Sincerely, Jayvee

10

Days slowly turned into weeks, and before long, they became months. I threw myself into dating other girls, hoping to forget you. I poured myself into work, trying to move on, but it was no use.

Ikaw pa rin, Abby.

Your last message left me in a state of confusion. Was I wrong to believe that we could be more than just friends? Or was it just another instance of bad timing?

I didn’t understand it until that day...

I saw you at the hospital, in those sterile corridors. You were sitting in a wheelchair, with IV lines attached to your arm, and medical bracelets circling your wrist. The hospital gown you wore hung loosely on your frail frame, and your skin was pale almost a ghostly white.

The physical changes were jarring, but all I saw was the woman I had loved for years.

“Abby is d-dying,” your mother told me, her voice trembling.

The words hung in the air, heavy and suffocating.

You had stage four cancer and you had been fighting this battle for months, undergoing grueling treatments that left you weak and exhausted. But, the cancer had already spread to your liver and lungs. The prognosis was grim, with only a month left.

“Bakit hindi mo sinabi sa akin?” I asked between my sobs, trying to get an answer.

Yet, you just cried. “I-I'm so s-sorry... sorry.”

I thought that knowing the reason why you pushed me away would ease my heart. I never imagined that finding out would be so terrifying.

I tried to process the reality of it all, but disbelief clouded my thoughts.

I was way too late.

But what if fate had not been too unfair?