Even in Darkness She Chose to Rise (Tatiana and Jasper) novel Chapter 438

Chapter 438 The Weight of Everything

Slowly, images began to crowd her mind.

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They flickered like frames of an old film, surfacing one by one–a montage of everything she had tried to bury.

The breathtaking shock of their first meeting.

Her intense adolescent crush.

The way she had chased after him relentlessly as a girl, picking herself up every time she stumbled.

The utter despair and hatred she felt the day she was sent to the reformatory.

Love and hate, inextricably intertwined.

The way her feelings had shifted and warped during their countless brushes with death.

Their kiss under the aurora, and the lingering, desperate attachment they shared on the thin line between life and death.

Too many events, too many scenes–they surged in all at once, shattering her precarious grip on logic.

How was she supposed to reject this?

How could she just cast it all aside?

She couldn’t.

She simply couldn’t do it…

“Ugh…”

The tears fell harder, yet they couldn’t fill the hollow void in her chest.

This was the man she had loved since her youth. They had spent so many years bound together; the ties were too deep to sever. Admitting she loved him was agony, yet letting go of him felt like a slow, living death.

What was she supposed to do?

Lindsey knew Tatiana was in a dark place, but she believed that time would eventually heal her–just as she herself had survived the agonizing loss of her husband and daughter. One simply had to endure.

To help shift her focus, Lindsey encouraged Tatiana to go out, spend some money, and catch up with

friends.

As it happened, Rose sent an invitation. Tatiana accepted.

When Rose saw her, she was visibly startled by how gaunt she looked. “What happened to you? And how did you get hurt?”

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Chapter 438 The Weight of Everything

“It’s nothing. I just bumped into something.”

“You don’t look like someone who just bumped into something. You look like…”

Finished

Like your husband died. Rose bit back the words before they could escape. She had never seen Tatiana look so lifeless. In her mind, Tatiana had always been that charismatic, composed, and uniquely alluring woman.

“It’s fine. Come, sit down. I just made some cupcakes; try one.”

Rose’s hobby was baking, and she was quite good at it. But Tatiana had no appetite. She kept lapsing into a trance–like daze. Even when Rose set the cupcakes in front of her, she didn’t react.

“Tatiana, your state is really worrying. Maybe you should see a doctor?”

“No need. I’ve already seen one.”

Dr. Xander had said this was an illness of the heart–and for that, there was no cure.

Step, step.

The sound of approaching footsteps broke the silence. Rose looked up and her expression shifted, though she quickly masked it with a practiced look of surprise. “What are you doing home?”

Foster’s sudden appearance caught Rose completely off guard.

“Tatiana, let me introduce you. This is Foster, my husband. Foster, this is my friend, Tatiana.”

Tatiana looked at the refined man and offered a polite greeting. “Hello.” She sensed the change in atmosphere and stood up. “I’ll leave you two to talk. I should get going.”

“Tatiana, wait…”

Rose didn’t want to be alone with Foster! Every time he came home, it meant she had to cater to him, often leaving her unable to get out of bed for days. She preferred it when he stayed away indefinitely.

But this time, Foster spoke first. “Please, stay for a moment.”

Tatiana paused and looked at them. “Is there something you need?”

Foster adjusted his glasses and said, “I’ll be departing for a trip overseas tomorrow.”

The moment he said it, Tatiana understood everything.

“You know Jasper.” Her tone was flat, a statement rather than a question.

Foster didn’t deny it. “Yes. We’re old friends.”

Tatiana’s hand, hanging at her side, clenched into a tight fist. “What are you trying to say?”

“I have something to give you.”

Foster produced a thick stack of documents.

“This is the will he left behind. He entrusted it to my care. I want to finalize this matter before I leave. It

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