Even After Death

Chapter 11

Keith scheduled Olivia’s first round of chemo for the day after tomorrow to prevent her condition from deteriorating.

The chemo would come with a plethora of side effects. In the first two weeks, the patient would feel weak and experience hair loss.

That was why Olivia would have to get everything sorted out before the session.

Although Jeff was still in a coma, at least Olivia didn’t need to worry about paying off his medical bills. She made a payment at the hospital before heading back to the home that she used to share with Ethan.

She was worried that she might be too weak after chemo. Hence, she booked the services of a moving company before starting chemo. She was planning to move out of this place anyway.

Olivia’s best friend, Everly Hilton, showed up in office wear. She strutted around in heels while clutching a crossbody. At the same time, she happened to be carrying two bags of chips as well.

Olivia immediately heard her friend’s loud voice from afar. “Liv, you are finally free of suffering! I just received the commission from my property sale last month, so let me treat you to a fun night at the Dark Horse Clubhouse today! There are so many guys out there for you!”

Everly did not know about Olivia’s diagnosis because she went abroad to visit her boyfriend in the same week Olivia hid away. She simply thought that Olivia had given it a good thought and decided to go for a divorce.

Olivia chuckled in response. “No, that won’t work. I’m scared that your beau might show up and knock on my door right away when he hears about that.”

“Oh, drop it. I will never believe in long-distance relationships anymore. I wanted to show up and surprise him, but guess what? That fucker took my hard-earned commissions and spent it all on another bitch!”

Everly looked vicious, yet her eyes were filled with pain. Her seven-year relationship was over, all because they went long-distance.

Olivia wanted to offer words of comfort, but at the thought of her messy marriage, she felt that she didn’t have the right to reassure others.

Instead, she remarked, “Knowing you, you must have caused quite a scene.”

Everly led Olivia over to the bench by the flower garden and took a seat. She gave Olivia a bag of chips while she started eating out of the other.

“My temper has long mellowed after all these years of a long-distance relationship. I had a bad feeling about this whole thing anyway. You can fall in love for many reasons, but you only need one to fall out of it.”

She stared into the misty sky and went on. “At the beginning, he’d fly across the globe just to see me on Valentine’s Day, even if he only had a few days off. Now, he hasn’t come home once in three years.

“He’d wished me good morning before he went to bed, but he didn’t text me as much in the last few years. I thought he was busy with his Ph.D. studies, so I started working part-time as a property agent just to support him financially, all while studying full-time.”

Everly’s sadness intensified. “What haven’t I done for money? And with the money from my commissions, I even bought him a house abroad.”

“Liv, this storyline is right out of a soap opera.” She continued to lament. “At one point, I thought I’d go mad. It was quite ridiculous, catching him cheating in the boxers that I bought for him.”

Everly was grinning, but tears rolled off her cheeks onto the bag of chips in her hand.

“I had to think twice before buying coffee. I lived so frugally just to support him. But what did I get in the end? I’m a prestigious med school student who was rushing between apartment viewings just to support a traitor. He might have even bought the condoms with my card.”

Olivia reached out to hug her best friend. “Oh, please don’t cry. He isn’t worth your time.”

“That’s what I think too. Do you know how nice I was to him? I did not make a scene. I lit a cigarette and started calculating the money he had to pay me back. Thank God I put the house under my name. I evicted him and that bitch that same night.”

Olivia was rather taken aback by Everly’s decisiveness. “So, did he agree to everything?”

“Of course not. He immediately fell to his knees and wanted me to forgive him when I asked for the house and money back. When I saw him crying in front of me, I wondered what made me fall for him in the first place.

“Anyway, I stayed around for a couple of days to sell off the house and cut all ties with him before I came home.”

Everly quickly wiped away her tears and continued, “Liv, we’re long past the age of believing in romantic love. We have to choose between love and bread, right? You didn’t like it when I told you to get a divorce a year ago, so I’m glad that you finally thought it through. Just from your divorce settlement with Ethan Miller alone, you would be able to last for a few lifetimes and then some.”

Everly smiled once she finished her last chip. “Look, even if you lost your man, you could spend his hard-earned wealth on ten different smoking hot dudes. Isn’t that awesome?”

Olivia coughed awkwardly. “Um, I only got ten million dollars from Ethan.”

“What? The audacity of that cheating bastard to offer you only ten million …” Everly gasped in disbelief. “Wasn’t he very generous to you? Since when did he become so stingy? It’s not like he’s short of money.”

Olivia didn’t explain further. “When a man’s in love, he’ll give you the moon. When he’s no longer into you, you’re worse than trash. Let’s not talk about him. I wanted you here to help me with moving out.”

“Sure. I’ll treat you to a nice dinner after this.”

Olivia smiled. “Okay.”

Almost everything in the villa belonged to Ethan, so there wasn’t much for her to pack. It was less of a move-out and more of a dropping by to pick up her belongings.

A wedding photo was hung on the wall. Olivia could be seen smiling brightly in the photo. Even Ethan, who always looked serious, managed to crack a smile too.

The thought of Ethan and his affair pissed Everly off. “How are you going to deal with these wedding photos? I mean, you can always recycle them in exchange for some money for chips. Or maybe set them on fire.”

Olivia shook her head. “It’s okay. Everything should be split into half in a divorce.” She ordered a housekeeper to take out all the photos from their frames, cut out her images, and put the photos back.

The only room that she was reluctant to leave behind was her self-designed nursery that Ethan helped decorate. She didn’t want Marina’s child to move into that nursery.

One year after setting up the nursery, she finally decided to move the cot out and had the movers remove all the decorations in there.

Surprisingly enough, it only took a few hours to remove the things that took countless days and sleepless nights to create. The memories that had accumulated over the entire year went into the trash can alongside those things as well.

Standing at the entrance to the villa, she recalled the excitement when she had first moved in. Her sorrows were a vast contrast to the joy on her move-in day. She probably hadn’t imagined her marriage headed toward destruction.

Taking a final look, she bid goodbye to her past self and left. She then walked up to Everly. “Eve, come with me to the salon.”

Everly patted her on the shoulder. “Great! Let’s celebrate your new start with new hair! Time to put those bastards behind us! I’m going to dye my hair a nice shade of pink! What about you, Liv?” Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

Olivia replied without hesitation, “I want it short.”

“Liv, you look good either way, but don’t cut it too short. I’m worried that you might regret it.”

Little did Everly know that Olivia wanted the short hair because she was worried about the extensive hair loss post-chemo.

Olivia smiled. “No, I won’t regret it.”