A Christian Romance

Chapter 23 - Another opinion

(the picture on top is Mim, Joel's tomboy sister)

The worship leader, who no longer believed in God, was struggling to realize that his life had entered a new paradigm. Even though Adam was an introvert, he still needed someone to help him work things out. For the troubled times, he always counted on Joel - even if they didn't talk for a long time, which was the case. So he arranged a meeting with his best mate at a restaurant next to the Opera House.

Joel got stuck at work, so he arrived a few minutes later at the appointed location. He was surprised to see Adam with a new and drastic haircut; he could only recognize him by his remarkable eye line.

"Adam! I barely recognized you!"

Adam stood up and greeted him with a heartfelt hug. He was remorseful.

"How are you, mate?"

Joel replied with a smile on his face:
"And you?"

Adam looked at him, then away, very ashamed of his behavior lately. He sighed. He slid his hand over his full shaved head, and then his face. He was bad at expressing himself, and he really had to take his time to speak his mind. Joel comprehended him perfectly, so he just gave his friend the time he needed. No pressure.

"I followed your advice." Adam started.

Joel looked at him inquiringly and didn't say anything; he knew that the more pressure he put onto his friend, the more complicated it would be for him to speak.

"I asked for a second opinion about my cancer." Adam completed. "Turns out, my family doctor is a fraud." Adam started flaring up and smacked the table, the people at the nearest tables looked in his direction to see what was going on. "Can you believe that the guy played with my health and in the end, all this time that I've been living as if I only had a few months left, I have nothing?!" He was infuriated just to think of it, he fumed. "I'm so glad, something told me not to take the radio treatment..."

Joel was speechless, his face, though, expressed great surprise. While Adam struggled to keep his fury down, Joel quickly started to think of the repercussions of the new diagnosis.

"Adam, don't focus on that!" Joel tried to open his eyes to the great news. "You can have Debora now. You can plan a lifetime with her."

"I thought you liked her." Adam was surprised to hear the support of his mate on Debora.

"Come on, Ade. We both know that she'd never pick me." Joel was sorry for that, but that wasn't a big deal for him.

"Do you think," Adam quickly drifted the story to himself; without a higher power to serve, he became the center of his own life. "she would forgive me for all that I've done to her?" He was sure that there was no forgiveness for him.

"Mate, Debora is merciful, and I'm sure she'll forgive you." He assured him. "You should talk to her."

The lunch was on Adam's, and also about him. He made the conversations rotate around himself. Joel left the restaurant and returned to his work completely drained, and, most of all, acknowledging that he probably actually liked Debora on a level that was beyond friendship. But even if he liked her, if that feeling wasn't in God's plan, then it would be better for him to leave things the way they were. They were great friends and he wouldn't put that at stake. Whatever he felt, what he had in that present moment was nothing more than a great friendship.

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That day had started with a lot of trouble. Debora barely slept, thinking continuously about Adam and his situation. It couldn't be true that he had been battling cancer and could keep that secret for so long from everybody. Because of her worry, things didn't flow so well at work. She called it a day and left on time - for a change. Joel didn't follow her home, because he was busy taking care of a few photos that had arrived from another venue.