If I Could Dance With You Again

IICDWYA: 72

Chapter 72

Wren swallowed hard. "I didn't want her to continue it. I begged her not to. She was already so weak—too weak. Without treatment, the cancer would spread. Every doctor told us the same thing: a pregnancy will kill her."

Aaliyah closed her eyes, pain flickering across her face.

"But she refused," Wren continued, voice cracking. "She was stubborn. So, so stubborn. Even when she could barely walk. Even when she fainted in my arms. Even when she learned she wasn't carrying just one child..."

Wren's breath hitched.

"...but three."

Ruby gasped, stunned.

"I was trembling," Wren whispered. "Terrified. I thought I was watching her decide her own death. Triplets meant more strain, more danger, more chances she wouldn't make it. I thought I'd lose her before she ever reached the delivery table."

Aaliyah looked down, tears slipping silently.

"So I hired the best oncologists—the best in the country," Wren said. "I threw every cent, every resource, every connection I had to form a team around her. Specialists, surgeons, emergency staff. I refused to let her face it alone."

Wren's shoulders shook.

"And even then... even with everything... she almost died."

Ruby's eyes widened.

"She gave birth through an emergency caesarean," Wren said, voice trembling. "Her blood pressure crashed. There were complications. The room went cold. The machines screamed. I watched the monitors flatline... and I nearly lost my mind."

A strangled sob escaped Wren.

"They told me she wouldn't make it through the night."

Aaliyah covered her face, shaking.

"She fell into a coma," Wren whispered. "A deep one. They told me to prepare for the worst. They told me to sign forms. To think about her funeral. And there I was, standing between her and death, trying everything—anything—to bring her back."

Ruby was crying openly now.

"When she finally woke up," Wren continued, "she couldn't even lift her head. She was so frail. She kept apologizing to me—apologizing. And I had to look her in the eyes and pretend I wasn't dying inside."

Aaliyah let out a broken sound.

"But she was responding to treatment," Wren said, hope and grief tangled together. "Barely. Slowly. But she was alive. And she insisted on holding the babies. Even sick, even hooked to tubes, she held each one. Named them. Fed them. Rocked them. She was dying—but she was a mother first."

Wren wiped another tear.

"And I..." Their voice cracked completely. "I couldn't take it. I couldn't watch her fade again. So I forced her to choose."

Ruby frowned. "Choose what?"

Wren met her eyes, shattered.

"To leave the babies," Wren whispered. "Leave them behind... and go get treated properly. Aggressively. Immediately. I told her if she stayed with them, she wouldn't live long enough for them to even remember her."

Aaliyah sobbed into her hands, shoulders shaking violently.

"That's when she flew to the US," Wren added. "She didn't want anyone to know. Not even you, Ruby. She wanted you safe. She wanted the babies safe. And she wanted Soonyoung nowhere near her suffering."