Three Means Coffee

40

Makary's assumptions were absolutely correct. Błażej just took a deep breath and laughed nervously into the empty room, glad that no one could see him now. He answered him in the same tone, wondering to himself how much he wished his own words would come true. He wondered if all this was real, every day it seemed so, but he was worried that Makary would get bored of waiting for him to overcome his old fears and believe again that a relationship could be based on love and not on the joke.

He turned on his side and curled up, letting a few tears fall onto the pillow, which accepted them with understanding but no way to comfort their owner. At least he wouldn't be alone then, he thought. When the phone rang, he was sure it was Monika, who usually knew she was in a bad mood.

"Did I overdo with this one?" Makary asked, trying to turn the situation into a joke, but after a while he realized that this was not the best solution, hearing a quiet sniffle. "Błażej, what's going on?"

"It's all right," replied the younger man. "I got the Christmas solitude."

"We can meet tomorrow if you want..."

"No," Błażej did not even want to see what kind of proposal he might hear. "I'll do something tomorrow, and I won't think about it."

"I haven't even finished talking," Makary replied sadly, wondering if he should have pushed harder. "But I'll be on the phone if you want to talk."

"I will remember that." Błażej smiled, thinking that this awareness should be enough for him. "Do not worry about me."

"Will we meet one more time this year?"

"I don't know," replied Błażej. "I wanted to work as many hours as possible since we have a break at the university."

"Rest a bit during this time," suggested Makary, clenching his fists, as if he wanted to personally see to it, but he had no such possibility.

"I'll do my best." The brown-eyed man yawned and mentioned that tiredness and sleep demanded its rights.

"Good night..." Makary used a moment to refer to the previous messages. "I really envy that blanket."

Błażej just laughed and in a sleepy voice said something about how it would be perfect if he didn't switch places with the gift, but it was an inseparable package with it.

Although Makary tried to persuade his beloved to meet him, he still refused, which caused him considerable frustration. When he resigned himself to the fact that they would not see each other on New Year's Eve, he agreed to take care of his nephews, giving the brothers the opportunity to spend a more entertaining and romantic evening with their chosen ones.

He did not know, however, that it was not Błażej's reluctance that was behind it, but his malaise, which was bothering him more and more every day. The disease finally caught up with him, and the apogee took place on the last day of the year. The first year barely made it through the day at work, coughing, having a sore throat, always carrying a packet of tissues, and generally feeling weak. In addition, he had no appetite, these symptoms intensified between Christmas and New Year's Eve, but on that day he was also consumed by fever. As soon as he got home, he lay down and fell asleep, and in the meantime his phone discharged.