AMACon 3: Oikos - Children

Eros - Chapter Eight

New York City, July 2011

"Stage 2 Liver Cancer. You have to ease up on the alcohol Richard. I warned you a year ago that this would take a toll on you."

"Pffttt. Cancer is cancer doc. Even if I quit at this stage, I'd still die sooner or later so why not now?"

"Richard. If you want me to help you, help yourself too. This can't go on."

"Doc, I have no family of my own, no girlfriend or kids. I can die now and no one will feel a change in their lives. I've lived alone long enough to know that dying would be my graceful exit. I'm just too much of a wuss to actually kill myself."

"Look, there's only so much I can do to help you. I don't even know why you bother to meet with me if you're so hell-bent on inflicting so much damage on yourself."

"Yeah, I guess it's just your company I come for doc, haha. Consider this my last visit then."

He walked out of the clinic, slightly tipsy from this morning's rum coffee. The sun was shining brightly outside, intensifying his headache. His phone vibrated non-stop, prompting him to clumsily reach for it in his back pocket.

"Hello, Richard? It's Dei.....Please don't put the phone down."

"What do you want Dei?"

"I need to see you—"

"NO."

"Please, Richard."

He ended the call and walked to across the street to get to Vantaggio, the name of their coffee chain. He had to stop walking from time to time because the pain in his gut was acting up again and it hurt more when he was walking. Dei had been trying to call him through the years but he never relented. He wanted her to have an untainted life.

He finally staggered into the coffee shop, almost falling into Dei's arms who was there it seemed, waiting for him.

"Dei...I said no."

And then the world turned around him and everything went black.

When he woke up, he was back in the hospital, alone in a private room. An IV drip was attached to him. He tried to stand up, wanting to take out the drip from his hand, but he felt dizzy again and sank back into the bed. The door opened, and Dei walked in, carrying a brown bag that smelled heavenly.

"Richard, I got you some soup and a sandwich from the deli downstairs."

He watched her take out the plastic-wrapped sandwiches and the bowl of soup from the bag, along with the mineral water bottle and arrange it in the hospital tray that contained the hospital food delivered earlier. She wheeled the table nearer to his bed.

"Dei, what is this? Why are you here?"

"We'll talk later. You have to eat, you'll need to take your medication after eating."

"I don't want to eat."

She approached and sat on the bed beside him. He refused to look at her, but her hand was on his cheek, gently turning his face toward hers. They just looked at each other, drinking in each other's appearance. She was even prettier now than when he first saw her, more womanly, the planes of her face less rounded and more pronounced now. She closed the gap between their faces and kissed him, her lips barely touching his at first. But he pulled her closer by the nape, closing his eyes to the pleasure of tasting her again.

It was better than he imagined, her lips moved over his gently, her tongue seeking his, her hands on both sides of his face. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembered she was a married woman, but felt too weak to resist her, getting lost in the sensations her mouth was creating. Finally he did succeed to break the kiss, she leans her forehead against his, their noses touching.