It was right after one of their meetings.
Michal had been silent. Obviously something was wrong.
Was it his mother? She didn't know. When they got back to Jen's door, as they always did after meetings, she invited Michal inside to hopefully get some answers.
"Michal, you know that I'm here, right?" Jen asked after she and Michal had both sat down on her blue couch.
"Yeah," Michal responded softly, which made Jennifer put her hand on his back in support.
"Michal, is this about your mom? I'll go to the hospital with you, I'll be here, I'll even get you counseling!" Jen stopped when she realized she was getting louder with every word. She took a deep breath in.
"Look, all I'm saying is, I see you and I care about you. What's wrong?"
Michal leaned forward, put his hands together and looked away.
"Jen, I just went in for my annual physical," Michal started, obviously nervous and sad.
"Since my mom's, ya know," he stopped for a minute before continuing, while Jen rubbed his back.
"I have to get routinely tested for cancers more than other men my age since she's a very close family member hereditarily. Even though cancer hasn't been shown to be passed down directly by family, the more members you have in your family that have it and the closer in relation they are to you increase your chances of having the gene mutations for getting the same or similar cancers," Michal explained slowly, making Jen more worried by the minute.
"So, I have to watch out for signs of blood cancer," Michal said, his voice breaking again, and he scrunched his face and closed his eyes to stop the tears from coming out.
"When - When I went in this time, I was already preparing to tell the doctor that I had been feeling a little weaker than normal. When the - results came back, from my bloodwork-"
Michal's words were cut off by a sob as he grabbed Jen again and pulled her in a bear hug, burying his face into her shoulder. She could feel her hair getting wet from his tears.
As he sat there, right next to her, and she wrapped her arms around him, she felt it slowly dawn on her: he... had cancer?
Wait, him? Why - Why him? I - Jen thought, and as she put the pieces together she held him just as tightly back and they both stayed like that.
Jen sobbed that day.
