Chapter 5: The Last Song

When I woke up, the hospital window was covered with swaying ivy.

Just as green as that summer, until arguing voices startled me.

The manager yelled:

"Are you nuts? Lila got hurt and you still protect that woman? Did you forget how she helped you compete, promoted you, begged for votes for you?"

Twenty-seven-year-old Chase said coldly:

"Did I ask her to?"

His tone was icy, cutting through the sterile hospital air. I could hear the beep of machines and the hush of nurses passing by in the hallway. The antiseptic sting in the air mixed with the ache in my chest—old wounds, new scars.

The manager pressed:

"Then let her go, can’t you? Stop torturing her."

"…Why should I? She threw herself at me, won’t let go."

"Reminder, you’re about to propose to Lila, man."

"I know. I only love Lila. Now that she’s back, Emily, Sarah, Rachel, they’re all the same to me. I just… need some time. When I’m tired of it, I’ll let her go."

Chase suddenly grabbed his hair, annoyed:

"Right, don’t tell her about the proposal. I’m afraid she’ll cause a scene."

"She actually tried to drown Lila today. She’s seriously crazy. Who does she think she is."

"Does she really think I’d marry a deaf girl just because I write songs?"

He got up to leave.

Behind him, the manager raised his voice:

"Who does she think she is? She was a prodigy who won the New Voices Award at thirteen, your girlfriend who gave you ten years."

"Did you forget? Your biggest wish used to be for her to hear you sing."

"With medicine moving so fast, what if one day she can hear again—don’t regret it!"

His words hung in the air, echoing around the stark hospital room as I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling both hope and pain. The low hum of life support, the rhythmic beep, and the soft rustle of nurses faded into the background, replaced by the pounding of my own heart and the weight of a decade’s worth of dreams.

I lay there, listening to their voices fade, and wondered if I’d ever be more than the girl in the background of someone else’s story.