She stares at me. She knows I am serious. "Go ahead, tell me. If it's regarding your newly cut hair and dyed black then I can see it," she says.
I open my mouth, about to say the truth. She is right, I've cut off my hair before leaving them - her. And I'm sure she still has some strands of mine. And now that I'm no longer a convict being searched by the government, I return my black hair - the normal color of it.
The old me was gone a long way ago. The old me was long gone. That boy that has long blond hair is gone. It was me now, the boy that surely have short, cropped black hair before becoming a wanted.
"Just let me leave along with my life... alone," I told her.
She looks at me, worried and surprised.
What hurts the most is telling her to do something that I know she couldn't do, and something that I don't want to happen.
"Well then, I'll leave... we'll leave you alone," she stated as she stood up. "I think it is a bad idea searching for you after all."
She is already by the door, almost touching the door knob.
My instincts and walls fall out. I grab her by her elbow and let her lean by the door.
There are merely six inches between us.
Everything about her changes. The way she look at me now, curious.
"It's a pain to tell you. But you need to know," I say slowly and carefully. "Last year, I figured out that I... that I won't..."
"That you won't...?" she asked.
"Lena, you need to know. There's no hope for us," I say.
She nods. "I've known that. The moment you left. I only came here to bring you back because your siblings needed you."
I was shocked. Surprised. She made it clear.
I smiled. "Then, that would mean. I could die in peace without leaving you broken."
Then it was now her time to be surprised. "What did you said?"
"Don't play dumb. You heard true. It's not a delusion you're hearing," I say. "Lena... I won't be able to reach nineteen years old."
Tears start to ruin the moment. I cover my eyes with my hands and from the middle of my fingers, I find her tears falling as well.
"It can't be..." she muttered.
"It is the truth. That's why, you need to leave me alone. All of you need to leave me alone."
I start turning my back on her. But she run to me and embrace me from my back. "We won't leave you. I won't. There might be a possible solution for it. We'll find a way to prolonged your life. That's the promise of the procedure."
"In my case, it's different. The doctor made it clear to me, that I'm dying. I won't even experience a life after March 14," I told her. "I know it's so easy to say that there might be a way when there is really. But mine..." I sighed. "Nothing. I woke up in the middle of the night with intense migraines. I always fear that the today, the next days, the next weeks or months, I am less likely to die already."
She removes her hands from the embrace and turn me around. All of a sudden, she then presses her lips on mine.
Her kiss stayed always the same. Pure of love and memorable. I won't forget every thought of it. It is the same like the last time I kissed her a year ago and I will never forget it. Never until death. Never in a million years.
Later on, she pulled away slowly. Her eyes are filled with tears. She looks away to avoid my gaze.
"I can't let you die. I won't leave you if you are to die. I would be with you until your death, that's how I love you," she remarks.
I turn my back again to her.
"Just leave," I told her.
It is a pain. Those words to tell her. Always a pain to me. A dagger on me. A much painful death. A terminal illness to me, worst than what I really have.
I hear her turn back tears and collected herself again. And later, I hear a door close behind me.
I throw myself on bed and lay down on my stomach. I can't avoid the tears to avoid falling from my eyes. I can feel my head starting to ache again and a pain clutching my heart to shreds. It's too hard to breathe. I cover my mouth and cough out. I looked passed my hand and wipe it down on the bed sheet. I thought it was only sweat on my palms but when I look at it, I figured out that it's blood.
I looked at the other direction, coughing still, the pain still in my head and my chest. It's too much.
"I'm sorry, Lena," I muttered even if she can no longer hear me.
"I love you." At least, I was able to say it to myself and I know that I'll always love her more than anything.