Sylvester's eyes turned instantly red around the rims.

He recalled his past life, when she lay inside the freezing morgue, never to smile or speak to him again.

Yet now, she was alive, she was warm, and she was telling him, "I will be perfectly fine."

"Yes," he nodded forcefully, "You will be perfectly fine. We will all be perfectly fine."

The next morning, Harvey was brought to the room by the nanny.

The four-year-old little guy threw himself against the bedside the moment he walked in, wrapping his tiny arms tightly around Vivian’s arm as he burst into loud tears, "Mommy! Don't do the operation! I don't want Mommy to be in pain!"

"Be good, Harvey." Vivian gently caressed her son's head, "Mommy is just having a minor surgery, and I will recover very quickly. You must listen to Daddy, and once Mommy is discharged, we will go to the amusement park together."

Harvey raised his tear-stained face, turning his head to look at Sylvester, his tiny face full of absolute seriousness, "Daddy, you will stay with Mommy the entire time this time, right? You can't go back to work, and you can't break your promise again!"

Sylvester sank onto one knee, bringing himself to eye level with his son, extending his pinky finger, "Daddy swears that this time, he will not leave Mommy's side for a single step. Let's pinky swear and stamp it."

"Pinky swear, cross my heart, hope to die, a hundred years no changing!"

The tiny finger hooked around the large finger, shaking back and forth forcefully, before stamping down with a loud slap.

The gurney from the operating room was slowly rolled to the doorway.

The nurse gave a gentle reminder, "Ms. Hurst, it's time to enter the operating room."

As Vivian lay on the gurney, she was still murmuring, "The core focus of the open class is on page eighty- of the red lesson plans. The three levels of the concept of 'remembrance': mourning, informing, and documenting. You must emphasize a true sincerity of emotion, and furthermore..."

"I know." Sylvester leaned down, printing a gentle kiss upon her forehead, "I spent the entire night committing all of it to memory, there won't be any mistakes. Vivian, this time let me be the one who waits for you, you must pull through perfectly."

The surgical lights flicked on, and the heavy doors slowly slid shut.

Sylvester sat on the bench in the corridor, casually opening the lesson plans beside him to flip through the pages aimlessly.

When he reached the very last page, a line of elegant handwriting caught his eye.

It was Vivian's script, yet the words were written with a visible tremor, as if she had used the absolute last ounce of her strength:

"If the surgery fails:

Donate my lesson plans to the school library.

Tell Sylvester that I do not blame him.

Tell Harvey that his mother loves him.

Scatter my ashes into the ocean, do not erect a tombstone."

Sylvester's hands shook so violently that the lesson plans nearly dropped to the floor.

He gripped the pages tightly, his knuckles turning white, as silent tears spilled from his eyes, dripping onto the paper and smudging the ink.

It turned out she had long prepared for the absolute worst outcome.

It turned out she had laid out her final arrangements with absolute clarity.

Just then, his phone vibrated with a message from his lawyer:

"Mr. Hurst, Sienna Vance sent over a 'Partnership Termination Penalty Notice' for the amount of five million USD. How should we proceed?"

Sylvester didn't hesitate for a single second, replying directly:

"Accept it and submit it to the court as evidence. Furthermore, have the materials regarding her forgery of evidence and defamation of my wife been fully organized?"

"They are fully organized. Ready for submission at any time."

"Submit them. I want her completely ruined."

Sylvester put his phone away, his eyes locking back onto the doors of the operating room.

Four hours.

He would have to wait in this corridor for four hours.

Just like his past life, when she had waited for him in the living room for twenty-five years.

This time, it was his turn to wait for her.

Chapter 15

Four hours later, the lights of the operating room finally turned off.

The doctor stepped out, removing his surgical mask with a relieved smile on his face:

"Mr. Hurst, the surgery was an absolute success! The lesion has been completely resected, and pathology confirms it was an intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm. It falls under precancerous lesions, meaning resection equates to an absolute cure!"

The weight crushing Sylvester's heart vanished instantly, and he wept tears of sheer joy.

He tightly grabbed the doctor's hand, thanking them repeatedly, "Thank you, doctor! Thank you all so much!"

"However, Mr. Hurst," the doctor added, "the patient's emotions are somewhat unstable upon waking. She keeps murmuring about her students, and about her classes."

Sylvester rushed into the recovery room immediately.

Vivian lay on the bed, her face pale, with medical lines attached to her body, but she was entirely conscious.

The moment she saw him step inside, her very first words were:

"The open class... what time is it?"

Sylvester felt a wave of profound tenderness and amusement. He squeezed her hand tightly, "It's 2:00 PM, we still have three hours. You direct remotely, and I will take the stage."

He pushed the bed, moving her toward the conference room that had been temporarily converted into a live-stream broadcast location.

Along the way, Vivian asked softly, "Sylvester, if I had died this time..."

"There are no ifs." Sylvester cut her off, placing his hand over her mouth, "In this life, I bar you from ever leaving before me."

Vivian looked at him, a smile breaking through her tearful eyes, "How tyrannical."

"Toward you, I must be tyrannical."

At 1:50 PM.

The number of online viewers waiting inside the district-wide public open class stream had already surpassed three thousand.

Sylvester took a deep breath, putting on the earpiece connected to the recovery room.

Vivian’s weak voice sounded through the earpiece:

"Sylvester, don't be scared. I am right here."

At exactly 2:00 PM, the live stream commenced.

Sylvester stood before the podium, with the massive monitor behind him clearly projecting the view of the recovery room.

Vivian leaned against the pillows of her bed, her face pale yet carrying a gentle smile, with her IV lines still attached.

The comment section of the stream exploded instantly:

"My goodness! Mrs. Hurst is actually in the hospital!"

"So she was sick, no wonder someone had to cover her classes. My heart aches for Mrs. Hurst!"

"What kind of incredible devotion is this? Mr. Hurst is actually taking the podium on his wife's behalf!"

"This brings tears to my eyes, Mrs. Hurst is still thinking of her students while ill, how truly grand!"

Sylvester looked at the comments, his gaze turning incredibly tender:

"While this class is nominally being delivered by me, the true teacher is Mrs. Vivian Hurst on the screen behind me."

"She spent six months preparing this open class, but due to an emergency surgery, she was unable to attend in person. Therefore, I am stepping in to fulfill this wish on her behalf."

He turned around to face Vivian on the screen, "Vivian, let's begin."

"Okay," her soft voice carried through the earpiece, "Today, we are going to study In Memory of My Nephew."

Sylvester followed the lesson plans, unfolding the analysis step by step.

When he reached the line crying out whether this reality was a cruel truth or a fleeting dream, he suddenly froze entirely.

Images from his past life flashed through his mind: Vivian holding the diagnosis sheet saying "I'm dying" while he mocked her for being dramatic; her lying alone in a hospital bed enduring the agony while he was celebrating Sienna's birthday; her throwing herself into the ocean while he remained completely blinded by lies...

Every single moment of his neglect, every single instance of his betrayal, now turned into sharp blades, stabbing deep into his heart.

"Sylvester?" Vivian’s soft reminder sounded through the earpiece, "Think of our marriage. The first half felt like a fleeting dream, but now we know what is real truth."

Sylvester snapped back to reality, his eyes turning filled with absolute sincerity.

He faced the camera, and faced Vivian on the screen, speaking deliberately:

"Students, I once believed marriage was nothing but a chaotic dream, assuming the sacrifices of the person beside me were completely taken for granted."

"I ignored her gentleness and betrayed her deep devotion, and it wasn't until I nearly lost her forever that I truly understood what constitutes a real life."

"Cherishing the person in front of you is never a mere slogan; it is a lesson bought with the blood of countless instances of regret."

The entire room fell into an absolute, breathless silence.

The comments in the stream slowed down significantly, with only occasional phrases like "in tears" or "this is far too heartbreaking" drifting past.