- Andrew?
↓
I’m back.
↓
Sofia looked at me worried.
↓
Do you feel bad? You want me to call someone?
↓
I tried to talk, but I didn’t say a word.
↓
That’s when I started crying.
↓
Not discreet.
↓
Not with a few tears I can erase quickly.
↓
I burst into tears like a child, with my shoulders shaken and with the breath cut off.
↓
Sofia got up immediately and came to me.
↓ - Andrew! What’s going on? Is something hurting you?
↓
I got down on my knees.
↓ - Forgive me…
↓
He’s frozen.
↓ - For what?
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I covered my face with my hands.
↓
“Because I’m the dumbest idiot you’ve ever known.
↓
↓
Sofia leaned over next to me.
↓
- Andrew, I’m scared. Tell me what’s going on.
↓
I raised my eyes.
↓
Her eyes were filled with fear.
↓
Fear for me.
↓
Even then.
↓
Sofia, I’m not sick.
↓
He blinked a few times.
↓ - What?
↓
I swallowed it hard.
↓
I don’t have any serious illness. There is no treatment of one hundred thousand euros. I don’t need surgery.
↓
It remained motionless.
↓
I don’t understand.
↓
I lied to it.
↓
Sofia has retired a little.
↓
Did you… lied?
↓
I have approved.
↓
I wanted to see if you really loved me.
↓
The silence that followed was harder than any screaming.
↓
Sofia has risen slowly.
↓
He looked at me as if he didn’t recognize me anymore.
↓
Repeat what you said.
↓
I was a fool. My friends and my parents said that…
↓
I don’t care what your friends said.
↓
It was the first time in almost two years that Sofia had raised her voice to me.
↓
Tell me I got it wrong. Tell me you went to the doctor, that they had tests and that, in the meantime, you found out that you had nothing.
↓
I lowered my head.
↓
I was never sick.
↓
Sofia took a hand to his mouth.
↓ - God…
↓
He walked away from me and leaned against the edge of the table.
↓
I thought you were going to die, Andrei.
↓ - I know.
↓ - No. You don’t know.
↓
↓
He looked at me with eyes full of tears.
↓
“For the last five days I almost didn’t sleep. I cried in buses, in cheap hotel rooms, in front of notary offices. I thought that if I couldn’t get the money, I’d lose you.
↓
He raised his grandmother’s photo.
↓
“I stood in front of the house where I grew up and apologized to my grandmother because I was going to sell it.
↓
I felt my stomach twisting.
↓
“Saof, I can fix everything. I’ll give you your money back, buy the house…
↓
It’s not about the money!
↓
He burst into tears.
↓
“How could you let me believe that the man I love is dying?”
↓
I had no answer that wouldn’t make me look even more despicable.
↓
“I was afraid of using me, I whispered.
↓
Sofia laughed bitterly through tears.
↓
And to find out if I’m using you, have you decided to use my love?
↓
I’m out of words.
↓
He was right.
↓
There was no explanation to justify my deed.
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