Chapter Three

Russell’s POV

Two weeks earlier...

Warmth spread through my body as skillful hands worked their way down my chest. A full-body therapeutic massage right after a medical check-up could pass as another thing almost as good as sex. Almost.

About twenty minutes earlier, I had my doubts about the tall, beautiful slender pistachio green-eyed masseuse right in front of me. I needed no other cue. Her friendliness, seductive smile, and exaggerated grins portended that her eagerness to have a session with me was a teeny tiny bit more than her passion for her job.

No doubt, any right-thinking man would notice her sex appeal, and as her hands moved south, my arousal twitched. It probably had everything to do with her sultry voice, teasing hands, and those dreamy green eyes.

Why was she pouting her lips? She's flirting...

I had Doctor Lee to thank for not giving in to the desire pooling in my pants. With his door only a few steps away, I'd rather put up my best behavior.

Her hands inched a little closer to my groin region, and my breath stilled for a moment.

The rules disallowed this...

A knock on the door disrupted whatever plans she had and abruptly, she took a few steps away from me as Dr. Lee walked in.

Dr. Lee's receding honey-blond hair and wrinkled ashen face had nothing on him. Almost sixty, yet without doubts one of the hot doctors in Texas. There had been rumors of younger women hitting on him, except that he wasn't the kind to weave his way into younger women's skirts. Scratch that, he was too faithful to even consider having an extramarital affair. In all the years I’d known him, he'd never so much as glanced at any other woman, no matter how pretty she could be.

"You're right in time, Dr. Lee. I was just about...leaving." The masseuse glanced at me before plastering a grin on her lips, twirling to meet Dr. Lee's gaze.

"Good job. I need to have a private discussion with my client." Adjusting the frame of his pair of glasses at the bridge of his nose, his eyes pinned mine.

"I'll be on my way." She sauntered out of the room, closing the door behind her.

I let out a deep breath I didn't know I'd been holding. "I suppose that this is serious." Pulling my pants up my waist, I fastened my zip and grabbed my shirt. "What's this about, Dr. Lee?" My eyebrows arched.

Silence lingered in the air, causing tension to wrack through my body. Subconsciously, I rubbed the back of my neck.

Dr. Lee was never this quiet except there was a big problem. How big could this problem be?

He took a few steps toward me and removed a file from his breast pocket, handing it to me.

"What's this?" I asked, grabbing the papers from him.

"Your test result, Mr. Walker." I scanned the file, squishing my brows together, as I flipped through the pages. "What does this mean?" I asked, leveling my eyes with his.

He swallowed hard before answering. "Your test result shows that you're terminally ill, Mr. Walker. You're down with emphysema. It's a type of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and I'm afraid that it has no cure."

I immediately backed away, raising my palm in the air, my mouth slackening. "Don't be ridiculous. Y-You must be mistaken, Albert. Perhaps, you mistook someone else's result for mine." I paused to catch my breath. "I know a teeny tiny bit about COPDs, and it's not something that can be diagnosed in a twenty-six-year-old. Besides, I don't smoke, and you know it."

"While it is true that COPDs are more common in men in their late thirties to forties, there are a few instances where young people have been diagnosed with it. No doubt, the commonest cause of COPD is smoking, but several other factors can cause COPD. It could arise from lung irritants like chemical fumes or from inhaling secondhand smoke. But, I doubt that yours has anything to do with any of these. In your case, it might be an alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency-"

"God damn it, Albert! Speak English!" I slammed hard at the drawer in my front and my teeth bared.

He let out a huff and rubbed his chin gently, a hand in the air. "Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency is a genetic condition which can likely predispose younger people like you to COPD. Although, it's a very uncommon cause of COPD."

"That's impossible. No one in my family ever had COPD." I shrugged, placing a hand against my breastbone.

"You can't be so sure. It could be from anyone. It could be as far back as many generations before you."

Heat rose behind my eyelids and a lump formed in my throat.

"It can be managed." His voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "COPD's progress can be slowed with medication, but I fear that you don't have much time."

Cold sweats broke off my face and my shoulders went tight. Tendons stood out in my neck and I gripped the bed railings for support.

"H-how much time do I have?" I blinked rapidly, my voice cracking. "Albert!" I ground out. "Answer. Me."

"Less than a year."

My hands went limp, my knees hitched, and I stumbled, slumping on the floor. I held my hand in the air, stopping Albert who was rushing toward me from coming closer. Energy went out of me and my head spun.

"Mr. Walker-"

"H-How many months precisely?" I asked, my head hung down, a sour taste in my mouth.

"I-I'm not so certain-"

"Answer me, Albert!"

"About ten or eleven months, if you're lucky enough."

My Adam's apple bobbed, my body tensed and I squeezed my eyes shut, rubbing my temple.

"Don't tell anyone about this. Especially not my father. He must not find out about this."

"I'll keep this between us," Dr. Lee said after some probable five seconds.

Propping myself up on the edge of the bed, I stood to my feet. Eyes blinking rapidly, I headed to the door, the sound of my heartbeat thrashing in my ears, oblivious to any other sound in the room.