No one but them knew she had only a day left to live. She had dirty blond hair, matted and coarse yet still somehow remaining glossy and silky. Green eyes that had long since lost their sparkle locks on my face, sorrow and emptiness and a hint of another unnamed emotion coating the dark irises.

“This is our last time talking to each other, huh?” She says with a faraway look in her eyes.

I swallow hard and try to get all the words I wanted to say out of my mouth but couldn’t, couldn’t because they wouldn’t come, no matter how much they burned my tongue like hot coal.

_Why didn’t you tell me sooner?_

_Do you trust me?_

_I love you._

“You must hate me.” She says suddenly. I stop struggling and widen my eyes in surprise.

Then, she starts laughing loudly. Doubling over in hysterics, she throws her head back and bangs it against the hospital bed’s headboard. I stare at her with shocked eyes.

“Isn’t it ironic that the day you proposed to me is the day I told you I’d be dead?” She says after she’s done. I don’t respond. What could I say?

“You’re a wonderful man.” She says with a hint of sadness.

“You’re a wonderful woman.” I say in response. I don’t say it just to be polite. She was more perfect than anything I could’ve asked for in a lover.

_Was._

We sit in a peaceful silence for the next couple of minutes. The horizon changes from a baby blue to light orange, and the edges of her mouth turn upwards slightly and her stress lines on her forehead lessen. For a moment, I’m struck by how young and beautiful she looks. Though we’re both barely 25 years old, time had aged us. Deciding that hopelessly struggling for days in pain would not cure cancer, she decided to let go of the thin, trembling hold she had on the world. It shocked and hurt me l past any physical injury I’ve ever had before. The woman I loved, dead in a day. It was as if this was a tragic love story.

“Esme.” I say, using her first name.

“Yes.” She says calmly, not as a question, but as a remark.

“We still have a day left.” I say, and she turns towards me.

Staring unblinkingly at my face, she realizes what I mean, and her eyes slowly brighten. Dark green turns to a verdant shade, and she truly starts to smile.

“This could be our last chance to be together, why don’t we take it?” I say, and she nods.

Reaching a hand out, I wait for her to take it. Slender fingers touch calloused ones, and I pull her up slowly, making sure not to cause her any pain.

Suddenly, she pulls me towards the door. My eyes widen but I follow along. She turns around hesitantly when her hand graps the knob, a question in her eyes.

_Yes?_

_Yes._

And with that, we walk out towards the future.