ELENA'S POV:
I scrolled through my Instagram for the 10th time in the past 15 minutes. It was reaching midnight and I was alone in the hospital. They weren't letting me see Mattia until he was in a stable condition. The boys wanted to tag along, but Vic suggested I went alone, and they'd visit tomorrow.
I stood up and walked over to the door separating Mattia and I. The lights were on, and there were 3 doctors around Mattia. He looked tired, but at least the redness around his eyes had faded away. I shuddered as I saw the heart rate monitor next to his bed. Leaning forward, I tried to make out the numbers on it, but I was distracted when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped and turned around, but it was only Alejandro. I let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the door.
"Hey, sorry I scared you" he said, taking a step back.
"No you're good." I walked over to the chairs and took a seat again. "What brings you here?"
"I'm scared Elena" he took a seat next to me as I looked at him in confusion.
"About what?"
He hesitated before speaking so I nudged him slightly.
"Mattia hasn't been looking after himself since you've been gone"
"W-what? What do you mean?" I stuttered, my head was jumping to so many conclusions, but I had to hear it from Alejandro.
"He-"
But he was cut off by a doctor exiting Mattia's room. We both stood up as he checked his clipboard.
"You're Elena Hill, right?" he asked.
"Yes" I answered, anxiously twirling my hair around my finger as he spoke.
"Why did you need to know that?" I asked curiously, and he tapped on the clipboard with his finger.
"Mr Polibio stated here that you're his emergency contact, so the information goes straight to you"
"Oh" a warm feeling entered my heart knowing he chose me, but I was still mentally preparing myself for what I was about to hear. He walked back into the room and gestured for me to follow him. I looked at Alejandro but he shook his head.
"You should go on your own" he said, giving me a sympathetic smile. I walked inside and saw Mattia, who flashed me a smile. I returned the smile and went to stand by his side.
"You good baby?" he asked, taking my hand in his.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I said, raising an eyebrow. He laughed softly and shook his head.
"I'm fine" he said, kissing my hand. But an uneasy feeling had set in my stomach, and it wasn't leaving.
The doctor came over to us and started fumbling through his papers. There were several attached to the clipboard and we waited patiently.
"So, Miss Hill" he started "We've found that Mattia's got a significant amount of tar in his lungs"
I tensed up immediately, and Mattia clung onto my hand.
"Now this obviously has come from excessive smoking, and we can try remove the tar, but it's highly unlikely that we can get rid of it all"
I slipped my hand out of Mattia's and let it drop to my side. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I didn't know whether to cry or be angry. I couldn't even bring myself to look at Mattia. The words coming out of the doctor's mouth had become muffled in my head, and I could no longer hear anything he was saying.
"Miss Hill?" he said, taking off his glasses. I snapped back into reality and shook my head.
"I'm sorry, could you give us a moment?" I asked quietly.
"Sure, there's another piece of information you'll both need to hear, but I'll inform you once you've both had a chance to talk" he said, before leaving us in a deathly silence.
"Elena-"
"Don't"
I walked over to the other side of the room and looked out of the window. Now that I'd been informed Mattia was smoking, it was slowly starting to all make sense. The fevers, the red eyes, the dizzy headaches.
"When did you start?" I said, breaking the silence. I kept my back to him and set my hands on the windowsill, anxiously waiting for his answer.
"Elena can you at least look at me?"
I stayed facing the window and didn't say anything until I got the answer I asked for. Eventually, he spoke.
"When you left" he said, I could hear the remorse in his voice.
"Why?"
"Coping mechanism"
I turned around to face him in complete disbelief.
"Are you kidding me?" I said, throwing my arms in the air. But he shrugged his shoulders and looked down.
"Mattia!" I said loudly, walking over to him.
"What? It took the edge of everything, of course I fucking regret it, I just didn't know who to turn to" he snapped in annoyance.
"You didn't know who to turn to? That's bullshit, is Alejandro invisible now?"
"You don't know what goes on in my fucking head Cindy!" he yelled, his eyes suddenly going wide.
"Cindy?" Who the fuck is Cindy?" I said, taken aback. I felt my own eyes heating up with tears as Mattia started shaking his head.
"N-no I didn't mean that, it's just this girl, from school, she's just trying to get in my head, it's nothing Elena I swear" he spluttered, as if he was trying to erase what he'd said.
I looked at my hands, trying to take in everything that'd just happened in the past 5 minutes. But I couldn't. I couldn't understand anything that was going on.
"She clearly did get in your head if you're thinking about her" I spat, as tears rolled down my cheeks.
"Who the fuck said I was thinking about her?" Mattia said defensively. But I shook my head.
"Whatever Mattia, I should've stayed in England, maybe Jackson was right"
I had no idea what Jackson was right about, and I instantly felt bad for planting seeds of doubt in Mattia's head. But now it was too late to pretend none of this had happened.
"What? W-wait, who's Jackson?" frowned Mattia, leaning forward. I folded my arms over my chest and avoided his gaze.
"I guess we all have our secrets" I whispered, as the doctor came back in. I forced a smile and stayed where I was. I quickly glanced at Mattia and his fists were curled up by his sides.
"So, we've ran some blood tests, and Mr Polibio your lungs are in a critical condition"
Mattia sighed and I wiped my eyes quickly.
"But there's something more serious" he said, looking at either of us.
"Well what could be more serious than that?" said Mattia, clearly annoyed. The doctor paused before speaking and took a deep breath.
"Cancer. Cancer is more serious, Mr Polibio"
