Chapter 1 SURVIVAL ISN'T PRETTY

Rain clung to the windows like it was trying to find it way inside,smearing the city skyline in hazy streaks of gray.Clara Hart wiped the counter of The Bean House for the sixth time in twenty minutes,not because it was dirty but because she couldn't stand still.Couldn't think straight. Couldn't stop burning in her chest that had nothing to do with hunger.

Her phone buzzed again in her apron pocket. She didn't need to look.She already knew.

$3,710.94-Past Due

Patient:Lily Hart

St.Jude's Oncology Ward.

She turned away from the register,inhaling the scent of burnt espresso and cheap vanilla.The late shift was always quiet.Just a few night owls and the occasional student clinging to deadlines like she clung to hope.

Clara learned against the espresso machine,her muscles tight with exhaustion.Every part of her ache, feet, hands,heart.she hadn't slept more than three hours in weeks.Rent was overdue.Tips were terrible,and her sister was running out of time.

"Clara?" her manager, Paula,poked her head from the back office."You're still here?"

Clara tucked her phone away and straightened up,trying to smile."Yeah,just finishing the closing sweep."

Paula frowned."You're not scheduled past ten."

"I know.Casey didn't show."

Again.

Paula exhaled. "You should've called me."

"I need the hours," Clara said,too quickly.Her voice cracked with something dangerously close to desperation. "I'm fine."

Paula gave her a long look but said nothing more.

By midnight,the shop was empty.Clara slipped into her shabby coat and stepped out onto the cold drizzle,hugging her arms around her chest as she made her way to the bus stop. Her sneakers soaked instantly. She was used to it. What she wasn't used to was the hollowness that had begun to fill her,as if her ribs were too wide and her heart too small to carry everything anymore.

Her phone buzzed again

Elena ❤️: Interview?

Clara stared at the screen for a moment before responding

Clara: Didn't get it.Again.

The replay came fast

Elena ❤️: Idiots.You're brilliant. Their loss.Come over.I'll make hot chocolate.or margaritas.or both.

Clara couldn't help the small smile tugging at her lips.

Elena Morales had been her best friend since sophomore year in college. A stylist by day,hurricane of encouragement by night.if it wasn't for her, Clara might've already collapsed under the weight of the world.

Clara: can't tonight. I have to go home.Bills

She didn't add and cry myself to sleep.

The apartment was a matchbox.One bedroom.cracked tiles.A radiator that wheezed like it had asthma.But it was home,at least for now.clara set her keys down and tiptoed into the bedroom where Lily slept,her pale skin almost glowing in the dim lamplight.

Clara's chest tightened.Her sister looked so small beneath the quilted blanket,tubes snaking from her arm to the portable IV.The hospital had agreed to temporary home care after the transplant,but time was ticking. She needed another round of chemo. Possibly surgery. Maybe more.

Clara brushed a strand of hair from Lily's forehead and kissed it softly

"I'm trying," she whispered. " I swear."

She slipped out before the tears could fall.

The next morning was worse.She didn't make it past the voicemail.

"Hi Clara,this is Morgen from East 5th Design.Thanks for your application. While your portfolio was promising,we have decided to go with someone with more experience. We wish you the best of luck."

Click.

She sat in silence,hands clenched on the chipped kitchen table.

Promising. Promising didn't pay for chemo.promising didn't get you one fashion house. Promising was another word for not enough.

She grabbed her sketchbook,the one she hadn't touched in weeks,and flipped through it.

Dreams she couldn't afford. Pages filled with designs that would never see a runway.

She shoved it into a drawer and slammed it shut.

Her phone buzzed again.

Elena ❤ ️: You're not answering.I know you're brooding.We're going out tonight.No argument.I'll come drag you myself.One night. Just one.You need it

Clara stared at the screen.

One night.

One night where she wasn't the girl juggling medical bills and caffeine-stained uniforms. One night where she could pretend she was still young and alive.

She didn't answer

Later that evening,a knock came at the door.

"Elena," Clara groaned as her best friend pushed in,holding two dresses like weapons.

"You thought I was bluffing,"Elena said,eyes blazing. "But this is an emergency. Your face looks like sadness and oatmeal. We're fixing that."

"I can't..."

"You can."Elena dropped the dresses and pointed. "This is not a request. I'm not letting you drown in silence and self-pity while the world goes on spinning. So put on the dress,put on a smile,and come with me. Just for tonight."

Clara stared at her. Then in the mirror.

The girl looking back had dark circles under her eyes and hollow cheeks. But something in her still sparked.

"Fine," she said softly. "Just one night."

Elena grinned. "That's my girl."

Clara never imagined that one night of escape would be the beginning of everything she couldn't run from including him.