Free Web NovelChapter 8: Misery
Re: Is it contagious??? freeweɓnøvel.com
From: Heartbeat
To: You. freёwebnovel.com
25th, March, 2028.
Corrine sat at the edge of her bed long enough to be considered half an hour. She was partly dressed in only a cream, tight skirt and the bottoms of her blouse still loose as she read his reply after almost three weeks of trying to reach out to him.
Corrine found herself opening a new tab on her phone to Google and searched if cancer had already become a contagious illness that she has no idea about.
Even with her limited knowledge on science and all, Corrine had so many mixed feelings about her boyfriend’s response to her illness.
Fortunately, there had been no proven cases of people catching a brain tumor from one person to another and she felt even more stupid for googling such a thing.
What was the meaning of this?
She found herself asking as her polished nails lingered over the keypad of her phone, not knowing what to say. She didn’t want to be the one that takes things too personally by simply assuming he meant that as some insult or he truly never cared for her.
She loved him so much that...Corrine pressed her lips against each other as she leaned more on her laps. She loved him so much that she was ready to do whatever she could to be loved genuinely by him.
Even if she spent the rest of her limited time on earth taking care and being faithful to him, she didn’t care.
He was her light and dream.
Her rainbow over the dark, grey clouds of her life.
Almost her life and someone she believed she wouldn’t be able to live without.
’’ Henry...’’ She whispered softly to herself, while nervously running her hands over her face and hair. ’’Please, Henry, don’t make this even worse for me."
So, she replied.
You: Cancer is not a contagious disease, Henry.
She found the corners of her mouth easing to a silly smile. He couldn’t be this dumb not to know, right?
You: I would love to tell you more about my unfortunate circumstance if you choose a date for us to meet soon. I don’t mind even if you want to see me today. I am ready to forfeit work and all my meetings today just to get a chance to see you again. When should we meet?
She waited, heat rising to her face as her heart raced nonstop in her chest expecting his reply.
When the time on her phone read seven minutes past eight in the morning, she decided to get dressed. Buttoning up her shirt slowly, her gaze remained on her phone. As she slowly ate breakfast, one eye was on her food and the other staring at the bright screen.
She jumped, spilling her bowl of milk and cereal when the annoying call of her uncle cut through the dull silence of her home.
Corrine cursed as some of the milk stained her skirt and glared angrily at the caller ID. She stood up from the kitchen stool to clean the mess on the kitchen table.
Great. I just wasted the last of my milk and might be going to work hungry today.
She threw the soaked napkins aggressively at the nearest trash can before settling back on the wooden stool to eat whatever soggy mess of her breakfast remained on her plate.
The call rang again, this time, harder and louder than usual. She thought her uncle had communicated with the communication center to make his next call harder to resist this time.
Corrine shakily picked her phone from the table and cleared her throat before swiping to answer.
A fake smile appeared on her face as she placed the phone very close to her right ear.
’’Uncle...’’ She said, not meaning for her voice to sound a little light and cringe. Maybe it was because of her nervousness and stress and the constant reminder that the next thing she will be losing soon was her life.
There was a tense silence on the other line. It made Corrine even more anxious as she grabbed at the edge of her skirt and forced down a lump in her throat.
’’If you have truly decided to die, at least have the decency to pick my calls and inform me about it!’’
The smile dried on her face as she moved uncomfortably on her seat, blinking hard at the tears that quickly gathered around her eyes.
’’Uncle,’’ she began softly, while turning to lean on the table. Her artificial nails on her lips as she tried to calm him down. ’’I am having some problems with my phone and have been at the repair shop since—’’
’’Which is more important to you now? Your dead phone or dead brain?!’’ he snapped, causing Corrine to flinch hard on her seat, tears streaming down her face as she endured it all.
’’I’m sorry, Uncle...’’ She began, fearing he could hear her crying on the phone. ’’I promise to give you a proper response before the end of the week.’’
She heard him scoff before his stern voice rang through her eardrums once more.
’’Your mother called me three days ago...’’
Corrine held her breath at the thought of doctor Lyzer announcing her illness to her family. They will only mock her the most and blame it as some sort of celestial revenge on her for throwing away her privileged life to survive on scraps on the streets. But then again, she remembered the private detectives hired to spy on her life and thought the news would have reached them by now.
’’I didn’t tell her anything,’’ doctor Lyzer finished, which surprised Corrine a bit. If they didn’t hear from the private detectives, surely her uncle must have informed his brother already about his niece. ’’I don’t like her too and she nags a lot. I threw the phone in the toilet when she wouldn’t stop complaining about things that annoyed me and got a new one and had her number restricted.’’
’’Oh...’’ Corinne only mumbled. She didn’t know the only person in the family who genuinely liked her mother was her dear, bewitched dad.
’’It’s unfortunate. If only the family listened to me more, my brother wouldn’t have ended up with such a terrible wife and maybe I wouldn’t have had a rebellious niece that felt too big to even return her elders’ calls.’’
She felt the stab of his words through the phone and Corrine regretted even picking the call in the first place. Maybe she should have flushed the phone down the toilet, get a new one and have his number restricted too.
She sighed after apologizing again for her behavior.
’’You have until Friday to come to me for your treatment. Either way, I will take it as a subtle sign that you have given up and I will simply tell my friend not to bother with his help anymore.’’
The call ended there even before she got to speak and explain to him why she has been delaying her treatment. The moment she dropped her phone, her headaches began and she really felt like ending it all right now but not until she got a response from Henry.
’’Mmmh,’’ she moaned in pain as the headache surged from mild aches to a pounding nauseating one, she found herself stumbling over the toilet seat to throw up her entire gut.
This was misery.
Corrine stepped into the shower and had another bath. As if trying to wash away everything she had endured with these miserable twenty-five years of existence. She stepped out and quickly changed into what she was supposed to wear tomorrow.
Corrine dried and brushed her dark, shoulder-length hair with soft coils at the tip. She put on her jacket and grabbed her purse and car keys. She stepped out of her bedroom and walked over to the kitchen table to grab her phone.
The purse slipped out of her hands when she saw another reply from him.
She quickly unlocked her phone and sat on the chair to read his response.
Re: Baby, I miss you too. Much more than you think. But I am currently not in the States right now. I am in....China, yes, China. For....something very important. I will let you know when I return so we can meet. Love you to the moon and back, to the ends of the earth.
To: You.
25th of March, 2028.
