Occasionally, Anne wiped her wet eyes when she heard Doctor Leo and Steffi were talking via video call, even though her face didn't appear on the monitor, Anne could see Steffi's pale face, which looked very thin.
"No, Doc, I don't want to treat my illness. I think this pain is a penance for the sins that I've done so far in a conscious state, so right now what I want to do is enjoy every pleasure," said Steffi hoarsely as she continued to stare at Doctor Leo who just read Steffi's test result that was emailed.
Currently, Steffi's blood cancer had reached Stage IV. Stage IV indicated that the blood cancer had metastasized. In other words, the cancer cells that were previously only in the blood, bone marrow, and lymph nodes eventually spread to other organs of the body. At this stage, the patient usually experiences typical symptoms such as constant pain throughout the body, weakness, and inability to do anything, and the body wa getting thinner.
"At least, try the therapy in the hospital first, Miss. Don't despair like this, God will really dislike His servants who are in despair," Doctor Leo answered slowly, giving advice to Steffi.
Steffi, who was sitting on her bed, smiled and shook her head slowly. "May I speak to Anne, Doc?"
"Of course."
Doctor Leo immediately pointed the laptop screen at Anne who was sitting next to him without asking Anne's approval first, thus making Anne look nervous because she was face to face with Steffi even though it was through her laptop screen.
In two minutes, there was no conversation between Steffi and Anne, the two of them just stared at each other in silence with eyes that were already filled with tears.
"I'm sorry for what happened to your son, Anne," Steffi said quietly, breaking the silence between the two of them.
"Thank you," answered Anne hoarsely, her voice shaking with sobs.
Realizing his existence was not needed, Doctor Leo slowly came out of Anne's room with Noah who had previously brought drinks for Anne.
Anne, who was ready to speak, restrained herself when she saw Steffi was coughing. Even though at this time Steffi had used a handkerchief to cover her mouth, Anne could still see the drops of blood that had accumulated on the white handkerchief. Anne's chest was getting tighter when she saw Steffi's suffering. She was sure that at this time Steffi must be in a lot of pain.
"STEFFI." Anne called out to Steffi hoarsely trying to keep the tears from falling down her face.
Steffi who had just drank the water then smiled back at Anne. "Sorry, I hope you're not disgusted by the sound of my cough earlier, Anne."
"Disgusted? Why are you talking like that at a time like this?"
Steffi smiled. "Don't, Anne, don't cry. You don't deserve to cry for a lowly and ignorant woman like me. Your position is much different from me who is just a prostitute. So please don't waste your tears on me."
It was too late as Anne's tears could not be held back any longer. Like water in the rainy season, Anne's tears flowed profusely from her eyes, wetting her beautiful face without any make-up.
Seeing Anne was crying, Steffi automatically cried. She cried silently with a chest that hurt so much. It seemed like her life really wasn't long, every time she took a breath, she felt a stabbing pain in her lungs.
"Why don't you want to do the treatments, Steffi? You can definitely recover if you want to do the treatments," said Anne quietly.
"My illness is very serious, Anne. It is impossible to cure and it is very impossible to be able to recover as before, but I am grateful for my condition which has awakened me from my selfishness and arrogance," said Steffi slowly. "All I want to do is apologize to you, I pray to God every day to give me a chance to apologize to you for all the madness I've done in the past."
Anne wiped her tears quickly. "I've forgiven you, long ago. I really have forgiven you, Steffi. So you don't need to talk like that. What you should do right now is to focus on your healing. Trust me, you can still heal. Get back to normal, Steffi."
"You're too kind, Anne, very kind in fact. Now I understand why Mrs. Catherine liked you so much, unlike me, who was filled with ugly qualities that made you hurt. Cough... I'm sorry, Anne, I'm sorry for what I've done to you before. I'm really sorry for being a third person in your marriage with Leon."
Anne shook her head quickly, clutching her laptop. "Forget it. I don't want to talk about it anymore. I've forgotten everything that happened to us before. I've forgotten about that crazy man too. So stop talking about all that again, I don't want to hear it."
Steffi looked at Anne with teary eyes. She slowly touched her laptop screen like she was touching Anne's face. "If there was another life after this, I would like to be your friend once again, Anne. You still want to be my friend again, don't you?"
"Of course, of course I would. We're also friends right now, you're my friend, Steffi. Please don't talk anymore, your face is so pale. You'd better take your medicine and—"
"Marianne." Steffi cut Anne's words quickly. "Listen to me carefully, I'm not going to say much more, so please listen to what I have to say... cough... Leon, that bad guy is targeting you guys. He has ambitions to separate you from your husband, actually since a long time ago when he saw you back in college. At that time, Leon's ambition to have you was very big. But because at that time I was beside him, he couldn't do much, unlike now. Tell your husband to be careful with him. Leon will not be fooling around. He will do anything to achieve his goal. You know that, don't you?"
Anne nodded slowly. "I know," she answered slowly.
"Good, I pray to God for all the happiness for you and your family, Anne. I'm sorry for my previous mistakes that have made you suffer, I actually don't deserve to apologize to you after what I've done so far," said Steffi again in a voice that was increasingly inaudible.
"Steffi, stop..."
"Cough ..."
Splat!
Steffi's laptop monitor screen was sprayed with fresh blood that came out of her mouth and made Anne screamed loudly in surprise.
Using her hands, Steffi hastily cleaned her monitor screen from the blood, even though her mouth was still dripping fresh blood. Steffi's condition really made Anne unable to speak other than crying.
"Steffi..."
Once again, Steffi coughed for a long time, Anne immediately closed her eyes. Not because she was disgusted, but because she couldn't bear it. Anne could clearly hear how many times Steffi had vomited blood, it really hurt.
Realizing that it was almost time, Steffi looked back at the laptop screen and smiled at Anne. "I-I'm lucky to know you, Anne, and have been your friend even for a short time, I-I'm sorry M-Marian...ann..."
Silence, there was no sound came from Steffi. Now Anne was looking at the bedroom wall from her laptop screen, Steffi was no longer there. Not even the sound of coughing could be heard anymore. Instantly, Anne's whole body went cold.
"Doctor Leo ... Doctor Leo ...." Anne screamed loudly for Doctor Leo to come back into her room.
"What's wrong, Madam?" Doctor Leo asked quickly as soon as he entered Anne's room again.
Anne pointed at her laptop screen and said, "Please ... help Steffi."
To be continued
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