Chapter 15: Terminally ill

I was on my last year, studying nursing. Life couldn't get better. I once did an intern in a retired old people's house. They showed me the truly meaning of life .

If you got the ability to do something, go and do it with your best.

So, my life that year was somehow stable from the past year.

But, it all came falling down before me by one call. One call only.

"And who might you be?" I asked after I sat down with my juice in hand. With all the airs I didn't own.

That was after some boy, named Jack decided to call me all of a sudden so we could meet and talk. He had something important to tell me . Something that had to do with Chris. Like the sucker for pain I was? There I was, seated opposite Jack the manager.

"Beatrice Walkers?" He choked on his drink when he eyed me up and down. Doubtfully.

I was already in my old self. Maybe even bigger than the elephant with my glasses on. It's not that I couldn't afford contact lenses anymore, I just didn't want them. I needed that Beatrice of her teen years. I found peace in her.

"That's me" I replied simply. Waiting...

"My name is Jack, Chris's manager...remember me?" He started and I just gave him a blank stare as a reply.

"Right... Uumh ..., It's about Mr Cage" Said Jack after clearing his throat awkwardly with a professional voice.

"What about him?" I asked dryly while I was panicking on the inside. I may not look it but, I dropped all my classes of the day to be there. I was even still in my uniform.

"He doesn't know about me calling you but, he needs you right now..." He then trailed off.

If he wanted my heart racing out of my chest..., He had succeed on his assignment. I was beyond interested in the part of him, Chris..., 'needing me'.

"What made him need me?" I asked again, my voice lacing with an 'I don't really care' vibe... Lazily drinking my juice through the straw.

"He's hospitalized at Pole first hospital" I heard him say at last.

That did it. I couldn't keep my composure. I still cared about that motherf*cker even more than I ever knew.

"Is he sick? An accident? Was he in a fight?... What made him hospitalized? Jack, please tell me...!" I found myself crying at the end of my plea, my fist hitting the table between us.

"Calm down Ms Walkers. About his condition....?" He trailed off, looking for words.

"What about his condition?" I pressed.

"He's suffering from a terminal illness..." He said sadly.

"What? Is this his new way of playing with me? How did he even get it? When was he diagnosed? How's he now? Can he...?" I rained on poor Jack who even had to walk to me and pat me on my shoulder to return me on my seat as I was laying on top of the table, *ss up.

"I'm sorry" I said as I found the whole restaurant looking at me. Annoyed.

"There's nothing for you to apologize, Ms Walkers" He said returning to his seat. Like a gentleman I never knew he was.

"And to answer your questions... All I can say is that he's...doing fine but..., that's just all I can tell you" He said vaguely.

"You are his freaking manager how do you have so little information on his condition?" I asked, anger bubbling from me like magma in a volcano.

"I'm an outsider when it comes to family matters and the hospital wouldn't disclose any information as I'm his ex-manager already" Explained Jack, sadly.

"He fired you?" I asked shocked. Turns out I wasn't the only one replaced.

"He retired from the field to work on his own company" Explained Jack, eyeing me keenly.

"He's got a company now?" I asked, shocked. All that happened in what? A year after our break up?!. Did that mean that I was holding him back the whole time we were together?.

"Looks like you blocked him out for good, huh?" He asked with a resigned sigh.

"I just wanted you to know his welfares... I'll take my leave first. Enjoy your afternoon, Ms Walkers" Jack said standing up before leaving the restaurant.

I was at my last year in nursing. A straight-A student that I was, I still dropped everything, even my certificate and rush to Pole hospital. To Him.

He was placed at a VIP room, but he was still so pale and thin. He looked so weak. Nothing like the Chris I used to know. And to think that he was in pain at that moment...

"What's the hell is wrong with him? Why is he not awake yet?" I asked the nurse who was attending to him. I was still rooted at the door.

"You are what's wrong to him!" I heard a sharp, cold-old female voice behind me accompanied with the face that I swore not to sight again in my life when I turned to see who's talking.

"Madam" I acknowledged coldly before turning back to the nurse.

"Are you Beatrice Walkers?" The nurse asked, flipping through the chart, she was holding. Strangely happy and relieved to see me.

"Beatrice? Don't make me laugh... Her name is Claudia Manase!" I heard the shameless woman sneer behind me.

She always thought that she was higher above everyone else. But I did what I do best. Ignore.

"Yes, my name is Beatrice Walkers.." I said fishing out for my ID card before showing it to the nurse.

"I only found out about him this morning... what's wrong with him?" I asked the nurse who looked at me with pity in her eyes.

Dropping my heart once more.

"I'm afraid that your husband isn't responding well to treatment..." She said, eyes on me begging me to understand without her needing to tell me more.

And I did but, it was a hard pill to swallow.

"What husband? Are you guys married without my permission?" Asked the old woman in horror.

"What?! So, what? He's just dying? Do you expect me to understand that?" I asked the nurse for confirmation. I was still in my denial state.

"I'm afraid so... I'm sorry Mrs Cage, it's on the last stage. He needs all the support he could get...He always talks about you, you know?" The nurse said with a small smile full of envy, awe, pity all at the same time.

I didn't need their emotions on our story. I needed Chris healthy again! Was that too much to ask?

"What's in the last stage?" I asked in confusion.

"... He's suffering from blood cancer" Answered the nurse, clearly concerned about my mental health.

"It can't be! He won't die on me like this!" I shouted while fisting my hands before I went to his hospital bed, so near but I couldn't get myself to sit.

"Chris? This is not funny anymore... Bea... your candy Beatrice is here now. Open your eyes, please...You can break my heart, take everything from me, ignore me, leave me homeless again and again...,just open your f*cking eyes! Please...!" I sobbed falling to my knees with my hands gripping on the metals of the hospital bed.

"I'll give you some time alone with him, then" I heard the nurse's voice before I felt the her slipping out of the room more than seeing her.

"Clau..." The woman started, mostly because she was humiliated by my state.

"Don't you dare! And why the heck are you even here? Did Chris call you here?" I asked her with my tears streaked face.

"Chris is my son!" She said haughtily. Neck standing up straight. She was the proudest one. And I f*cking hated her for abandoning Chris back then. I was no saint.

"Your son was Derek whom you chased away just because he associated himself with a black girl...Now, don't provoke me... you don't know the wrath of my demons " I threatened her before I stood up.

"I'm not going anywhere without my son!" She shouted, making her stance .

"You'll f*cking..." I started only to be interrupted with his weak painful groan on the bed behind me.

"Beatrice?" I heard Chris's hoarse voice behind me.

And was all it took to leave that animal of a woman to run back to him. Hovering him.

"Chris, how...how are you feeling now? Are you feeling pain anywhere? Should I call a doctor for you? What about some water while we wait?" I rained him with questions, only to receive a smiling face and a slight shake of his head to deny all my requests.

"You came" He said, happily.

"How...?" He asked stretching his hands in search of mine. I gave him mine to hold in his weak grip.

"And it's not a dream!" He exclaimed, happy beyond measure making me tearing.

"How are you, my child?" Chris's mom came forward to make her presence known. Well she didn't have to try hard, because one could smell her perfume even from miles away.

"What's she doing here?" He asked me, confusedly. Like it's the first time he saw her in years.

"I thought you called her here!" I asked him with my brows furrowed.

"Did she do anything to you?" He asked me with concern written all over his sick face.

"No. And even if he tried, there's nothing I can't handle myself" I boasted shamelessly making chuckle in relief.

"Belinda, I need you to get out right now!" Chris said, sternly.

"Chris! I'm your mother...!" She started with her own filial speech.

"Not according to my family registry, I'm an orphan in the eyes of the law with a very beautiful wife" He said cockily before turning to me and pressing a button that was under his bed.

"Who told you about me?. How?" He asked me, curious.

"Jack, your ex-manager told me this morning" I replied with a sniff.

"Ooh" He answered absentmindedly.

"Where is Elaine?" I asked him when I didn't see any sign of visitors being there. No flowers, no fruits, no scarves...

"Who?" He asked, more like wheezed the word but, I didn't call him out on it.

When I saw just how much he did it just so, he wouldn't make me worry.

"The pregnant girl I saw you with last year!" I told him with a slap on his chest, playfully.

"Ooh, her? She was my stay-in nurse" He said with a happy smile on his face and it somehow brought color to his once pale face.

"What? Then what was she doing on your bed naked like that,then?!" I deadpanned. Fuming.

"I needed to break up with you, that's why" He said with a light cough.

"You are an idiot! Gods, how much I hate you...! Was it fun playing with me like that?" I asked going to sit on his bed. So we could be closer that way.

"Are you dating right now?" Asked Chris, in a small voice.

"No, it's always you for me and you?" I asked him with a kiss on his forehead.

"Same, I'm dying anyway" He replied with a tease and I scoffed

"No sh*t" I said and we stayed like that for a few minutes. Just breathing each other.

"...I thought I could be alone and let you free but now, I hope you'll stay beside me till I take my last breath, Beatrice" He said to me, eyes in earnest.

Before anything went further, I saw two security officers on the doorway near Belinda. I didn't even know she was still there the whole time.

"You can escort her out and please never let her enter my room, again!" Said Chris, firmly to the security guards before turning back to my face.

"...I wanted to leave you with an easy life. Not the one filled with pain and regrets, I didn't want you to waste your best time of your life taking care of me, remembering me, cry for me but..." He sobbed, burying his face in my chest.

"But what?" I encouraged, moving my hips forward him just so I could embrace him tightly. He was hurting inside out. I felt him break.

"Now, that I'm nearing my time...I realized that I need you be sad that I'm gone, cry 'coz it's so much for you to bare, miss me when you had a long day or when something great happened and you want someone to share it with, I need you to come to my grave on my every death anniversary, I just want you to remember me..." He said crying in my chest for the longest time.

"Chris?" I called when I felt him stabilizing.

"Mmmh?"

"How about you forgive your family like you did my Dad?" I asked softly and he groaned.

"You think I should?" He asked instead.

"She may not show it well but, she still cares about a whole lot" I said kissing his forehead again.

"You are right. I don't wanna die with unfinished business" He said in a whisper.

And we stayed like that for some time. Enjoying the silence between us.

"Chris?" I called again.

"Yeah?"

"F*cking bastard! You owe me a wedding and two kids before you die!" I seethed, making him laugh till he choked on his own blood.

And I had to call the doctor because the coughing didn't cease there. He was in pain, I could feel through every cough.