Lost in the Pause

Sated from their passionate deed, Jonathan Sheffield rises and gently scoops the worn-out Eloise Carter into his arms. He cleans her in the bathroom, carries her back to bed, and lets her settle in.

Normally, Eloise will have fallen asleep by now. But she won't allow herself to doze off tonight, not before she takes out the birthday present she's carefully prepared for Jonathan.

Jonathan is making a phone call out on the balcony when Eloise quietly takes out the present she has hidden. It's a red velvet box, containing the ring she plans to give him when she proposes.

She inches closer to the balcony and is about to speak when she freezes.

A shocked, male voice rings out from the other end of Jonathan's phone, which he's casually left on the balcony ledge.

"What the hell? You must be out of your mind, Jonathan! You're planning to take Eloise's heart and give it to Sonia?"

Jonathan Sheffield casually leaned against the wall, looking insouciant as a cigarette dangled from his lips. "With the way Sonia's condition is progressing, she's racing against time. As things are, Ellie's heart is the only one that's compatible. I can't just watch Sonia. I can't bear it."

He spoke openly, perhaps confident that Eloise Carter was already asleep.

"You must be out of your mind!" The voice on the other end of the phone was filled with anger. "Jonathan, as your pal, I think you should think this through calmly. Ellie has stuck by you through life and death. Don't do anything rash, or you'll end up regretting it!"

Jonathan snubbed the cigarette and exhaled a mouthful of white smoke. He snapped impatiently, "Do you think I want Ellie to die? I want to spend forever with her, too, but you know as well as I do that her days are numbered due to late-stage liver cancer.

"Since she's dying sooner or later, I may as well donate her heart to Sonia. Sonia will get to live, and what's so bad about me saving a human life?"

There was no breeze out on the balcony, yet Eloise felt like she'd been whipped hard across the face by a gust of wind.

A week ago, Eloise's family had arranged for her to get a pre-marital health check-up, and she'd been diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer. She hadn't told anyone about this.

Fortunately, the hospital later confirmed that there had been a mistake in the report and Eloise was perfectly healthy. However, she had no idea when Jonathan had come across the erroneous report and believed she was on the brink of death.

"Aren't you going to look into this whole cancer thing?" Jonathan's friend was still pleading with him to reconsider. "What if there's still hope for Ellie to get treatment? She can make the odds count and live another day.

"She went through hell for you years ago and protected you with her life when everyone else mocked her for it. Even if her days are numbered, it's too cruel for you to donate her heart to someone else without her consent, don't you think?"

"Shut up!" Jonathan cut his friend off, raising his voice. "I'll make this clear one more time—I will spend the rest of my life loving Eloise and no one else. She's the only one I'll marry. But there's no way I'll let Sonia die without doing anything to stop it!"

Eloise felt like she'd been hit by a truck. For someone who claimed to love her, what Jonathan was doing now proved that he was still in love with Sonia and couldn't stop thinking about her.

So what did that make Eloise? What would become of the sacrifice she'd made for him and their relationship all these years?

Eloise was born as the real heiress of the Jensen family, but she'd been swapped at birth with Sonia. By the time Eloise reunited with the Jensens, Sonia and Jonathan were already engaged.

One day, Sonia and Jonathan got into a fight in the car. The car spun out of control and fell off a cliff.

Jonathan was in a vegetative state after that. Sonia didn't think twice before abandoning him, leaving an exasperated Eloise to step up and take Sonia's place in the engagement.

Nobody expected the scion of the Sheffield family, who had been declared dead several times, to miraculously wake up a month after being under Eloise's tender care. However, his mental capacity had devolved to that of a seven-year-old, and he'd become inexplicably tempestuous, too.

There were times when Eloise wanted to fight back, but her heart softened when she saw the dazed and helpless look on his face after his tantrums. She couldn't bring herself to leave. And just like that, she stuck by him through his gradual recovery and supported him while he regained his former glory.

She'd endured five whole years of hardship for Jonathan's sake.

Jonathan had solemnly vowed that he would do right by her for the rest of their lives. But after learning she had late-stage cancer, misdiagnosis or not, he'd chosen to give her heart to his first love rather than spend more time with her during her final days.

Eloise stored the square, velvet box away and dried her tears. She then quickly wrote a text on her phone to send out, "Grandma, I want to forget about ever having loved Jonathan. Please help me erase my love for him."