The long, incomprehensible words seemed to be competing with the equally perplexing numbers printed neatly in columns and paragraphs on the page.

“I don’t know how else to say this.” He began, wishing his voice could portray the calm needed to convey this message. He fiddled with his hands - a sure sign that he was nervous. Dr. Yoo was young, brilliant and had achieved far more in his field than his youth would imply.

“Y-you have 3 weeks left to live.”

He saw her eyes widen, the calm facade she had been fighting so hard to keep crumbled for just a moment before she seemed to take a deep breath and her walls fell back into place.

“I would like to suggest that you be admitted each week for observation starting tomorrow,” he suggested.

“No,” she said. He saw her look up to trade a look with the tall young man in the suit and his secretary, sitting on the ottoman by the door.

“Miss-“

“No,” she repeated, looking into his eyes for the first time that day. “No.”

She thanked him for his time and walked out the door, the man and his secretary following her out the door. Six months ago, before they had begun having these discussions, it seemed like she had her entire future laid out in front of her - plans, projects, hopes and dreams. And then, she had come into his office with a sprained leg and everything had snowballed from there. One test had led to another and another and another until there were results by the pile, all indicating the same thing: a time limit. From then on, there had been a countdown.

“We’re estimating you have eight months left to live.”

He fought the lump in his throat with everything he had just to tell her what he knew she wouldn’t want to hear. He could see the tears welling in her eyes and she had broken down right there. He had stepped immediately out of the room. He knew he had to be strong, to be detached, especially in front of a patient, but nothing in all of his studies could have prepared him for this. There had been a surgery, experimental and break through and in the end it only bought her a few more months.

“These tests suggest that you should prepare for the worst. You may have about seven months.”

The fourth time he had to deliver another statement on the time she had left, she told him to stop telling her unless he had to.

A few visits later and the man in the suit and his secretary began joining their consultations. Dr. Yoo knew what they were planning and it went against every principle he had to agree to guide them along the best path for it. The most he could do was convince himself that he had tried his best to stop this from happening but the truth was, he had done the tests himself and he knew how much she wanted this. 

He wasn’t quite sure how to deal with himself after all this, but he would have to try.