Chapter 113: Mark's Devotion

It was a waiting room in which everything was done in muted tones and with forced calm. Olivia sat tensely in a hard chair, her fingers drumming some anxious rhythm against her knee. The smell of antiseptic in the air relentlessly kept reminding her of where she was and why. "Hey," Mark's soft voice slipped through the convolutions of her mind. He placed a warm hand over hers, stilling the restless fingers moving across hers. "You're okay?" Olivia turned again to look at him, taking him in with the concern etched into his familiar face. She managed a smile. "As okay as I can be, I guess." Mark had taken a week away from work to be here with her for this round of treatments. It was a gesture that touched her deeply, at the same time filling her with a complicated mix of emotions she couldn't quite untangle. "Ms. Thompson?" said a nurse, peeking her head through the doorway. "We're ready for you now." Olivia got up on unsteady legs, grateful when Mark's hand settled to brace against