A Glass Of Champagne

Chapter Eleven

SOLANA

I gulp down hard, looking at his shocked face. "I-I was diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer five years ago. A couple days before you...proposed."

He shakes his head as I continue my confession. "I-I was scared. So scared that I made an irrational decision and ran away. I felt like I couldn't be the perfect woman that you needed because I'm sick. You deserved someone better than me and—"

"Solana shut up." He cuts me off.

"No, Dario please let me say this. I should've told you, I should've. But I couldn't bare to tell you how fucked up my life had gotten. I ate right, exercised daily, I did everything right with my body and still ended up with cancer. I'm so sorry I ran off Dario... I put you through so much pain without a care in the world. I know you probably won't forgive me but please understand why I did what I did."

He shakes his head again, "No, I'm not believing this crap. You don't have cancer. Your...your...your fine."

Now it's my turn to shake my head, "No Dario I'm not. I haven't been fine for years. By year three of me leaving, my cancer grew to stage 2, and my survival rate was slowly decreasing. I was—"

"Solana please shut the fuck up!" He yells, roughly turning away from me. I watch as his fists ball up and he puts them to his head.

I cautiously walked up to him, resting my hand on his shoulder. "Dario...please look at me."

He doesn't respond. I watch as his shoulders move heavily up and down. I move to walk in front of him when my phone rings.

I look at my phone, seeing Doctor V's name flash across the screen.

"Hello?" I answer.

"Hey Solana, I'm calling to see if your feeling better. I know you had quite the scare earlier." he says.

"Yes I'm fine Doctor V, thank you for your help." I say.

I hear him sigh before replying, "Of course dear. Don't forget you have your chemo session at three."

"Right okay, thank you for reminding me. I'll see you then."

"Okay, rest until then." He says.

We exchange our goodbyes before I hang up.

I see Dario hasn't moved from his spot. "Dario."

"Who was that you were talking to?" He asks, his voice heavy.

"My doctor, I have a chemo session today." I responded, walking in front of him.

His eyes move from my face as he looks at anything but me. "What time?"

"In an hour."

He nods his head.

"Dario, please tell me how your feeling. I know what I said was a lot." He still won't look at me.

"Dario look at me please." I grab his chin forcing his head down, so his eyes can meet mine.

If my eyes aren't deceiving me, I can see the glossiness in his eyes. For the years that I've known Dario, I have never seen him cry. Not once. I know he's not a robot or anything, but he's never cried in front of me before. I've never seen him that vulnerable, so for his eyes to gloss like their doing right now is shocking to me.

He moves his chin out of my grasp. "I'll take you to your appointment." That is all he says before walking out of the room.

I hear the front door slam, letting me know that he left the apartment, probably to take a minute to himself.