Chapter 8: Unveiled Concern

Matthew felt Allison’s words echoing in his head even after she left thirty minutes ago.

“I left you because I didn’t love you anymore.”

“It had nothing to do with my current illness.”

“Don’t worry about me. My husband will take care of me.”

'So it had nothing to do with her cancer, after all.' A wry smile curved Matthew’s lips as he shook his head. 'What was I even expecting? Why did I make a fool out of myself earlier?'

'She must’ve been really weirded out by me back there…'

Matthew sighed. Husband? Then she was married now. But why didn’t her husband accompany her to the hospital? Had she felt the symptoms so strongly, but didn’t want to worry him so she went there secretly instead? Thinking about it this way, Matthew felt a pang of sadness in his heart.

He had thought that she was all alone, that she would fight her cancer by herself, so he thought that…

He stopped his train of thoughts right there. 'What the hell am I even thinking? Look at me, thinking about sauntering into her life again, just so I can feed my ego and make her depend on me for once.' Matthew’s eyes narrowed as he scolded himself again and again.

'I’m pathetic.'

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and began to text Lily. However, he saw that there were already messages from her that were sent a few minutes ago.

‘How’s it going, Matt? I hope she’s okay.’

Matthew couldn’t help but smile a little. Lily was the kind of person who genuinely sympathized with people and cared about their well-being. Even though Allison had been in Matthew’s heart in the past, Lily pushed that aside and worried for her instead, even showcasing just how much she trusted Matthew.

'I should stop being so hung over on Allison now,' he thought to himself as he typed a response to Lily. 'She has a life of her own with a husband that loves her. Meanwhile, I have such a beautiful, kind woman by my side who has always been supporting me.'

He remembered the velvet box he kept secretly under his locked drawer back in their villa, and his smile grew.

'Perhaps it’s time I pop the question to her very soon.'

***

The next day, on a sunny afternoon, Matthew decided to take Lily around town. He dressed in fancy yet casual clothing with a baseball cap to cover his hair and a part of his face. Lily, on the other hand, wore a yellow satin dress that showed off her curves, and she also wore a large sunhat and fashionable sunglasses.

Both of them were having a great time browsing the stalls and checking out various tourist destinations. Being with Lily and roaming around helped keep Matthew’s mind off Allison, especially his worries about her disease. Even though Allison could take care of herself, it was still worrying if she had enough money to cover the costs of such expensive treatments. Plus, there was no guarantee that they might work when considering the current stage of her cancer. Even though there was a chance she might go into remission, there was a good possibility that the cancer would come back eventually, and the process would just start over again like a vicious cycle.

Matthew had voiced these concerns out to Lily yesterday night, but she told him that although it was heartbreaking, they couldn’t really do anything if Allison refused to let them help. Since Allison made it clear to Matthew that he was not to interfere with her life, he didn’t really have any right to disrespect her request and go barging into her house, demanding that she accept his help. That would be too insensitive of him, and it would only make Allison’s life much more difficult.

Hence why he and Lily decided to spend time together exploring the town instead like they initially planned. Lily was a bit disappointed by this development, but knew better than to butt into something that wasn’t her business at all.

“Still, we should give her something before we leave by the end of the month,” Lily suggested as they stopped by a souvenir shop. “Just… not something related to her illness, as it might make her upset.”

“A gift?” Matthew questioned. “Why?”

“Well, we’re only here for a visit, and the point still stands that we met Miss Whitney anyway, so it would be rude not to give a farewell gift, right?” Lily grasped his arm gently with imploring eyes. “I want to give her something, Matt. Trust me, having cancer sucks. She needs all the support that she can get. Even if we can only help by giving gifts, it’s better than nothing, right?”

“That’s true, but…” Matthew hesitated for a moment. Knowing Allison and her personality, she might feel that her pride was trampled down if they gave her gifts. Even though Lily had good intentions, it might not seem that way to Allison.

'But then again, it’s been six years,' Matthew thought to himself, feeling conflicted. 'I’m still not sure how much of her has changed over time. We’ve grown older than the last time we lived together… I don’t know whether or not she might want us to meddle in her business.'

However, Lily was already dragging him around the shop, searching for suitable gifts that would be able to cheer Allison up. Matthew knew better than to stop her from doing something that she had already set her mind to, so he let her be, smiling to himself as he silently watched her from the sidelines.

He absently swept his gaze across the room, seeing if anything could catch his eye. Even though he was hesitant about the gifts concept, deep inside, he also wanted to give something to Allison, something special that would help her throughout the process…

At that moment, a memory surfaced inside of his mind, a distant memory that he thought he had long forgotten. However, it came back to him with a startling clarity, as though his current train of thought had been the trigger all along.

Thirteen years ago, when they were 18 years old, Allison took his hand, and they strolled towards the park during the evening, with cherry blossom petals falling from the trees and dancing gracefully with the direction of the wind.

“Hey, Mattie…” Allison murmured as they continued walking while holding hands. She had been a little tipsy at this time since her best friend Marina made her drink alcohol as congratulations for turning legal. “I have this silly wish in my head… would you laugh at me if I tell you what it is?”

Matthew squeezed her hand reassuringly, gracing her with a warm smile. “Depends on how silly it is,” he teased.

Allison giggled and shoved him lightly by the elbow. Matthew laughed along with her, feeling like he was currently in a different world. A world where there was only the two of them, being together like this, with nothing else standing in their way.

He watched as she turned her head towards him momentarily to return his smile. Allison was normally calm and mature, but he never knew that she could be so playful when she was drunk. It felt like he was seeing another side of her, a side that she usually didn’t let other people see. His heart grew warm as he realized that he wanted to see more sides of her, whether they were good or bad. He would accept them all wholeheartedly just as she accepted him and all of his flaws.

“Well, you know…” Allison began, her voice light and dreamy. “Before I met you, I thought that I would never fall in love with anyone, at least until I become an adult who already has a stable career. I thought that I wouldn’t be like the other girls who often daydreamed about their boyfriends and wished to spend more time with them. But then… after I met you, and after all the things we went through just to stay together… I started thinking.”

Matthew listened to her patiently, feeling a growing sense of warmth in his heart as time went on. The normal Allison would never talk to him so sentimentally like this, which only further added to his fondness for her. Even though they hadn’t gone off to a good start in the beginning, their journey so far was one of the things he cherished the most.

“I hope we can stay together,” Allison murmured, voice so quiet that he barely heard her over the sudden gust of wind. “I hope we can still love each other for a long, long time…”

Matthew looked at her in surprise, unable to say a word as she stopped walking and turned to him, gently grasping both of his hands.

“Mattie…” she said softly. “If we can still be together twelve years from now… If we’re still together by that time…

“When we turn 30, let’s go somewhere far away. To the beach, maybe, and then we’ll sit on the sand, waiting for the sun to set, waiting for the stars to appear at night. Then, if there’s a shooting star, let’s make a wish. Let’s make sure to never be apart.”