Too Late to Love

Chapter 1----- Unrequited Love "Rue, have you made up your mind yet? You only have three months left. Do you really want to waste them on Shawn? If he truly loved you, how could he not know you're dying?" "Brian, give me some time. I'll give you an answer after I've thought it over." "Your health matters the most. Don't be so stubborn." "Okay." Ruby hung up the phone with her brother and lay on the sofa, her emotions was like a whirlwind. She had stomach cancer and was dying. Shawn's work hours grew longer and longer. Every day, she wanted to tell Shawn she was sick, that she was dying. But he never gave her the chance. "Woof woof—" Glancing at the clock on the wall and then at Coco, who was pacing anxiously by the door, Ruby smiled helplessly. It was time to walk the dog. Usually, Shawn took Coco out, but it was already ten o'clock, and he still wasn't back. Coco must be worried. Ruby grabbed her coat and leash. "Come on, little guy. Let's go out, okay?" After going downstairs, Ruby saw Shawn's car. Shawn stood beside it, smoking and typing with his other hand, probably chatting with someone. The dog smelled him and lunged forward, but Ruby held it back. Because she saw the smile on Shawn's lips, that gentle, doting smile she had never seen in four years together. Ruby knew who Shawn was chatting with—his eternal crush from high school, Jasmine. She had returned last month, and around that time, Shawn had started getting busy. Ruby stood in the cold wind for a long time, goosebumps rising all over her. She took out her phone and looked at the chat with Shawn. ["I'm so hungry. Did you have lunch yet? I miss you."] ["Are you busy? Can you reply when you're done?"] ["What time do you get off work? What do you want for dinner tonight?"] Looking at the chat filled with her messages, Ruby felt a momentary pang of loss. Undeterred, Ruby picked up her phone and sent another message. ["Are you done with work?"] She looked up and saw Shawn frowning, continuing to type something, and then smiling again. But Ruby's phone didn't receive any reply. Shawn had ignored her once again. Ruby put away her phone, turned around, and walked out of the block with Coco. When she returned, Shawn was gone. Ruby looked up at her floor. The lights were on. Shawn was home. Her phone still had no messages, and a sharp pain shot through her stomach. Ruby gritted her teeth, covered her stomach, and slowly stood up to walk home. The door opened, but Shawn wasn't there. She heard the sound of water from the bathroom. He was taking a shower. Ruby glanced at the sofa. Shawn's phone was charging. She knew his password, but in four years together, she had never touched his phone. Ruby didn't like snooping through his phone. As she was about to go get water for Coco, his phone lit up. A message popped up, and Ruby couldn't resist. She picked up the phone, entered the password, and opened w******p. She immediately saw Jasmine's message. Her chat was pinned to the top. As for her own chat with him, she didn't know where it was. Ruby opened the chat. Sure enough, in the hour she had been out, Shawn had been chatting with Jasmine. ["Did you go take a shower? You haven't replied to my messages."] ["It's getting late. I'm a bit sleepy. Let's go have my favorite Japanese cuisine tomorrow noon, okay?"] ["Goodnight, Shawn."] Ruby scrolled through their chats. They chatted almost every day. Jasmine would message Shawn about everything, from the strange patients she encountered today to a cat she saw on the sidewalk, and he would reply to every one of her messages.. And Shawn responded to every one of her messages... A sharp pain shot through Ruby's heart, accompanied by discomfort from her stomach. A layer of fine sweat broke out on her forehead. She endured the pain and scrolled through their chat history. There was too much, and Ruby couldn't finish reading it. Her stomach hurt more and more, and the sound of water from the bathroom stopped. She quietly put the phone back. Shawn came out of the bathroom wearing a bathrobe. Seeing Ruby sitting on the sofa, he furrowed his brows slightly. "Still up?" "Yeah." Ruby nodded. "Just got back with Coco." "Did you touch my phone?" The first thing Shawn did after coming out of the bathroom was to check his phone. Noticing it had been moved, he looked at Ruby angrily. "It lit up, and I saw it was a message from Jasmine. So I looked. Sorry, I won't do it again." Ruby's stomach hurt badly. After speaking, she got up to pour herself a glass of water and took her medicine. She had lost a lot of weight, and her complexion was getting worse. But Shawn, as a doctor, didn't notice any of this. "How much did you read?" He walked behind her and looked at her thin back. "I was just chatting with her casually." "Not much. It's fine. The content of your chat was normal." After taking the medicine, Ruby felt a bit better. Shawn was surprised by her attitude. In the past, Ruby would get angry if she saw another girl asking for his number. Why had she changed suddenly? "If there's nothing else, I'll go back to sleep." Ruby went back to her room and took out her phone to call her brother Brian. "Brian, I agree to go to another city for treatment." "You've made up your mind? You're really willing to leave the city where Shawn is?" "I've made up my mind. Please get everything ready and let me know." After hanging up the phone, Ruby felt completely drained. She sat dully on the cold floor against the wall. Coco came over and lay down beside her. Ruby patted her weakly. "Coco, I'm leaving. I can't take you with me. You'll stay here with Shawn. When I get better, I'll come back for you." It was late at night, and Shawn didn't come back to the room. Ruby couldn't sleep. Her mind was filled with fragments of her time with Shawn, from their first encounter to their love affair. It was all so messy, like a spider's web tangled together. When Ruby went to college, she heard about Shawn. The most talented student in the medical school and the handsomest guy on campus. Ruby first saw him at a student union gathering. As the head of the propaganda department, she toasted him, the student union president, and accidentally spilled the drink all over him. Ruby was bold back then. She took advantage of her drunkenness to flirt with him. But Shawn ignored her, just telling her coldly to go away. His indifferent attitude piqued Ruby's interest. As the campus belle, no one had ever treated her that way. So she vowed to win him over. In the first few years, Ruby had almost no chance. But in Shawn's senior year, for some unknown reason, he suddenly agreed to Ruby's pursuit. Later, Shawn bought an apartment, and Ruby didn't want to be separated from him, so they started living together. Looking back on these years, Shawn's attitude towards her had always been lukewarm. He would come home on time, not flirt with other women, and often have s*x. Although Ruby was always the one to initiate, he never refused. She liked to send messages to Shawn, even about trivial things. Although Shawn often didn't reply, Ruby always comforted herself that he was busy as a doctor. But today, Ruby felt there was no need to deceive herself anymore. In Shawn's heart, she, Ruby, was probably not important at all, at least not as important as his eternal crush, Jasmine.