Chapter 1

"Your wife's medical application has been rejected. Again."

Three years in a row. Her leukemia had progressed from early stage to terminal.

Standing outside her husband's office door, she heard him say: "She's been traveling with the military her whole life. What serious illness could she possibly have?”

The slots are limited. Give them to someone who needs them more."

The person he deemed "more in need" was the female student he sponsored.

For a mild concussion, he mobilized every medical resource he had.

The seven years of savings she had put aside to save her own life — he spent them on a New Year's gift for that girl.

She didn't push the door open. Didn't cry or make a scene. She just turned and walked into the freezing snow.

Three days later, she collapsed. When he finally opened her medical file, he saw the diagnosis: Leukemia. Terminal.

He fell to his knees, begging for forgiveness.

She signed the divorce papers with a smile.

......

"We are so sorry, Dr. Elara. Your application for the Military Family Medical Coverage has not been approved. We apologize."

This was the third rejection. Elara accepted her fate.

"You denied Elara's Medical Coverage application again this year?" Colonel Hayes' voice was laced with confusion.

After the rejection, she had made a simple decision.

She would spend whatever time she had left by her husband Liam's side. That was all she wanted.

She had not expected this. Three days on a train, exhausted and worn to the bone, and the first thing she heard standing outside his office door was that single sentence.

She went completely still.

The door was slightly open. Warm yellow light bled into the dark hallway. The voices inside were sharp and heated.

"You know how rare this slot is. Once a year, one chance. The last two years I kept quiet because you gave it to your comrades. But this year you handed it to Chloe for a mild concussion?"

Every word reached her ears. Elara's expression froze solid.

The cold started at the soles of her feet and crept slowly upward through her whole body. It was like being dropped into ice water.

Chloe. A college student Liam had been financially sponsoring.

A girl from a broken home. Gambling father. Dying mother.

Elara's jaw clamped shut.

The first time she had applied for the Coverage, her leukemia was still early-stage.

When she was denied, she assumed she simply was not sick enough to qualify.

The second time, she decided she had been unlucky. Someone else had needed the slot more.

This was the third time.

And it came at the exact moment she had made peace with her fate. The exact moment she had stopped fighting and come home simply to be near the man she loved.

That was when she heard the truth.

"I am the Commander," Liam said.

"She is the Commander's wife. If she cannot push through a minor difficulty, she does not deserve that title.”

“Chloe grew up with nothing. She never had enough food or warm clothes. Her body is naturally weaker. ”

“Elara spent years traveling with the military. What illness could she possibly have that would justify wasting a slot this valuable?"

"Liam!" Colonel Hayes' voice shot up. "You rejected her application without reading a single word of it?"

He had not even known what illness she had. The realization made Colonel Hayes visibly angrier.

"I know Elara," Liam said.

"No matter how hard things got, she never once complained. She is fine. The New Year is one week away. When she comes home I will take her to the hospital myself."

"I genuinely cannot figure out what Chloe has done to get inside your head like this."

"This has nothing to do with Chloe," Liam said. "I would have made the same call for anyone."

Colonel Hayes' voice dropped, heavy with resignation.

"And if Elara has something life-threatening, Liam? If blocking her application is the same as blocking her only chance to live?"

The office fell completely silent.

Outside in the corridor, Elara slowly lowered her outstretched hand.

So it had never been fate working against her.

"It had been him. The one person she had spent her entire life loving."

She wanted to push that door open. She wanted to look him in the eye and demand an answer.

"Everyone else's pain mattered to him. Did hers mean nothing?"

She stood there for two full seconds.

Then she turned and walked away without a sound.

On her way out of the base, she stopped at the guard post and pressed the gift she had brought into the hands of the soldier on duty.

"Do not tell the Commander I was here," she said softly.

She turned and walked straight into the bitter wind.

Liam. Since I was never worthy of your slot,

I do not need it anymore.