I grabbed her arm, my voice trembling, “Veronica, my father’s having a heart attack! He’s critically ill! Give me that ‘miracle drug’ now!”
At that moment, Yohan beside us was also full of tears.
“Veronica, I’m sorry. Snowball ate something contaminated, triggering acute myocarditis. The vet said only the ‘miracle drug’ can save him. It’s been with me for five years, I can’t live without Snowball.”
Veronica looked at the dying dog in her arms, then at me, her face filled with struggle.
I knelt down, begging at her feet for the first time in my life. “Veronica, I’m begging you! that’s my father who has been my only family for twenty years, the only person I have left in the world!”
She closed her eyes, turned her head away in anguish. Her voice was faint, forced out through clenched teeth.
“William, I’m sorry. But your father’s illness was incurable from the start. This medicine can only prolong her suffering for a few more days.”
She paused, finally managing to utter a few words with difficulty.
“I owe Yohan too much. He can’t handle any more stress.”
She took the life-saving medicine and injected it into a dog’s body with her own hands.
***