Sailing With Destiny

Call It Destiny

Dedicated to all the beautiful readers of Sailing With Destiny

Why were movies, novels, and television series so misleading? At least the ones with happily ever afters were. The rom-com's Faith forced me to watch when we were still in school gave off an illusion. Life wasn't as simple as those stupid movies, and I supposed that's why they were so popular so people escaped the harsh reality of their lives and fed their brains some temporary serotonin.

Lies. The fictional world was a farce and gave off an unhealthy illusion that life could've ended happily. I could've counted the times I was truly happy in my life. I firmly believed all of that until him.

Like a silly stupid boy-meets-girl rom-com, I met Mitchell and at first, there was attraction until our meeting turned into a disaster. There was a time we hated each other but somehow, destiny had other plans and forced us to spend more time together than we would've liked. During that time, a friendship that would eventually blossom into a romantic relationship grew. The person I only intended to have a one-night stand with became my everything.

However, unlike a cheesy romantic comedy, our relationship wasn't always steady. We had many obstacles and issues. We worked through almost all of them until I realized that the biggest issue was me and my reluctance to let go of the past. 

For the first time, Mitchell and I separated on good terms with a mutual understanding. It wasn't easy at first but the more time I took for myself, it got easier. However, I still missed him more each day. 

We never cut off contact entirely, we kept in touch and at first, we talked more often until we realized that daily contact wasn't helping. So, we tried to limit daily contact to every fortnight. It was almost impossible at first but we learned to adapt. When Mitchell stayed in LA, it made it easier. 

The last time we saw each other was at Kelsey's trial two months ago. We didn't speak much but both testified. Kelsey was given the punishment she deserved and once her time was served, she was to be sent back to The UK and I doubted she would return. Mitchell and I spoke briefly but ever since our contact had been very limited. So much so that I hadn't heard from him in over six weeks. 

Four months had easily passed. Work kept me busy and I enjoyed my time at the hospital. Dr. Nowak was a lot easier to work with and I spent more time with Wang and my friends. 

I had weekly appointments with Noel and talking about my trauma in therapy helped. Noel was brilliant at his job and made me very comfortable talking about things that were hard to open up about. 

It was a chilly spring day and I had just left Noel's office and was on my way to see Leo. Leo had his good days and bad, but it was all part of his recovery. Leo had found a stem cell donor and they were right under his nose.

Leo's brother's wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy in early February and with Lorenzo's insistence, the baby was tested and miraculously a match with Leo. 

Leo got a stem cell transplant shortly after the baby was born from cord blood. Cord blood stem cells were collected from the umbilical cord and placenta after the baby was born. It was touch and go for a while and Leo struggled with some side effects but it had been almost two months and he was a lot better. 

I knew it was going to take a while before Leo would've been one hundred percent better but he was going to live and that made me happy. As promised, I drew a line between us but our friendship was still as good. Leo was in a good space after a long time and no longer looked at me with so much longing. 

Katie visited often and their friendship flourished. I developed an even better relationship with her and was grateful to her for all she did for Leo. She brought a smile to his face and brightened his days – she might've even had a small crush on him.