a trace of warmth. "Get to the New York Plaza Hotel within thirty minutes. For every minute you're late, Mason's ventilator gets unplugged."

"I'll be right there." I didn't even offer an explanation before the call was ruthlessly disconnected.

In the top-floor ballroom of the New York Plaza Hotel, people wore glamorous clothes, holding wine glasses and chatting with each other.

Today was Evelyn's twenty-fourth birthday.

When I pushed open the heavy doors, all eyes fell on me. I wore a faded shirt that looked completely out of place here.

In the center of the sofa, Nathan sat with his legs crossed, his handsome face radiating deep coldness. Evelyn leaned intimately against him, like a noble princess.

"Oh, Summer's here." Evelyn covered her mouth with a coy laugh, her eyes full of contempt. "Nathan said he prepared a special surprise for me today."

Nathan held a cigarette between his fingers. He didn't even lift his eyelids. His voice was bone-chillingly cold. "Summer, go to that stage over there. Play a Happy Birthday song for Evelyn."

Gasps immediately rippled through the room.

Everyone knew I had once been New York's famous piano prodigy, winning an international gold medal at fourteen.

But three years ago in a fire, Nathan's brother Ryan had died trying to save me, burned so badly he couldn't be saved. And my right hand had been crushed by a falling beam. I could never play a complete piece again.

Since then, Nathan hated me. He used every means to bankrupt my family. He used my brother Mason, now a vegetable, to blackmail me. He took me, once a proud prodigy, and crushed me beneath his feet.

"What? You don't want to?" Nathan lifted his eyes. His gaze was like a sharp blade. "Or would you rather go to the hospital tomorrow to collect Mason's body?"

"I'll play." My voice was hoarse. I didn't resist.

I walked to the pure white Steinway piano and sat down. My stiff, deformed right hand moved to the keys. The moment I pressed the first note, extreme pain spread from my finger bones throughout my entire body.

But the worse pain came from deep within my brain. A tearing sensation. The tumor was acting up. My vision instantly blurred.

I bit my pale lips and pressed one key at a time. The originally smooth, cheerful melody came out broken and fragmented under my fingers.

Mocking laughter from wealthy girls echoed around me. "What piano prodigy? She plays worse than a street beggar now."

"She got Ryan killed. She deserves to be tortured like this by Nathan."

Evelyn picked up a glass of red wine and walked to the piano, deliberately sighing with false regret. "Summer, you play so badly. It's really ruining the mood."

As soon as she finished speaking, she tilted her wrist. Red wine poured entirely onto my scarred right hand.

The wine dripped along the keys. My whole body trembled. My fingers hung in midair. Then I heard Nathan's cold, heartless voice. "Playing so badly, and you've dirtied Evelyn's ears. Summer, kneel down and clean her shoes."

The entire ballroom fell deathly silent.

I stared blankly at the man sitting not far away. That face was still the one I'd fallen for at first sight when I was eighteen. But the way he looked at me now held only endless disgust and hatred.

Pain in my brain surged like a tsunami. My vision darkened in waves. Cold sweat beaded densely on my forehead.

Seeing me motionless, Nathan suddenly smashed the wine glass in his hand onto the floor. The sound of shattering glass was piercing. "Do you not understand me? Kneel down!"

I took a deep breath and forcibly swallowed the sourness in my eyes. I stood up and dragged my heavy legs to stand before Evelyn. Under everyone's mocking gazes, I slowly bent my once-straight back. My knees touched the ground.

"I'm sorry, Evelyn, for dirtying your ears." Trembling, I extended my sleeve and wiped the red wine splattered on the tips of Evelyn's shoes, bit by bit.

My utterly humble posture finally brought a flash of satisfied cold amusement to Nathan's eyes. He seemed to find it very satisfying.

"Get out. Stop being an eyesore here." Nathan spat out those few cold words.

I stood up numbly, head bowed, and walked out. With every step, the pain in my brain intensified.

Outside the hotel, New York was caught in a downpour. Without an umbrella, I could only stumble through the storm.

Ryan, can you see this? The me you saved with your life has become a complete joke.

But it doesn't matter anymore. Soon I'll go to make amends to you, to repay everything Nathan owes you, all of it cleared after death.

Summer POV

I didn't know how I made it back to the luxury villa.

When I arrived home, I was soaked through, like someone just pulled from water. The villa was empty, with only endless darkness and cold wrapping around me.

I'd just changed out of my wet clothes when a violent dizzy spell hit my brain. I leaned over the sink and vomited a large mouthful of fresh blood. The red liquid looked terrifying against the white ceramic basin.

Trembling, I rinsed away the blood and fished two painkillers from my pocket, swallowing them dry.

Just then, the roar of a car engine sounded from downstairs.

Nathan had returned, and he'd brought Evelyn.

I steadied myself against the wall and walked downstairs, just in time to see Evelyn intimately hugging Nathan's neck as she surveyed the villa's decor. "Nathan, after we get married, let's redo all this decoration. I don't like this cold style."

"Whatever you want." Nathan's voice carried rare tenderness.

Hearing footsteps, they both looked up.

Seeing me, the tenderness on Nathan's face instantly vanished, replaced by extreme disgust. "What are you doing down here?"

Before I could speak, Evelyn's gaze suddenly fell on my neck. There hung a sapphire necklace. The only keepsake from my late mother, and the most valuable thing I owned.

"Nathan, that necklace is so beautiful. My birthday wish tonight was to have a sapphire necklace just like that." Evelyn leaned against Nathan's chest, her voice coy.

Nathan looked at me coldly and commanded without any warmth. "Take it off. Give it to Evelyn."

I clutched the pendant at my chest tightly, my knuckles turning white. "No! This is my mother's keepsake. Nathan, you can't take it!"

For three years, no matter how he tortured me, I endured silently. But this necklace alone was my last connection to this world.

"Keepsake?" Nathan sneered, strode forward, and gripped my chin, with force that seemed ready to crush my bones. "A vicious woman like you doesn't deserve keepsakes. When you killed Ryan, did you think about how he didn't even leave a last word!"

I was forced to tilt my head back, my eyes red-rimmed, my voice violently trembling. "That fire wasn't set by me! I've explained countless times!"

"Shut up!" Nathan interrupted me brutally, his eyes churning with intense hatred. "I won't listen to your excuses. The necklace. Either you take it off yourself, or I call the hospital to cut off Mason's medication right now."

Mason was my younger brother, my only living relative who'd become a vegetable after being severely injured in that incident three years ago.

Hearing Mason's name, all the strength seemed to drain from my body instantly.

The severe pain in my brain surged violently again. My vision became blurry in an instant. I laughed miserably as tears finally slid down my cheeks.

"I'll take it off."

With trembling hands, I unfastened the clasp at my neck. The sapphire, still warm with my body heat, was handed over by my own hands.

Evelyn happily received it and put it on immediately. "Thank you, Nathan. I love it so much."

"As long as you're happy." Nathan didn't even glance at me again. He put his arm around Evelyn and headed upstairs. "The air's too dirty down here. Let's go back to the room."

I stood alone in the spacious living room, hands clutching my head tightly, the pain almost suffocating.

Late at night, the basement was cold and damp. This was the bedroom Nathan had arranged for me.

I curled up on the narrow hard bed, my pain nerves tortured madly by the tumor. I bit the blanket to keep from making any sound, until a bloody taste welled up deep in my throat.

I suddenly coughed up a large pool of dark blood that stained the rough sheets red.

Three months...

I looked at the blood in my palm, my lips twisting into a smile uglier than tears.

Nathan, wait three more months. You'll never have to see me again. This life of mine. I'll return it to you soon.

Summer POV

The next morning, I dragged my extremely weak body to the hospital.

In the intensive care unit, Mason lay quietly on the bed, his body covered with tubes.

I sat by the bed and gently held his pale, cold hand. My voice was as soft as a breeze. "Mason, I might not be able to wait for you to wake up. Don't be afraid. After I'm gone, the money will be enough to maintain your treatment. If there's a next life, you can protect me instead, okay?"

The hospital room door opened. Dr. Hayes walked in wearing a white coat.

Hayes was Mason's attending physician. Over these three years, if he hadn't been secretly looking after Mason, my brother wouldn't have made it this far.

"Summer, why do you look so bad?" Hayes looked at my gaunt face, his brow furrowed tightly. "What happened to your hand? And have you been having frequent headaches lately?"

As a perceptive doctor, he seemed to have noticed something wrong with my body long ago.

"I'm fine, Hayes. I just didn't sleep well last night." I instinctively hid my hand in my coat pocket and avoided his gaze.

I couldn't let anyone know about my condition. If Nathan found out, he'd only think it was a new trick to escape atonement.

Hayes looked at my forbearing appearance. He seemed deeply pained. He suddenly stepped forward and gripped my shoulders. "Summer, stop staying with Nathan! He's sucking you dry, demanding your life! Come with me. I'll take you abroad. I can find a way to treat Mason too!"

"What big words from Dr. Hayes. Where exactly do you want to take my wife?"

A cold, vicious voice suddenly rang out from the doorway.

Nathan, dressed in a black suit, strode into the room. His gaze fixed deadly on Hayes's hands on my shoulders, his eyes filled with extreme fury.

My heart lurched. I quickly pulled away from Hayes's grip. "You've misunderstood. We were just discussing Mason's condition."

"Misunderstood?" Nathan laughed coldly and grabbed my wrist, roughly pulling me to his side. "No wonder you couldn't wait to run out first thing in the morning. Turns out you were rushing to meet your old flame. Summer, a woman as unfaithful as you truly disgusts me."

"Nathan, don't go too far!" Hayes's eyes reddened with anger. He rushed forward to pull me back.

But Nathan swung his fist and punched Hayes in the face, shouting a warning. "Touch her one more time and I'll pull Mason's tubes today!"

Those words hit my weak spot completely, cutting off any resistance.

I desperately held Hayes back. "Hayes, please stop! I'll go with him."

Nathan dragged me like lifeless cargo, stuffed me into the car, and sped all the way back to the villa.

As soon as we entered, he threw me hard onto the carpet.

"So desperate for a man? Can't help seducing people even at the hospital?" Nathan loosened his tie and looked down at me from above, his eyes full of disgust. "Since you're so idle, do something useful for me."

He waved his hand. Bodyguards carried in several heavy cardboard boxes filled with red wedding invitations.

"Next month is my wedding with Evelyn. These remaining ten thousand invitations. You'll write them all by hand. If you don't finish, Mason won't get another cent for medical expenses."

I lay on the floor, staring at that glaring red color, feeling as if my heart had been carved out alive.

This was the wedding he'd once promised me. Now he wanted me to personally write his name alongside someone else's.

"Fine. I'll write them." Not a single tear fell. I was calm to the point of numbness.

Seeing me not even resist, Nathan seemed even angrier. He snorted coldly and turned to leave.

Under the dim light of the basement, I gripped my pen and wrote "Nathan" and "Evelyn" word by word.

Ten thousand invitations. A mountain of them.

By late night, the tumor's compression of my optic nerve worsened again.

The text before my eyes began to double, then became a blurry black mass.

Extreme pain exploded from the back of my skull. My whole body convulsed from the pain.

The pen tip scratched a jarring bloody line across the paper.

I nearly bit through my lip just to keep from passing out.

My vision went completely dark. I could only rely on muscle memory to write with my eyes closed in the darkness. Every stroke was the most painful farewell to this humble love.

Summer POV

For three full days and nights, I was locked in the basement without a drop of water or bite of food, until I finished the last invitation.

When I leaned against the wall and stumbled to push open the living room door, the harsh sunlight stung my already blurred eyes.

On the sofa, Evelyn was trying on a lavish diamond wedding dress. Nathan sat nearby, flipping through documents. The scene was so warm it was blinding.

Hearing movement, Evelyn turned her head and covered her nose in disgust. "Summer, why do you look like such a mess? You reek of mold. Stay away from my wedding dress."

I ignored her and walked to Nathan, my voice so weak it seemed ready to break. "Ten thousand invitations. I've finished them. Mason's medical expenses. You should transfer them to the hospital now."

Nathan looked up. His gaze fell on my deathly pale face and cracked lips. His brow furrowed slightly.

Before he could speak, Evelyn suddenly stood up from the sofa and walked to my side. She deliberately stepped on the long train of her wedding dress, then cried out and fell backward.

"Nathan, save me!"

Nathan reacted quickly and caught Evelyn in one swift motion. Evelyn took the opportunity to clutch her stomach, tears streaming down her face. "Summer, I know you're jealous I get to marry Nathan, but you can't push me!"

"I didn't push you." I stated the fact calmly.

A heavy slap struck my face hard. Nathan's face was icy cold, the viciousness in his eyes undisguised. "Summer, you never change! If anything happens to Evelyn, I absolutely won't let you off!"

The slap knocked my head to the side. Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth. My ears rang. The whole world seemed to spin endlessly.

"Nathan, my engagement ring is gone!" Evelyn suddenly shrieked, pointing at the outdoor pool beyond the floor-to-ceiling window. "When she pushed me just now, the ring flew off and fell into the pool! You gave me that ring!"

It was now frigid December. The outdoor temperature had dropped to ten degrees below zero. The pool's surface had even formed a thin layer of ice.

Nathan looked at me coldly and ordered mercilessly. "Go fish it out."

I stared hard into those bottomless black eyes, trying to find even the slightest trace of reluctance. But there was none. Only endless indifference and hatred.

"Nathan, I'll die in there." My voice was extremely soft, stating a fact.

"Then go die." The man spat out those five words ruthlessly. "That life of yours was owed to the family anyway."

Yes. I owed him.

I smiled. I turned around, pushed open the floor-to-ceiling window, and walked into the biting cold wind.

Under Nathan's and Evelyn's watchful eyes, I stepped into the freezing pool without hesitation.

The bone-chilling water instantly submerged my calves, then my waist, then my chest. That cold wasn't just cold. It was like countless red-hot needles stabbing into my marrow all at once.

The nerve pain from the brain tumor erupted completely under the extreme cold's stimulation. My face went white as paper. I groped underwater, diving into the ice water again and again.

Through my hazy vision, I saw Nathan standing by the floor-to-ceiling window on shore, watching my body rise and sink in the ice water. He bit down hard on his teeth. His hands seemed to unconsciously clench into fists.

Three hours later.

I finally found that sparkling diamond ring on the filter screen at the bottom of the pool.

My whole body was as stiff as an ice sculpture. My legs had completely lost all sensation. Relying on the last instinct for survival, I forced myself to crawl ashore.

"The ring. I found it." I collapsed on the floor, trembling as I held that diamond ring out to Evelyn.

But Evelyn stepped back in disgust, covering her nose. "After falling in that dirty water, I don't want it anymore. Nathan, let's just go buy a new one, okay?"

"Fine. Since it's dirty, throw it away."

Nathan's voice came from above my head. Immediately after, the ring I'd traded half my life for was kicked mercilessly into a nearby trash can by the man.

I lay on the cold floor, staring at that sparkling ring in the garbage, and suddenly let out a hoarse, low laugh.

The laughter grew louder, mixed with violent coughing. I felt everything inside my body tearing apart.

Nathan, you've not only trampled my dignity, you've personally killed the last faint glimmer of love I had.

My vision plunged into complete darkness. In that icy cold, I lost consciousness entirely.

Summer POV

"How long has she been playing dead?"

Through the haze, I heard a cold voice near my ear.

"Mr. Nathan, Summer has been burning with a 104-degree fever for a full day and night. If this continues, someone's going to die..." the servant answered fearfully.

"Die? Disasters live long. She's not that easy to kill." Nathan snorted coldly. I heard his footsteps fade farther away.

I lay on the hard bed in the basement, feeling as if I were in a burning sea of flames. It felt like thousands of drills were frantically grinding in my head. The pain left me without even the strength to make a sound.

It hurts so much... someone save me...

Just when I thought I'd die in endless darkness, the basement door was kicked open.

Hayes burst in with bloodshot eyes. Seeing me unconscious with fever on the bed, he looked both furious and heartbroken. "Summer! Wake up!"

He immediately took off his coat and wrapped it around my cold body, lifted me up, and charged out of the villa like an enraged lion, heading straight for the hospital.

The emergency room's red light stayed on for three full hours.

In the hospital room, I had an IV in my hand. My already thin face was now utterly bloodless. Hayes looked at the just-released brain scan report. His hands were trembling violently.

"Terminal malignant brain tumor... Summer, why didn't you tell me anything!" Hayes's voice carried a desperate sob.

I slowly opened my unfocused eyes and weakly pulled at the corner of my mouth. "Hayes, don't tell Nathan... I don't want him to think I'm using a sympathy ploy to deceive him."

"Even now you're still protecting him!" Hayes closed his eyes in pain.

Bang!

The hospital room door was suddenly kicked open with tremendous force.

Nathan strode in with an icy aura. He stared deadly at Hayes holding my hand by the bedside. The fury in his eyes seemed ready to burn everything down.

"Hayes, you've got some nerve, daring to snatch someone from my villa?" Nathan stepped forward through gritted teeth, grabbed Hayes by the collar, and shoved him aside hard.

Then his gaze turned darkly to me on the bed. "I thought you were really dying, but turns out you just switched locations to have a tryst with your old flame. Summer, you truly have no shame!"

"Nathan, you've gone too far! Do you know she's already..." Hayes angrily tried to shout the truth, but was interrupted by my weak scream.

"Hayes! Don't say it!" I coughed violently, my eyes full of pleading.

In Nathan's eyes, this seemed like ironclad proof that I was desperately protecting Hayes.

"What a touching tragic couple's performance." Nathan laughed in extreme anger. He suddenly reached out and ripped the IV needle from the back of my hand!

The sharp needle was brutally pulled from the vein, bringing up a string of red blood droplets that splattered on the white sheets.

"Nathan, you're insane!" Hayes tried to intervene but was pinned against the wall by bodyguards who'd followed.

"Come back with me." Nathan completely ignored my cry of pain. Like dragging a lifeless rag, he forcibly pulled me from the hospital bed.

My legs had no strength. I fell directly onto the cold tiles. Blood from the back of my hand dripped onto the floor, but I didn't struggle.

I lifted my head. Those once-bright eyes now looked like a pool of stagnant water.

"Nathan." My voice was extremely soft but carried a frightening death-like stillness. "In this life, have you ever loved me?"

Nathan's movement paused. He seemed to feel a stab of pain, but he quickly covered it up and mocked coldly. "Love? You think you're worthy? You're only fit to spend a lifetime atoning at Ryan's grave!"

"I understand now."

I closed my eyes. A final tear slid from the corner of my eye.

In this moment, the shackles that had bound me for three years finally shattered completely.

The Summer who deeply loved Nathan had died in that cold hospital room. What remained was just a shell counting down to death.

Summer POV

Three days later was the third anniversary of Ryan's death.

The sky was overcast gray, drizzling cold winter rain. In New York's largest cemetery, the atmosphere was oppressively suffocating.

Ryan's parents stood before Ryan's headstone, faces full of grief. Evelyn held a black umbrella, standing obediently beside Nathan.

When I dragged my extremely weak body close, Ryan's mother's eyes instantly turned red. She rushed at me like a madwoman, raised her hand, and slapped me hard across the face.

"You cursed woman! How dare you show your face to see my son?!" she screamed shrilly. She swung her other hand for another slap, hitting me so hard I swayed and fell heavily into a muddy puddle.

"If it weren't for you, how would my son have been burned alive! Why didn't you die? Why wasn't it you who died!" Ryan's mother cried and screamed while picking up the flowers in her hand and throwing them frantically at my head and face.

I didn't dodge. I knelt on the ground, letting mud and petals fall all over me.

My cheeks were swollen and aching. My eardrums rang. My vision had blurred so much I couldn't see Ryan's photo on the headstone clearly. I could only bow my head deeply toward that direction.

"I'm sorry..." My voice was hoarse, repeating over and over.

Nathan watched all this coldly, like a lofty judge.

"Nathan, Summer looks so pitiful. Why don't we just let it go?" Evelyn pleaded falsely from the side, but her eyes were full of satisfaction.

"She's pitiful? When Ryan was burned to death in the ruins, who pitied him?" Nathan's voice held not a trace of warmth.

He walked to stand before me, looking down at my utterly wretched appearance from above, and coldly ordered, "Since you came to atone, show some sincerity. Kneel here for twenty-four hours. One minute less, and I'll make Mason go down to keep Ryan company."

I stiffly lifted my head. Rain slid down my pale face.

"Fine." I answered calmly and straightened my back, kneeling properly before the headstone.

They turned and left with their umbrellas. Soon, the vast cemetery held only me.

The winter rain was bone-piercing, cutting like blade edges into my skin.

The severe pain from the brain tumor compressing my nerves made every second a living hell. But I didn't dare fall, because Mason was still waiting for me in the ICU.

From day to night, then to the next morning.

Twenty-four hours. I endured it all.

When Nathan's bodyguard came to check, what he saw was a body that seemed already frozen to death.

I mechanically stood up. My legs, after prolonged lack of blood circulation, gave out and I collapsed to the ground.

I spat out a mouthful of dark red blood. The blood sprayed onto the stone slab in front of Ryan's headstone.

I carelessly wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand. I looked at the headstone and murmured in a low voice.

"Ryan, the life I owed you. I've repaid it with three years of endless torment. The rest, I'll soon come to the other world to return to you personally."

After leaving the cemetery, I didn't return to the villa. Instead, I went to the hospital.

I found Hayes and handed him a signed transfer consent form.

"Hayes, do me a favor. I've already contacted brain neurology specialists abroad. Take Mason overseas for treatment. I've transferred that overseas trust fund under my name entirely to your account. The password is Mason's birthday. This money will be enough for him to live comfortably for the rest of his life."

Hayes looked at the documents in his hands. His eyes suddenly reddened. He grabbed my wrist. "Summer, what about you? Are you coming with us?"

I gently withdrew my hand, a weak smile forming on my lips. "I'm not going. I can't walk anymore, Hayes."

"No, modern medicine is so advanced. As long as you're willing to go abroad, there's definitely still hope!"

"There's no hope." I calmly pointed to my own eyes. "Since yesterday, I can't see anything anymore."My time left is only three days."

Hayes stood there as if struck by lightning. Desperate tears spilled from his eyes.

I turned around, groped along the wall, and slowly walked out of the hospital.

In this world, my only concern had been properly arranged. Next, I only needed to quietly wait for death to come.