The assignment was a failure. Just as I was about to be erased from existence, the System offered me a final act of mercy. "Host, I have secured ten wishes for you. If the female lead fulfills just one of them, you can return to your reality." But she ruined the first nine. Every single time, without fail, her phone would ring. It would be him—the one she never got over—and she would walk away, leaving me mid-sentence, mid-moment, mid-breath. My final wish was simple: to finish watching a movie together. There were exactly ten minutes left on the runtime. Sally suddenly stood up from the leather sofa. "Elliott isn't feeling well. I need to go check on him." I caught the silk fabric of her dress, my fingers trembling as I held on. "There's only ten minutes left. It'll be over so soon!" She ripped her skirt from my grasp with a vicious snap of her wrist. "Noah! Do you have any empathy at all?" she snapped, glaring down at me. "We can watch a movie whenever we want. Elliott can't wait!" "But we can't watch it whenever, Sally." "Because I am going to die." 1 I furrowed my brow, holding up four trembling fingers like a boy taking a desperate oath. "Just ten minutes. I swear to you, give me these last ten minutes, and I promise I will never, ever bother you again." Sally stared down at me, her silhouette cutting a sharp, unforgiving line against the ambient light of the television. She let out a dry, hollow laugh. "So you actually know how suffocating you are?" My head slowly dropped. The desperate energy that had fueled me a moment ago evaporated, leaving only a hollow ache. "I'm sorry. I really am. But I'm out of options. I just need ten minutes—" "Enough!" Her voice cracked like a whip, slicing through my plea. The look in her eyes was pure, unadulterated exhaustion. She was looking at me the way one looks at a stain that won't wash out. "Last time it was the gallery opening. The time before that, it was the sunrise. Noah, you are becoming unbearable." Sally turned on her heel and strode toward the foyer. She pulled her trench coat from the brass rack, pausing for a fraction of a second at the door. "Pause the movie. I'll finish it with you when I get back." 2 There wouldn't be a "when I get back." The mission could not be paused. Ignoring the heavy, crushing sensation building in my chest, I scrambled up and sprinted to block her path, pressing my back against the heavy mahogany door, my hands gripping the handle behind me. "Sally, listen to me. I know you resent me. I know you hate this marriage, this whole corporate alliance our families forced on you. Just give me ten minutes, and I swear I will disappear from this world entirely. Okay?" Her expression didn't shift. Not a muscle in her face softened. She merely arched a perfectly groomed eyebrow. "Then I suggest you disappear right now." Her tone was absolute ice. She impatiently flicked her wrist to check her Cartier watch, not even sparing me a glance. "Move." "Sally!" I looked up, forcing her to meet my eyes. "I'm dying. You are the only one who can save me. I'm begging you. Just ten minutes..." "Not this again." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I've told you a thousand times, there is nothing going on between me and Elliott anymore. It's a matter of life and death, Noah. Are you really this vicious?" "Life and death?" "Vicious?" So this was it. Ten years of giving her my entire heart, of reshaping myself to fit into her world, and this was my eulogy. A vicious, suffocating burden. Elliott had just twisted his ankle. He claimed it was a horrific car crash, and Sally bought it without a second thought. But I was actually dying, and my wife thought it was a cheap manipulation tactic. I should have known. Sally's heart was a fortress, and its gates had never been open to me. It had been ten years. From sweet sixteen to twenty-six. It was time to accept my fate. I slowly closed my eyes, letting out a long, ragged exhale. My fingers slipped from the brass handle, and I stepped aside, leaving the door wide open for her. I forced a stiff, mechanical smile onto my face. "You're right, Sally. After today, I truly won't bother you ever again." "I'll just make sure he's not in critical condition. Once I know he's safe, I'll be back. It won't take long," she said, her tone softening just a fraction, perhaps unsettled by my sudden surrender. I shook my head gently. "There's no need." It wouldn't matter anymore. The world had already spit me out. I wondered, idly, where I would go after the System erased me. Sally frowned, finally noticing the hollow look in my eyes. Her red lips parted slightly. "Are you... are you hiding something from me?" I managed a weak, translucent smile. I reached past her, pulling the heavy door open a bit wider. Then, I turned my back to her. There were still ten minutes left. I wanted to see how the movie ended. My life wouldn't get a proper ending, but at least movies usually wrapped things up nicely. I shuffled back toward the living room, my slippers dragging against the hardwood. Suddenly, her hand wrapped around my forearm. "You're acting strange today." She took the trench coat draped over her arm and hung it back on the rack. She tapped the face of her watch. "Ten minutes. You have ten minutes." 3 My arm twitched instinctively under her grip. I turned back, staring at her in utter disbelief. "What?" she challenged, meeting my gaze. "Afraid I won't keep my word?" Sally pulled me back to the leather sofa, forcing me to sit before picking up the remote and hitting play. She checked her watch one more time. "When these ten minutes are up, I want to see what other excuses you have left." I shook my head rapidly, desperate to keep her in the room. "No excuses. I promise." The indie film resumed on the screen. In my mind, the System let out a profound sigh of relief. "Keep it up, Host. This is your very last chance." "Please," I prayed to whatever god was listening. "Just let this go right. Just this once." But the universe had never been on my side. With exactly two minutes left before the credits rolled, Sally's phone vibrated against the glass coffee table. She glanced at me. She didn't say a word, but her eyes spoke volumes. "I said I'd watch the movie. I didn't say I wouldn't take a call." She answered it, putting it on speaker as she reached for her shoes. "Sally... are you almost here?" Elliott's voice was breathy, laced with manufactured agony. "It hurts so much. I think... I think I might be dying... Please, Sally. Can I just see you one last time before I go?" Panic seized Sally's features instantly. "What did the paramedics say? Don't be scared, Elliott, I'm on my way right now. You're not going to die. I'm coming. I won't let anything happen to you." She shot up from the sofa. She didn't even grab her coat. She just bolted. The heavy front door slammed open, and a brutal gust of autumn wind swept through the foyer, chilling the sweat on my spine and raising a map of goosebumps across my skin. "Sally," I whispered. But the wind swallowed my voice. Nobody heard it. On the screen, the movie played out its final moments. A sprawling estate in Scandinavia, blooming with vibrant summer flowers. It looked like the end of the film was just the prologue to a beautiful new life. Then the screen cut to black. The white text of the cast list began to scroll. I sank deeper into the cold leather of the sofa, my breathing growing shallow. "The assignment failed. Didn't it." I stated it simply. Like observing the weather. The System remained silent. I knew what that meant. "How is it going to happen?" I asked the voice in my head. "Please tell me it won't be pathetic. You know my whole life has been pathetic enough." "Cause of death: Heart failure," the System replied softly. Then, its voice grew agitated, almost angry at my peaceful surrender. "Why didn't you stop her, Host?! You begged her, and she stayed! There were only two minutes left! Why didn't you just beg her one more time?!" I didn't answer. The System sounded frantic now. "Do you actually believe Elliott's bullshit excuse? I told you, he just sprained his ankle! It's been ten years, Noah. Sally isn't entirely devoid of feelings for you." "But it's never enough, is it?" I whispered back. It was never enough. The gallery opening. She had promised. She had smiled and said we would go. But the morning of, Elliott called. He needed help picking out furniture. I stood outside the gallery in the freezing rain for four hours. All I got was a text saying she couldn't make it. The sunrise. After days of me practically begging on my knees, she reluctantly agreed to go camping. But the moment the sun went down, Elliott called. He said the power went out and he was scared of the dark. Sally had left me alone in a tent on top of a mountain. She promised she'd be right back. I waited all night. Until the sun came up. She didn't know how dark it got in that tent. The surrounding blackness seemed to swallow the tiny beam of my flashlight. The wind howled like a wounded animal. I sat there, feeling entirely, utterly discarded by the universe. I packed up the campsite by myself the next morning. Sally finally showed up as I was loading the car. She had just brushed it off. "Elliott wouldn't let me leave. He's not strong and independent like you, Noah. I'll make it up to you. We'll watch the sunrise next time." There was always a next time for me. There was never a next time for Elliott. "I am never her first choice," I told the System, my voice barely a rasp now. "But this time is different!" the System shouted. "You are going to die! Die! If you just keep her here for two more minutes, you get to live! Just call her! If she turns the car around right now, I can still mark the mission as complete!" 4 "She won't turn around." She hadn't the previous nine times. Miracles weren't written into my script. Yet, pushed by the System's desperate pleading, a pathetic, dying ember of hope flickered in my chest. My hands shook as I unlocked my phone and dialed her number. "Ring. Ring. Ring." She picked up. "Noah, can you stop being so goddamn unreasonable for one night?" Her voice was laced with pure irritation, entirely drowned out by the sound of her blaring the horn at the traffic in front of her. "Sally... I really am dying. Can you please come back? Just to see me one last time?" I borrowed Elliott's exact words. I mimicked his fragility. Because when Elliott said it, she dropped everything and ran. But I had forgotten the golden rule of my life: I wasn't Elliott. "Do you have a shred of humanity left in you, Noah? Elliott is in the emergency room right now, and you? You're using death as a threat over a boring, pretentious movie that you can pause with a remote?" "I'm not threatening you..." I gasped, my chest tightening like a vice. I really was dying. But she didn't let me finish. "If you think crying wolf is going to work on me, go ahead. Give it a try. Tell me, Noah. How exactly are you dying right now?" She sounded like a bored spectator rating a terrible performance. "Heart failure," I wheezed. "Ha!" Sally scoffed, a sharp, ugly sound. "Cursing yourself to a heart attack just to force me to watch a movie. You really are something else." "Sally, please... just believe me this one time. I promise I'll never be a burden to you again. I swear to god!" I could hear her grinding her teeth over the line. "You sound like a broken record, Noah. I told you I'd finish the movie when I got back. I already bought VIP tickets for the gallery's next exhibition. I booked a suite in Hawaii so we can watch the sunrise without you having to sit in the cold. I told you to just give me a little time. Why do you have to push and push and push?" "Because I'm out of time. Can you please just choose me? Just this once?" It was my final plea. Ten years. Couldn't I be the priority just once? "Elliott is in the hospital! Does he have time?!" Sally yelled, her voice cold and furious. "When did you become so heartless? A man's life is on the line, and you're whining about a movie? You are... you are such a disappointment, Noah." "But..." "But he only sprained his ankle." "Enough! I'm done with this tantrum. You have two choices: wait quietly at home, or I block your number. Pick one." I heard the screech of her tires as she hit the brakes. She was likely pulling into the hospital parking structure. The line went dead. I let my phone slide from my numb fingers onto the leather sofa. I looked up at the ceiling, a bitter, exhausted smile touching my lips. "See?" I whispered to the empty room. "I told you it wouldn't work." The assignment was over. I was dying. And my wife didn't believe me. 5 I welcomed the dark with open arms. Suddenly, the silence was shattered by a ringtone. My tethered soul was now floating near the ceiling. I could only stare downward as my phone buzzed on the sofa, playing the same ringtone over and over. The noise must have bled through the walls. Martha, our housekeeper, emerged from the guest suite down the hall. She was rubbing her face, her cardigan pulled tight over her pajamas. "Mr. Noah?" she called out softly. My body didn't move. Martha wouldn't normally answer my phone, but it was ringing relentlessly, and the late hour suggested an emergency. She picked it up and swiped accept. Before she could speak, a smug, exasperated voice poured through the speaker. "Oh, playing dead now, Noah? If you're so tough, why don't you just ignore the call—" Martha cleared her throat, interrupting him. "Hello? Mr. Noah is asleep. Who is this?" "Wow. Noah really has no shame, sleeping like a baby right now..." Elliott chuckled softly, the sound dripping with malice. "Well, tell your boss that Sally won't be coming home tonight. He knows who this is." It was a ritual for him. Whenever he successfully dragged Sally away from me, he would call just to twist the knife. To remind me that in the hierarchy of her heart, he would always win without even trying. I looked down at my pale, unmoving shell. I felt nothing. No anger, no jealousy, no despair. Ghosts can't cry. 6 Martha frowned, clearly confused. "But Mrs. Sally said she'd be right back. She said she was going to finish a movie with him." "Ha!" Elliott sneered. "Sure. Tell him to hold his breath and wait. Let's see how long he lasts." The call disconnected. Martha placed the phone back on the sofa. She stepped closer to my body. "Mr. Noah? Wake up. It's too cold out here, you'll catch a chill. Mrs. Sally will be upset if you get sick." "Upset? Sally?" If she cared about me catching a chill, she wouldn't have left me on a freezing mountain peak overnight. But none of it mattered now. My consciousness was fraying at the edges. Soon, I would scatter into nothing. Martha couldn't wake me. She reached out, gently shaking my shoulder. Her fingers brushed against my bare forearm. She flinched. "Mr. Noah, you're freezing..." I didn't stir. The remaining color was rapidly draining from my face, leaving behind a waxy, terrifying gray. Martha realized something was horribly wrong. Panic seized her features. She pressed two trembling fingers to my neck. Then she leaned down, putting her ear to my nose. She froze. She shook her head, muttering a frantic prayer as she pressed her ear to my chest. A second later, she was dialing 911, her fingers slipping on the screen. She screamed our address and my symptoms into the phone. The moment dispatch confirmed the ambulance, she dialed Sally. "Ma'am! Something's wrong! You need to come home right now! Mr. Noah—he's not breathing!"
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