On the day Liam was cleared to return to the team, his mother, Catherine, was on her way to bring him a celebratory meal when she was hit by a truck that ran a red light.

By the time she reached the hospital, she was hemorrhaging and verging on shock.

When I rushed to her side, her eyes were open but vacant.

But when she saw me, her hand shot out and clamped onto mine, her grip impossibly strong for a dying woman.

"Leave him... Elara... I'm begging you! Leave Liam..."

Confused, I shook my head, tears streaming down my face.

But Catherine craned her neck, her voice a hoarse rasp, every word a desperate plea.

"You only have one kidney… The doctor said it would be very difficult for you to get pregnant again… This secret will become a lifelong burden for him. It will shatter the focus he needs to become a legend!"

Tears streamed down her face. "I know I'm being selfish... but I'm his mother... I have to think of him, of the Blackwood family's honor...!"

"His father died young. His only wish was to see Liam lift the Super Bowl trophy. Every day you stay by his side is a risk that he’ll discover the truth. Knowing Liam, he'd throw away his career to take care of you... I absolutely refuse to watch his future be destroyed!"

She squeezed my hand tighter, her nails digging into my flesh.

"Promise me. Tell him you don't love him anymore... Let him find a better girl... someone who can give him children, a family of his own..."

Through a blur of tears, I thought of all the nights Liam and I had cuddled in our apartment, dreaming about our future.

He always joked he wanted a whole football team of kids with me, hoping they'd inherit his athletic talent, and he would personally coach them into stars.

And after every practice, he would stare at the championship posters on our wall, rehearsing how he would one day lift that trophy.

It seemed I couldn't give him any of that anymore.

My very existence had become an obstacle to his dream.

"Promise me!" Catherine rasped, using her last ounce of strength.

I closed my eyes, letting the tears fall freely.

"I promise you."

The heart monitor let out a piercing, continuous wail.

When I opened my eyes again, I was facing a sea of camera flashes.

Liam had placed the championship ring on a chain around Sophia's neck. Reporters frantically snapped photos, scrambling to interview them.

I lowered my eyes, about to slip away, when Jake, standing beside them, suddenly shouted in my direction.

"Elara, look at that dazed expression. You must be kicking yourself now that he’s marrying someone else, right?"

"Too bad you can't undo the past! A shallow, heartless woman like you who betrayed him deserves this!"

A wave of snickering rippled through the crowd. Everyone stared at me as if I were the punchline to a joke they all understood.

I forced a smile. "You're right. I brought this on myself."

"Liam, congratulations."

A sharp pain shot through my side. I fought it back and turned to leave.

"Wait."

Liam's voice, cold and laced with mockery, stopped me.

"Actually, Sophia and I are still short one special guest for our wedding. Since you're an old acquaintance, how about you fill the role?"

Sophia sauntered over and took my hand.

"That's right, Elara. You can't refuse. After all, if you hadn't left him, I never would have had the chance to stand by him and support him to this day."

"Come to think of it, we really should be thanking you."

The triumphant gleam in her eyes seared me.

When this intern couldn't find a job, it was me who begged my supervisor to take her in.

Back then, she would look at Liam and me with wide-eyed envy, always saying how she hoped to find a love as sweet as ours.

Now, she was the one by his side, wearing his ring, his fiancée.

The grinding ache in my side was a stark reminder that I probably wouldn’t even live to see their wedding day.

"Alright," I heard myself say. "I'll be there."

Back in my small apartment, I watched the IV fluid drip, drop by drop, into my arm.

The cold liquid flowing through my veins chilled me to the bone, just like that stormy night four years ago.

That day, after his mother's funeral, the vibrant, brilliant young man I loved had knelt before me.

Liam looked up, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"Why? Why are you breaking up with me now?"

I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood, my nails digging into my palms to keep from breaking down.

I forced the well-rehearsed mask of disgust onto my face.

"Why else? Because I've had enough!"

"Look at yourself. No father, no mother, no family money, and you can barely even get on the field. You still dream of winning a Super Bowl?"

"The team is talking about cutting you. What future do I have with you? Why should I waste my youth on a sick man!"

The shock and hurt in Liam's eyes stabbed my heart, a bitter poison corroding me from the inside.

I had even arranged for a tabloid reporter to take staged "intimate" photos of me with his rival, ensuring he would see them.

"I don't believe you... You don't mean that..."

He was crying so hard that every word trembled.

"Elara... you're just messing with me, right? You're all I have left. Please... please don't leave me..."

The rain that night was a torrent.

Rainwater mixed with tears on my face, so cold my bones ached.

I closed my eyes and turned away.

"Elara!"

Liam's voice, thick with despair, echoed behind me.

"If you take one more step, I swear I’ll kill myself right here!"

I didn't dare stop. I didn't dare look back.

A screech of tires, then the sickening crunch of metal on metal.

Liam had been speeding through the rain and had crashed into the guardrail.

Through my sobs, I frantically called 911, begging them to save him.

But I couldn't turn back. I couldn't let it all be for nothing.

Liam was rushed to the hospital. The car accident triggered a severe organ rejection episode, and his life hung by a thread.

"The best option is an experimental therapy called plasmapheresis. But as the original donor, it will put extreme stress on your remaining kidney."

I just nodded. "Begin. Extract as much as you can. Save it for him."

Outside the treatment room, I watched the unconscious Liam through the glass, his expression pained as if he were trapped in a nightmare.

That was the last time I let myself imagine smoothing his brow, the last time I let myself imagine holding his hands.

*Just live. Please. Get your dream, live the life you want. If you hate me forever... it’s worth it.*