Winfred urged Dolly to go home when it was dark. He was afraid that it would be unsafe for her to return home alone at night.

Dolly walked over to the sickbed. "It's not safe for me to go home alone. So... I'm not leaving!"

Winfred gazed at her with a helpless smile. "Then are you going to sleep here?"

"Why not?" Dolly shrugged to show that she didn't care. "It's warm and safe here. Why can't I stay here for the night if you can do that?"

Winfred gently poked her forehead. "I stay here because I'm a patient. The key point is that the bed here is so small. Are you sure you can stand it?"

Dolly had changed her lifestyle since Steven cut her off financially. She had been used to checking the price tag before buying something and comparing it with other goods. She had learned to do the laundry, to cook, and to do the cleaning.

However, she could sleep comfortably only on big beds.

She felt unsafe sleeping in a bed that was less than 1.8 meters wide. She had once said that she would fall out of it at any time.

However, the sickbed was only one meter wide, looking as small as a sofa. According to her, it shouldn't be called a bed.

To Winfred's surprise, Dolly didn't care about it at all. She closed the drapes and jumped onto the bed. She cuddled up against him as if they were one. "A big bed is a complete waste for us!"

Winfred roved about themselves and found that they had only occupied less than two-thirds of the bed. It would be a waste if it was 1.8 meters wide.

However...

He cast her a bright smile. "A big bed isn't always a waste, is it?"

Dolly was confused before she understood what Winfred meant. She tapped on his chest with her fist as she widened her eyes.

Winfred held Dolly's hand to his chest while holding her with one arm. "Sleep, my little fool."

Dolly beamed with satisfaction. She snuggled up against his chest and closed her eyes.

Dolly didn't expect that it would be the last night for her to enjoy a good sleep.

The night ended soon, and the dawn conquered the earth again.

Dolly found herself still in Winfred's arms when she woke up. He was holding her around the waist while cupping the back of her head with the other hand. She was so close to him that she could clearly feel their breaths and heartbeats.

Dolly was overwhelmed by an indescribable sense of happiness. She remained there in the same attitude for another while before she decided to get up.

She looked up only to find that Winfred was gazing at her with a smile.

Dolly widened her eyes and asked in surprise, "When did you wake up?"

Winfred gently fondled Dolly's head with his warm palm. "Just a little earlier than you."

It seemed that his eyes were full of endless warmth, and his voice was like a gentle breeze in the spring sunshine. Dolly was overwhelmed by contentment, deeply touched.

She thought that it was a kind of happiness to be gazed at like that when she woke up.

However, she wanted more.

Dolly held Winfred's face in her cupped hands and kissed him hard.

Sure enough, Winfred liked it. He turned over to hold Dolly under him and gave her a deep kiss.

Dolly's reason told her that they were in the hospital. She pushed Winfred away before she lost her reasoning. "I'm going to buy some breakfast."

Winfred stared at his cellphone with a significant look. "Go ahead. Anyway... I'm hungry."

Dolly thought for a moment before she got his point. She opened the drapes while gnawing her lips and ran out of the ward.

It was about 9:00 a.m. by the time they finished their breakfast. A nurse went into the ward when Dolly was about to ask the doctor whether Winfred could leave the hospital or not. The nurse said, "The attending doctor wants Winfred's family in his office."

"He must be asking me to go through the discharge formalities!" Dolly kissed Winfred's forehead. "I'll be back soon."

The nurse led Dolly to the attending doctor's office. She closed the door behind her when she left.

Dolly was still thinking about the discharge at that moment.

She wasn't aware of anything wrong until the attending doctor said, "Please be seated. You may need some time to accept this."

Dolly asked in bewilderment, "What's the matter? Doctor, I'm here to go through the discharge formalities for my boyfriend."

The attending doctor hesitated for a moment before he said, "I have to tell you something before that." He took out a brain CT film. "We found something abnormal in Mr. Shawn's brain."

"..."

Dolly was in a daze when the doctor told her about Winfred's rare disease. The doctor said that he would lose consciousness or suddenly faint more and more often from then on. He would even be too weak to take care of himself after another period of time.

Dolly widened her eyes as she grabbed the doctor's hand helplessly. "Is there any way to treat him? Doctor, please do that. I'll pay the medical bills no matter how big they are!"

The attending doctor patted Dolly's hand. "We're not able to find any cure for now. The best way is to keep him in the hospital so that we can monitor his vital signs and rescue him at any time. By the way, Miss, there's one more thing you need to know."

Dolly had an intuition that it was bad news.

Dolly shook her head instinctively. However, she noticed the doctor's helpless look when she glanced into his eyes.

She realized that she had to accept it, whether it was good news or bad news because no one could help her at that moment.

Dolly finally calmed herself down. The doctor said,

"Miss, I'm very sorry to tell you that your boyfriend will lose consciousness at any time when he becomes weaker. Maybe he will never come to himself once the very day comes."

He meant that Winfred would never wake up after he fell asleep one day.

Dolly fell apart as if she had received a heavy blow on the head.

"Why? It shouldn't be like this," she thought to herself.

She had broken with her family and changed her lifestyle. She wondered why fate had dealt her a severe blow when she was living a better life with Winfred.

Winfred had just drawn up his work objective for the next year on Christmas. They had planned to marry in Las Vegas after she graduated. She had thought that they would start a happy family and live together till the end of their days.

Dolly couldn't understand why a disease would easily come and ruin her happiness without a warning at that moment.

Dolly would have fought against it if Winfred's disease was visible or tangible. However, she couldn't do anything about it, and neither could the doctor-her last hope.

The doctor comforted Dolly before he said, "Besides, you have to decide whether to tell the patient about it. I think he has the right to know. But, you may keep it from him for the time being if you think it will affect his mood."

Dolly received Winfred's call as she was pondering whether she should tell him about his disease or not.

"Yunjin, why haven't you come back yet?" Winfred said worriedly. "You've been out for an hour."

Dolly checked the time, and realized that she had been there for a long time, which could arise his suspicion. She said, "There are too many people lining up to pay the fees. I just got out of the elevator. I'm on the way back to your ward!"

Dolly found that Winfred had already packed up when she returned to the ward. She asked with confusion, "Are you going to leave the hospital?"

"Didn't you go through the discharge formalities for me?" Winfred kneaded Dolly's cheek. "Come on, let's go to the supermarket and cook at noon."

Dolly failed to give a smile. She stopped him when Winfred picked up his baggage.

Winfred realized that something was wrong. He asked, "What's the matter?"

Dolly opened her mouth and started to weep before she could say anything.

It was the second time he had seen Dolly cry. The last time he saw her cry was when she escaped from China because Steven forced her to marry an old man.

Winfred realized that something serious had happened. He wiped away her tears. "What happened? Don't cry, tell me about it."

Dolly wept even more bitterly in front of his gentleness. She couldn't even utter a word.

Winfred held Dolly in his arms and patted her on the back as if he were coaxing a child. "It's all right. Don't cry. Tell me what happened."

"The doctor..." Dolly sobbed, "the doctor said that you..."

The smart Winfred thought, "Dolly cried after returning from my doctor. There must be some bad news about me."

He released Dolly and calmly said, "Yunjin, don't cry. We can solve the problem only if you tell me about it."

Dolly covered her face with her hands and burst into tears.

Winfred had never seen her cry so hard like that. He only tried to cheer her up without thinking about himself.

Winfred finally calmed Dolly down after some time and learned from her intermittent words that he was sick.

It was a rare disease.

"Yunjin, I'm not afraid of falling sick." Winfred held Dolly in his arms and said in an unprecedentedly confused voice, "But I'm afraid of leaving you."

Dolly had managed to hold back her tears. However, she couldn't help crying when she heard Winfred's words, as if they had been parted forever.

"Take it easy." Winfred patted Dolly on her back to comfort her. "You know, I can go to the doctor when I'm sick. The only thing I need to do next is to trust doctors. They will cure me."