SWNOVELS Chapter Billionaire My Husband 217
UNWELL
JESS
"Hey, babe. Are you ready? Everything packed?" I asked Luke as I dragged his suitcase out of the bedroom. He was so handsome even though he only wore a pair of slacks and a navy T-
shirt. I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him. He walked to the front door and turned around. Suddenly, his face changed, and there was blood. Blood on his shirt, his pants. I looked up, and he was choking. I wanted to run to him, to help him, but I couldn't move. Why couldn't I m "Luke."
"Luke!"
I sat up, gasping for air, just in time to make it to the bathroom.
The nausea had been creeping up
for weeks, relentless and unforgiving, even now that we were back home. I'd thought that leaving Jakarta's oppressive heat and humidity behind might help, but it hadn't. The sickness remained a constant, unsettling reminder of everything that had changed, everything that wrong.
This morning was no different. I stumbled out of bed, the world tilting as I barely made it to the bathroom. Kneeling by the toilet, I gripped the edge, heaving until my body was spent, leaving me slumped against the cool porcelain, my forehead resting on the seat.
20 Mouser
I closed my eyes, breathing through the dizziness. And in that strange half-
awake state, I let my mind wander back to Luke. I could almost feel his presence, steady and comforting, the warmth of his hand rubbing gentle circles on my back. I could almost hear his voice whispering that everything would be alright.
I let myself fall into that fantasy, sinking into it, wanting so desperately to believe that he was here, right beside me.
In my mind, he was holding me, holding my hair back and gently rubbing my back. "You are okay, babe," he whispered, and I believed him. Even though I still wanted to vomit my guts out, I heard him. Maybe I was dehydrated and hallucinating. If so, it would be worth it. "We are going to be so happy," I heard Luke say. All of us." I pulled my head from the toilet and blinked a few times, becoming more aware by the second. Luke wasn't here. I was alone.
The tears were streaming down my face now, and I wiped them away. What a foolish dream. It was just a daydream, a hazy mirage brought on by exhaustion and desperation.
But it lingered. No matter how many times I told myself it was just my imagination, that feeling stayed with me.
In my dream - Luke had said, "Us.". If he meant just us two, he would have phrased it differently. But he didn't he told us like we were a family.
I pulled myself off the floor and stepped through the cool shower like I would in Indonesia when I felt like this. The frigid sensation brought me back to my senses. I couldn't close my UNWELL
eyes for more than a few seconds without having Luke's face haunt my every waking moment. Something inside of me refuses to believe this is how it ends, not after everything.
Something else from that daydream stuck with me, and I messaged Laura to come over.
Hours later, as I tried to distract myself with the TV in the living. room, Laura came bursting through the door, clutching a white paper bag. She didn't bother to knock or say hello. She just held out the bag, her eyes wide and pupils dilated.
I should have been the one panicking, not Laura, but I could see it on her face. She handed me a glass of water and set the bag down on the coffee table, her expression carefully neutral as she watched me.
"Look, I figured..." She hesitated, searching for the right words, her gaze drifting
to the floor. "I think that if..." Laura saw the uncertainty on my face and walked back over to pull me into a hug before shoving me toward the bathroom. "The sooner you do it, the sooner we know what we are doing," Laura said, and I nodded. She didn't say more, but her eyes held a silent message that only I could read.
The room felt too still as I stared at her, my pulse pounding in my ears. I knew what she was saying, even if she didn't say it out loud. It was like we were both standing at the edge of something huge, something that neither of us wanted to name. SAL, SUN, SAND