Chapter 49: Life-Altering Decision.

Steven was on his way to the wine cellar when he saw Desmond and Denise trying to wake Dua up. It appeared that she fell asleep while discussing with them.

"Sis, you have to go to your bedroom," Denise tried to wake Dua but got no reaction.

"Get up, sis." Desmond tried too, but she only stirred in her sleep. "Seriously why is it so difficult to get her to her feet when she's asleep? For goodness sake, she should have stopped this by now, she no longer does tedious jobs." Desmond was getting frustrated.

"It's not her tedious jobs, it's her nature." Denise sighed.

"I'll take her." Steven stepped forward to them and relief washed over them.

Steven carried Dua into the bedroom and tucked her in bed, his hand taking away the stray strands of her hair from her face. He left the room to go get his wine, and the moment he returned, Dua was sitting up with her books and bag in front of her.

"Weren't you sleeping?" He asked, walking to the couch where he was working.

"I was until I had a dream about math." She replied, looking so dispirited.

After about an hour of doing nothing but sprawling the bed with papers, frustrated, she laid down, and sprang up again immediately.

"Oh, I'm going crazy," she pulled up her hair.

"Yeah, but stop thrashing my bedroom." Steven said.

Dua looked at him, about to say something, but then she decided to ignore him and save her strength for her math question.

Not hearing the banter he was expecting, he decided to check up on her. He joined her in bed, and looking at the math question he shook his head. "I expected you to be lazy, but I didn't expect you to be this dumb."

Dua scoffed, her eyes flashing at him, "I'm not dumb. I've always been a star student, just that math and I don't get along."

"Even so, this is too easy for you to not solve," he insisted.

"And what do you know?"

"Pen," Steven requested and she reluctantly gave it to him.

He took a sheet of paper and began to solve the question. At first Dua thought he was just bluffing around. But seeing him work out the question with much focus, even without the aid of a calculator, she became intrigued.

"Done," Steven rested the pen on the paper and Dua opened the answer section of her textbook to confirm his answer.

Seeing his answer was same as the textbook's answer, Dua's eyes widened in surprise as she turned to meet Steven's smirking face. "How?" She asked.

"I'm an engineer who invents and designs tech, so math is a piece of cake for me." Steven smirked.

"But you didn't go through with my professor's method, how..." she still couldn't believe it.

"We all don't take the same route, but we arrive at the same destination," he replied.

"Teach me," she urged him and he simply gave her a poker look.

"Please," she added and he began to explain the math solution to her.

Aa Dua listened to Steven explain to her in simpler terms, she didn't know what made her look at his face, but she knew she did and she was lost. Her eyes moved from his black hair to his thick eyebrows, to his eyes that were focused on the paper as he explained to her, to his high nose, down to his pink lips that made her swallow.

"Focus," Steven cautioned her.

"I am," she replied.

"On the paper, not on my face," he said and she quickly recollected herself, shaking off the distraction.

She cleared her throat, focusing back on the paper.

While listening to him, her mind wandered off again. This time it was his health condition bothered her. Though he was a handful, but she admitted that she was growing closer to him and remembering his health condition brought a pang of sadness to her.

"So do you have any questions?" Steven asked as he concluded the lecture.

"How long do you have left to live?" Dua asked, putting a momentary pause to his brain.

"Why? You wanna know how much longer you have to endure me until you get free from me?" He raised a brow at her.

"I'm being serious right now," she said and his brow relaxed. She did look serious which he wasn't expecting.

"Counting from the day the doctor told me I don't have much time left, I have only 18 months left to live." Steven finally revealed to her and it was like a knife cut through Dua's heart.

"That's enough time." Her voice came out as a whisper.

"Enough time for what?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

Dua looked up to meet his gaze. "Enough time to give you a son," she replied, rendering him speechless, his eyes widening in shock.

"Pack your things and get some sleep," he finally said to her thinking she wasn't in her right state of mind.

"I'm serious," she insisted.

"If you wanna do this because you feel indebted to me, then don't." He said.

"That's not it... Besides isn't this what you've always wanted?"

"It is, but...is this what you want? When you become a mother, there's no going back. You've just resumed your studies again, child bearing will definitely be an obstacle for you." He tried to make her see reasons she should reconsider her decision. But Dua was well aware of all these. Even with her whole life and education at stake, there was an unexplainable force in her that kept pushing her to go through with it.

"That won't be a problem, I have a husband who's capable of effortlessly getting me my certificate...Besides, I'd like to keep a piece of you with me to remind me that there was once an annoying man in my life," she smiled.

Steven's heart raced at her declaration, a mix of emotions sweeping through him—surprise, fear, and a flicker of hope. He struggled to find the right words, feeling the weight of the moment. "Dua, this isn’t just a casual decision. It’s life-altering."

Dua's gaze didn’t waver as she leaned closer. "Nothing you say is gonna make me back off from this."

Steven couldn’t deny the sincerity in her eyes, nor the way her conviction tugged at his heart. His heart swelled and he didn't even realize the moment he pulled her into a hug. "Thank you," he said sincerely.

Dua's smile broadened as she wrapped her hands around his back, relaxing in his warmth as it enveloped her.