A Path Through the Woods(A RiaEgg Story)

CHAPTER 10: "I'll See You Again."

"...Ria," MrEgg rasped. "...Since we both know I...might not make it out of this alive...I think now would be the time for...me to explain myself to you."

"Are you sure?" she asked him, petting his head to try and comfort him. "I-I know I was desperate for answers less than a week ago, and I was furious at you before you left, but..."

She choked back a sob, unable to hold back her tears any longer.

"...If this is all the time we have left, I don't want to waste it on that."

"No...No, Ria, this...It's important...You don't know everything."

She let out a shuddery sigh, then took his good hand with both of hers and held it as tightly as she could without messing up the IV inserted in it.

"...Okay," she finally nodded. "...If it's that important, then go ahead."

MrEgg drew in a deep, rattling breath, mustered all of the strength he could, then began.

"...TheGentleman...I offered to work as his accountant. He has stacks and stacks of records that need to be prepared, and...they're always being added onto. He doesn't always have the time to do them...So he hired me, and...gave me a pay of £20 an hour...Five hours a day for me to help him with them...after I get off work."

"...Really?"

"I...I've accumulated just ten shy of £2,000," he told her. "...Paid every Friday...It's in my account...I could give you the passcode if you-"

"No, I...I believe you, MrEgg," she told him. "...I believe you."

"Y...you do...?"

She sniffled, then wiped her face dry.

"I can tell you're not lying," she assured him. "Especially considering that you tried to tell me yesterday."

"Hm..." he tried to laugh. "...I hoped that you might...finally trust me."

Ria held his hand tighter, trying and failing to suppress another sob.

"I...I should have trusted you earlier. Th-this is my fault. I-if I hadn't blown up at you like that, and made you leave the house, then maybe you...W-we wouldn't be g-going through this, and y-you'd still be fine, oh, MrEgg, I'm so horrible, I don't deserve you..."

She hid her head behind the backs of her hands, still holding MrEgg's in the process and bringing it up to her face as well...He gently pulled his hand away from her own and brushed her tearstained cheek with his thumb.

"No, Ria...Don't blame yourself for everything," he whispered, trying to comfort her even in his fragile state. "I...I'm partly to blame, too," he told her. "...I should have explained what I was doing...I should have found more time to spend with you...instead of working the entire day, Monday to Friday...every week...no time for you...I didn't like it either, but...I was wrong to do it, just thinking that I could...keep it up for so long."

"...You already had a decent income, though," she sniffed. "Why...Wh-what were you going to use the money for?"

MrEgg's heart weighed heavy with the answer to her question...It was the main thing he'd been keeping from her this whole time.

As his visor grew misty, he took Ria by the hand again, and she leaned forward in tense anticipation.

"...We were so happy...with one another...I...I thought it was finally time for us to...take the next step forward."

He squeezed her hand even tighter, a tear finally escaping him.

"...I'd found the perfect one...1 and a quarter carats...on a rose gold band...just like you said was your favorite."