Sonata of The Shattered | Book I

My Last Wish

1 June 2022

"I've called you a thousand times, Mr Kingsley. You didn't pick it up. Not even once."

"Mr Tolentino has been informed and he's on his way to the hospital as well."

Clayton, who was just there in the study room having a meeting online with all the investors and staff of his company, decided to end the call as soon as he could. He rushed himself towards the desk in the living room to take his wallet and car keys, before he left his home in a hurry and rushed himself towards the hospital.

Shafa knocked his door in between his meeting only to hear devastating news; that Melissa's condition went down pretty quick and collapsed during a meeting in her company. She called him multiple times but it's always a habit for the man to not even touch his phone a bit during a meeting or within his work hour.

No matter how their relationship actually was, Clayton is her husband. He's responsible for his wife, from health to the simplest thing she might need. Clayton wanted to provide her with nothing but the best, especially after she was diagnosed with the last stage of cancer; something he never thought he would hear from a person this close to him.

As soon as he arrived at the hospital, he asked a staff member who passed by. A name was asked by the man.

"Will you help me find a patient? Her name is Melissa Liu Mary." Clayton asked in worry. The nurse quickly helped him by asking his friends to the nearest nurse station before she led him to the room where Melissa was currently resting in.

He entered the room and found the woman with Tolentino already, which then eased the worries in his heart, better than before. "How are you? What happened?" Clayton asked Melissa as he stood himself next to the bed, on the opposite side with Tolentino, Melissa's lover. "She fell unconscious after an immense pain in her abdomen. The staff quickly sent her to the hospital. Almost everyone in the company now knows about her disease and she refused to rest." Tolentino explained the condition to Clayton.

"I've told her to rest but she refused. I insist. She keeps on going back to work."

"I know. I've told her as well but Melissa doesn't want to obey me."

The two men in the room couldn't help but to worry the woman as her condition started to worsen. With two of them being on the same side, Melissa couldn't help but to only sigh hearing the conversation between both of them.

"Clayton, I need to talk to you." she said to the man, who quickly turned his head and eyes at her. Giving her the full attention so she could continue her words. "I met her yesterday. I met Fransesca yesterday and I ask her to be with you after my death. That woman, now I know why you're head over heels on her. She's really the epitome of beauty and elegance in one. A woman who deserves everything."

Clayton closed his eyes and sat himself on a couch behind him. He couldn't say anything as he was shocked to hear that Melissa did something he asked her not to. It must be super frightening for Fransesca, who's approached by the wife of her ex-lover in the past. They've never seen each other for fifteen years yet this woman right here brought back the old songs.

"Why? I told you, Mel. I told you to let her be alone with her daughter. She already had enough of me. I've told you that I'll be alone and fine. I will stay in silence and love her quietly." he responded in a frustrated tone.

He couldn't imagine how hurt Fransesca's heart was. He couldn't imagine how painful it must've been for Fransesca when she faced Melissa directly.

"Because as much as I adore your smart sexy brain in the business field, you missed something important in your life. Something super important. You missed the details, which you've never done before. You're always a detailed person. Now let me ask you, how old is Christine?" Melissa asked.

Clayton refused to answer. "Why did you bring her to this matter, Mel?" Clayton asked, not wanting to sacrifice the girl's feelings as well. "Count it! It's been sixteen years since you left Singapore that day. It's been fifteen years in age for Christine as well. You left her all alone in this country in August 2006. How long does a pregnancy last? Nine months!"

"What are you trying to say?" Clayton asked her again, being anxious now as he finally started to realize something.

"What's nine months after August? May, 2007. I've searched her birthday, it's on the first of May, 2007. Now, use your fucking brain, Clay! She named her child after the three actresses you both admired in the past. She's never been married or in any relationship after you left. Her family kicked her out because she's pregnant out of wedlock and refused to say the name of Christine's father. CCC, that's the little girl's initial. C, that also stands for your name."

Tolentino stopped Melissa from spilling too much information that might shock the man at the current moment. He knew that one day Clayton should know, but he also knew Melissa shouldn't inform him in this way and at this particular moment.

"My child.."

The two short words slipped from her lips as he realized the situation she mentioned just now. He tried to deny it but it's true. It's all true. His brain brought him back to the old days when he slept with her. The day before she rejected his feelings and thought they're only a one night stand partner. He remembered every bit of it and now he realized...

"Christine. That girl must be my daughter. So.. so why would she hide it from me?"

Clayton feels like he's lost in his own world. He stood up and left the room, walking through the corridors as if his soul just left his body. Now he knows why Melissa was really persistent on reuniting him with Fransesca. She was so eager to find Fransesca and ask him to find her— because his wife realized that Fransesca is the mother of his daughter.

Fransesca hid it from him. The presence of the little child who was supposed to be a part of his life years ago. If only he knew that the little girl was his, then perhaps he would live a different life now; with the two beside him. Forming a family full of warmth.

"Fransesca... why?"

"Fransesca, I'm sorry."

"Fransesca... let me see her..."

Tears kept on running across his cheeks, again and again. He stepped into his car and cried his heart out. He cried again and again for not realizing things so soon.

"If I never left and tried to convince you to love me, perhaps those years that we spent apart from each other weren't supposed to happen."

"Fransesca, I'm sorry."

Though it's still an assumption, now he realized something bigger; he wanted to know the real truth from her lips. Fransesca's.

to be continued.