Her face brightened slightly. "Do you know how to cook?"
"And you'd be surprised to know how good my food is."
She jumped from the sofa directly to the kitchen, and I followed her to make us something. Maybe I still hadn't made much progress on making the house more peaceful when both my parents were home, but at least I could be here for Aria. I could make sure she knew she wasn't alone in this house full of people who'd forgotten how to be a family.
There were many different ways you could fail the people you loved. You could betray them like I'd betrayed my friends and Lily. You could neglect them like my parents were neglecting Aria and me. You could run away as I'd done in the original timeline.
Or you could stay. You could show up and have some conversations, even when it was hard. You could be the person someone needed, even when you had a thousand other things demanding your attention.
I still don't have all the answers, but now I am willing to stay present for the questions.
CHAPTER 24
Lily
Kyle: I think we were always wrong about Jeremy. He doesn't like your brother.
Lily: But that doesn't make sense.
Kyle: Does anything that's happening right now make sense to you?
Lily: I hate to agree with you.
Kyle: You love doing it.
"And that'sall for today, Miss Rachel," I said to the patient in front of me. She was a middle-aged woman who came every week to have a diabetic wound treated on her foot and for general checkups.
"Thank you so much, sweet Lily. I don't know what I'll do without you when you leave. You're the only one who really cares about me leaving here happy."
Asmile appeared on my lips. I loved it every time someone was satisfied with the care I was giving them.
"Good work, Lily," a voice behind me said as I finished cleaning the area.
She was the unit supervisor, Mrs. Henderson.
"Thanks, but I was just doing my job," I replied.
"If you knew how difficult it is for someone to just do their job, you'd understand why I'm grateful that every patient of yours leaves satisfied."
"I hope one day I can understand it." But I already knew it. I have been working for years already. This was not something new in my life.
"With that in mind, I'd like you to consider continuing with us after your volunteer time is over. You have incredible talent. With the correct guidance and the education you'll receive at college, you're someone we'd want to keep around long-term."
I was speechless. This hadn't happened the first time, and I was completely happy that my efforts had yielded a different result. But I knew I wasn't going to be a doctor. That after this, I was going to choose accounting because my life was going to be such a disaster that I didn't want a career that involved being so involved with people. "I don't know what to say. It would be an incredible opportunity, but I don't know if I'd ultimately choose medicine as a career."
"But promise me you'll think about it, it would be a shame to waste a natural talent like yours."
"I will, thanks."
I watched her walk away and was left alone with my thoughts, confused as to what decision I should make now.
The first time I lived through this moment, I didn't pay much attention to all the cases we encountered here at the hospital. This was just another requirement I had to fulfill to graduate and get into a good university, butit wasn't something I wanted to focus on at the time, believing I had all the time in the world to learn medicine later.
Now it's the complete opposite. I find myself enjoying each case, helping others as much as I can, and simply feeling like I belong here among the medical staff. I was too immature back then to understand how incredible it was to be able to help someone in need, but now my mind craves these types of situations. I love serving others, healing, and feeling the satisfaction of knowing someone could be better because of my care.
Being an accountant paid the bills, but it felt like a job I had to do, and that was it. Not something I'd do just for the fun of it, like being here helping others for free.
This is something I hate about real life: how we are forced to choose a career at such a young age without really having a shred of what real life is like. You have to stick with a career you might hate for the rest of your life because it's what you chose when you were barely 18.
