She Gave Me You

Part 3 - When Your Eyes Meet Mine

It is already half way through the concert but the crowd is still at hype. Saab is now on her 8th song and she is sitting at the middle part of the stage.

"The next song I'm about to sing is a personal favorite of mine, I wrote this song personally during my vacation last year's summer. I was watching the sun fade when the thought of writing a song popped up. It was a beautiful scene and actually my favorite part of the day because it's a promise of a tomorrow. This song is really really close to my heart so I hope you would love it." 

...You don't need to say it

because the moment I looked into your eyes

it tells me how much you love me

so as I hold you in my arms tonight

I want you to look into my eyes

and I hope you can see 

how much you mean to me

and as the sun fades today

I will promise to spend all my tomorrows with you, forever...

As she continued singing while strumming her guitar, Saab caught a pair of eyes from the crowd. She moved closer to the edge of the stage, she wants to know who owns the most beautiful pair of eyes she'd ever seen. Yet when she can clearly see the owner of those eyes, Saab realized that those eyes are shedding tears. It's not tears of happiness, she can see pain, she can see longing, she can see loss. 

***

Celine was rushed to the hospital for the 4th time that year. It became worse and her body is deteriorating, it's no longer responding to any medication given by her doctor. Vince knew all along this was going to happen. He tried to be strong in front of Celine, he prepared for the worse, but I guess no one's ready when it comes to death. Especially if it's the only person you want to spend the rest of your life with. 

They dated for over 2 years and been engaged for 9 months. Even before their relationship became official, Vince is completely aware of Celine's condition.

Celine has chronic leukemia, it is a type of cancer of the blood. Vince has been Celine's personal nurse, he would take her to the hospital twice every month for her chemotherapy treatment and monthly check up, and that's when he decided to move in to Celine's Apartment. Though the fact that they both know that Celine's condition is getting worse everyday, Vince still kept on praying and hoping for a miracle to happen. And for the last 4 months, every waking morning when Vince sees her smile, it's been a miracle.

It happened so fast, and maybe, it was love at first sight. Vince realized that he is in love or may have been in love for a long time with his sickly yet beautiful music class partner. He loves how clumsy she is sometimes, how she tries to impersonate her favorite singer, how she sings to him everytime he feels down until he forgets why he was feeling sad at the first place, he loves how she calls him by his name, how he confessed at the rooftop of their school building during their school's foundation day. Vince loves everything about Celine, and as their lips touched after she gave her sweetest YES to him, he knew right then and there that Celine is the person he wants to spend his whole life with. 

But maybe it was really not meant to last. 

"Vince," Marie said between the comfortable silence. Vince is sitting down the grass in front of the lake, watching the sun fade with Celine on her wheelchair, looking very pale and tired.

"Hmmm...?" Vince answered.

"When I'm gone, I want you to move on okay? Look for someone who would take care of you. I don't want you to be alone." Celine said, her voice sounded serious, but not sad, not bitter. It was full of comfort, full of concern, full of love.

"Celine don't say that! We already talked about this, many times. You're not going anywhere!" Vince said with cracked voice, tears falling from his eyes. His heart hurts, Celine is already pushing him away even if she's still alive. 

"Hey, stop crying. I'm sorry okay. I just don't want you to be sad, and alone when the time comes. It's not that I'm pushing you away. I just want you to continue dreaming, to continue living. I'll be gone, but not my dreams, our dreams, not my love for you. I want you to complete our bucketlist, and even add more and more things you want to do. I still want you to continue your life, even if it's without me, but I will always stay in your heart. I'll be there. Forever." Celine said, she's brushing Vince's hair with her thin and cold fingers while the other is sobbing.

"I don't know if I can make it without you Celine... I can't imagine life without you." 

"If you'll miss me when I'm gone, just think of me and look at that fading sun from the sky, just like that, I'll be setting, it'll be dark. But wait for the millions of stars during the night sky, someone will still lighten up your darkest days, and somewhere beyond those stars, I'll be there, watching over you, smiling. So I want you to promise to me that you will never lose that smile, because it's the most beautiful thing I've seen in this short, yet wonderful existence."

"Promise..." Vince said almost whispering.

And just like that, Celine died.

12 months had past and it still feels like yesterday. 

Vince is sitting among the crowd inside that big arena. He just heard Celine's favorite song and every word of the song just cuts through his heart. He misses Celine, so much that he didn't noticed he's been crying the whole time.