Chapter 9: Seeking Answers

Matthew let out a heavy exhale as he hung up and let the phone drop to the bed. Two days had passed now and he couldn’t stop thinking about Allison’s wish. Granted, it was something that she had hoped for when they were still naïve young teenagers, but there was no mistaking the sincerity in her voice when she said it back then, as if it were something she held dearly in her heart.

But they were 31 years old now. They were a year late. Matthew even doubted that Allison remembered it. The next morning when she said those words, she was hungover and could barely recall anything prior to throwing up. She had been embarrassed that Matthew cleaned up after her and made sure to give him her thanks by willingly agreeing to go on a date after school. She had always been such a diligent student, so he often had a hard time persuading her to go out once lectures ended because she wanted to finish her homework and nightly studies quickly in order for her to get enough sleep.

'…What am I thinking right now?' Matthew wondered as he resisted the urge to slap himself on the face with his palm. 'Ever since I met Allison again, I’ve been drowning in our old memories together…'

'I can’t be like this. Get a grip, Matthew.'

Shaking his head vehemently as if that would make his emotions fade away, he tuned his mind back into the present, remembering the words that Bryce told him just now over the phone.

“I looked into it like you asked me to. I’ll be messaging you her complete address. It’s a bit far away from your villa. Also…”

“What’s wrong?” Matthew asked, wondering why Bryce suddenly sounded hesitant.

“I know you didn’t ask me to find out about this, but… she doesn’t have any living relatives, and she doesn’t have a family of her own, either. So, unlike what you told me, she doesn’t have a husband. She’s legally single and hasn’t been married for years.”

Matthew’s heart dropped. “What are you talking about?” he said incredulously. “She told me herself that she has a husband who’ll take care of her.”

“Maybe he’s not a husband then, but a boyfriend,” Bryce said helplessly. “But I doubt it.”

However, Matthew wasn’t listening anymore. “All right, thanks,” he muttered stiffly before letting the phone drop from his grip.

She lied to me, Matthew realized in his head. The reason why he had contacted Bryce was because he needed to know where Allison lived so he could send Lily’s gift to her. He also planned to ask if she wanted to go to the beach with him one last time. It never occurred to him that she might have been lying just so he wouldn’t care about her and think that she had somebody precious by her side to oversee her treatments.

Once again, she had played him for a fool. She pushed him away again, and he had let her.

'No,' Matthew thought, eyes narrowing. 'Not this time.'

'I’m not going to play her games anymore.'

Lily was still asleep in their bed, so Matthew left her a note on the bedside table, telling her that he was going out for a walk. He needed to have a serious talk with Allison this time, and after getting all the answers he wanted, he would leave, depending on what she’d tell him.

He tried to ignore the nagging feeling in his heart that he actually did want to see her again, and not only because he was angry and hurt that she had lied to him.

***

Allison Whitney hated hospitals.

It reminded her of painful memories, of her father lying motionlessly on the bed, his body shrunken and frail. She could still remember the overpowering, lingering scent of medicine and anesthetics in the room, and their devastated, resigned auras when they realized that they didn’t have the money to pay for his surgeries. With that, her father passed away pitifully, having suffered too much pain before his eventual demise.

Allison remembered it so clearly, so vividly, as though it had only happened yesterday.

Her mother’s passing, on the other hand, was quick and unexpected, unlike what happened to her father. Her mother had always been such a strong, independent woman, and she would often tell Allison to stop worrying about her since she was fully capable of taking care of herself. Allison hadn’t wanted to leave her alone in their house, but being newlyweds, she was happy to spend time with her husband in their new home, and as time passed, she forgot about her mother.

That was one of the regrets that she carried with her until now.

She was supposed to have an appointment at the hospital today, but she didn’t want to go. She simply laid there on her bed in her lifeless little apartment, staring blankly up at the ceiling, wondering when all of this would end.

She hated this. She hated this so much. She had always despised being sick, for it only brought her painful, unwanted memories alongside the immense discomfort. She supposed that it was only inevitable; after all, she worked in the laboratory intensively for a while, even going there during her days off. The constant exposure to strong chemicals and radiation was probably the main reason for her current illness besides the stress and chronic insomnia that she felt most of the time. All in all, this cancer was the effect of her terribly unhealthy lifestyle, and she couldn’t do anything else but regret, and regret, and regret, time and time again.

Allison shut her eyes as she tried to ignore the throbbing pain all across her body. She could feel her temperature rising again. Maybe it was time to take those fever reducers…

Suddenly, a loud knock on her door startled her out of her thoughts. Allison struggled to sit up on the bed, wondering who it could be. She didn’t contact delivery service, and she didn’t have any acquaintances who would come visit her either, especially since they didn’t know her address.

At first, Allison thought to ignore it and focus on the pain instead, but the knocking returned after a few minutes, this time persistently. She groaned and dragged her sore body towards the front door, cursing the person who thought that it would be a good idea to disturb her in the early hours of the morning.

“Who is it?” she called out tiredly.

There was a moment of silence.

Allison frowned. “Who is it?” she repeated, this time in a louder voice, thinking that they might’ve not heard her.

Another beat of silence. Then, a quiet voice answered, “…It’s me.”

“I’m sorry, who…?”

“It’s me… Matthew.”

Allison’s eyes grew wide.