Chapter 25: End Credits

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by skyseigami

Dedicated to Deirdre Bunjai Bucking

by skyseigami

Juliette's P.O.V.:

17th March 2023:

They were there. Waving, staring and smiling at me. Willy and Ally were next to him. My 5-year-old was sleeping. Head on my shoulder while I'm carrying him. Little sleepyhead. I woke him up. His arms still clinging on my neck. i greeted Willy and Ally. They took my little hero away and played with him.

I named him Anakin. Why? Well, Em, or Emma as we call him, wanted to. And no, I'm not married to Em. I am now divorced for 3 years now. It's only me and Anakin left. Willy and Ally on the other hand are happily married with 2 kids. A boy and a girl aged of 6 and 5.

As I looked at Anakin, happily playing, it kind of reminded me of Em. I don't know why. Was it the eyes? The energy he gave out? Again, I do not know.

As I look to my left, I see a face so familiar. The moment I saw him, I was filled with joy and sadness. I went up to him and recalled what had happened 10 years back. Every detail of it.

15th February 2013:

Em was sitting on the hospital bed. He was staring out to the world, not knowing I entered his room.

"Hey you," said I with a smile. "Hey," he replied, with a smile too. His eyes smiled too as he smiled. We were fine even after the slapping incident. He doesn't seem to mind that I came everyday to see him. When he smiles, I want to break down because when he does so, it looks so painful for him to do so.

When he was admitted, he was bleeding excessively. Ally cried so much and I freaked out. The others were worried for him. His dad came by later on and the doctor told his what is going on. "Sir, I'm sorry to say this but he is at the last stage of brain tumour. I have been his doctor for the past 9 months and he asked me not to tell anyone about this. All we have to do now is pray. Again I am sorry."

His dad walked away from us and held on the wall for support. He clasp upon his face with his right hand and broke down. Slowly, he went from standing to squating, still holding onto the wall and clasping his face with the other hand. i went up to him to comfort him out. This was a hard time for all of us. I cried eventually.

16th February 2013:

He was staring out again.

"Hey, I brought chicken soup," I said. He smiled again. He was quiet.

While he was eating, I suddenly apologized. "Em, I'm sorry." "What for?," he asked. with the chicken still in his mouth. "You know, the way I treated you after we broke up and for the other night." "Ah. it's okay." "But it's not." "I said it's okay." He put his hand on my face and smiled. His thumb stroking my cheek gently. So frail and then I realized I miss this. All of his love.

During the night, he was reading. Not sure if he can even. I spent the night in the hospital. Em was surprised about it but then he was happy to see me. He looked pale. I sat next to him and we exchanged looks and stories about our day but let's be real, there nothing to talk about actually.

He turned on his night lamp beside his bed and asked me to turn off the lights. I turned it off and when I turned behind, he patted his bed signalling me to sit next to him. I went up to him and turned over the blanket and got on the bed and put the blanket over my feet. We continued talking about thing that aren't related to any of the topics we're discussing. Time after time, we found ourselves lying on the bed, side by side, and in the end, we had our hands on each other's hips and staring back breathlessly into each other's eyes. I tried to look away but I just can't.

"I've missed you, Em." I suddenly blurted out those words, my head buried in his chest. He gave out a little laugh. "You idiot. You're not supposed to miss me." He kissed me, in the forehead. I kept quiet and snuggled up to him more. The sudden decrease of weight really surprised me. I eventually cried silently. "Jules, are you crying?" "No I'm not! There's something in my eyes," I tried to cover myself up. "Yeah, right. You know, you should really save them for your first born. This time, it's useless. Hah." "You asshole." "Wow, badass Jules." "Screw you, Em." He had his hand on my head, stroking my hair to sleep.

17th February 2013:

I woke up. He was still breathing. Thank God for that. Opening his eyes slowly, he asked, "Up so early princess?" "I'm not a princess, Em. And good morning to you too." I got out of bed and put on Em's Storm sweater. "I'm going downstairs to get something to eat. You want anything?" "I just want sleep and for you to name your son Anakin." "Alright then sleepyhead and no, I'm not naming my son Anakin. I'll wake you up as soon as I come back up again okay?" "Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy." "Come here." I hugged him on his bed and kissed him. He was surprised. "Wow okay. What was that Jules?" "Nothing. Okay I'm hungry. See you later." Okay I did not just do that. Ugh. I went down and got myself a cup of coffee and a couple of sandwiches.

As soon as I pressed the level button in the elevator to go up again, I sensed something was wrong. Terribly wrong. Woman's intuition they call it. The moment the elevator door opened, I jogged to Em's room. A couple of nurses and a doctor was rushing into Em's room. No. Please don't. I ran to the doorstep of Em's room and I found him, lying, smiling, but with no life in him.

The coffee and the sandwiches were already falling to the floor as I ran up to him. The nurse forbid my to enter but pushed her aside. I shook Em's body and shouting to his face, "EM, DON'T YOU FUCKING LEAVE ME!" No response. I let go of him. I fell to the floor, wrapped my hands on my legs, and broke down, hard. "Fuck you, Em. I hate you for leaving me. I'm sorry." For one second, I can hear him saying this, "I'm sorry Jules. Some things you just have to let go." "Fucking hell, Em," I said silently. His dad came by and found me outside of the room. He saw his son fully covered with a white sheet and broke down too. Finally all of our friends came by. Some were comforting, some were crying. Nobody's happy.

17th March 2023:

I am now staring at a tombstone. My little Anakin came up to me and asked, "Mommy, why are you looking at that tombstone? It's scary." I laughed at my little Jedi. ''It's not scary Ani. This here is your uncle Em.'' ''The on you always talked about?" "Yes little guy. Aww you remember. Let me tell you a secret. He was the one who gave the idea to name you Anakin." "I don't like my name." I laughed again. "Okay. You see Ani, uncle Em didn't like his name too. That's why he gave you a special name. During our time, Anakin was a warrior's name." I lied to him. I know it's wrong but what the heck. "Really?" "Yes. Really." I smiled and Willy and Ally came up to me and we all got into a group hug. "We all miss him Jules." "I know Al." Em's dad was in the UK doing some business thing. But most probably, he wanted to leave this place because it just gives out the bad memories. We couldn't blame him. We would want to get out of here if we could.

"All right. We gotta move. We have a flight to catch. Okay, Ani. Say goodbye to aunty and uncle." "Hey I'm not that old," Willy objected to the term 'uncle'. "Well you are older than him so yeah. Boo hoo." "We're gonna miss you Jules," he said again. "'l'll miss you both too," I replied feeling teary. Ani and I left. As we were leaving, I turned around one last time and caught a glimpse of what seems to be a man with the face of Em's smiling at us. I blinked to confirmed it. He was gone. A figment of your own imagination, thought to myself.

"Mommy, this uncle Em, he is good right?" Ani asked that question out of the blue. I bent down and replied to that question of his. "Yes, Mr. Anakin. He is a good man. He's like you a bit. He's sweet, just like you, no matter how annoying you are. Charmingly annoying." Ani then hugged me and I was surprised because a certain someone would also do that out of the blue. Coincidence? I guess not. "Okay no time of lovey dovey now Ani. we have a flight to catch. Come on."

17th June 2012:

"I will love you forever, unconditionally, no matter what state we're in. One day you will hate a part of me but I will still love you," he said while having his hands on mine, grabbing it tight and kissed my forehead. "Aaa thank you. That was sweet. I love you too." "No what's sweet is this candy." He took out a piece of candy from his pocket and we laughed and be hopelessly in love.