Without Her

chapter 7 - he's here

"It's not my place to tell you that. Tessa will be out in an hour, ask her then" she looks away.

"C'mon Kim just tell me. I can't wait a fucking hour!" my anxiety level is shooting up.

"You have to" she says and walks away, I don't know where.

I am left alone with hundreds of thoughts about what might be going on right now.

Is she pregnant? She can't be- we haven't had sex in so long.

Did she have an accident? She didn't look hurt, physically. I don't think an accident is the case here.

If there's something seriously wrong with her, I will never forgive myself. I haven't been able to give time to her. I should have noticed how pale she has gotten and if she is suffering, I wasn't there for her.

The longest 53 minutes of my life are over and she comes out in her own clothes, walking towards me. I immediately stand up and meet her halfway.

"What happened?" I ask and she just wraps her arms around me. I put my hands on her back and she sighs in my neck.

"Come here" she holds my hands and takes me somewhere.

My eyes are only focused on her but when we finally stop, I realize we're outside the nursery ward.

My immediate thought is that she is pregnant. Why in the world would she bring me to watch tons of babies.

She faces towards them and observes them all while I just look at her in confusion.

"Are you-" I stutter and she chuckles, which somewhat relieves my mind.

"Pregnant? No I'm not" she says and I sigh louder than intended.

"Tessa what is going on?" My patience level is in negative now.

She looks at me, with a look I haven't seen on her face before.

"There- there is a" she clears her throat and closes her eyes. "There is a tumor detected in my lungs" she whispers and after her words hit my ears, my chest gets heavier than before and suddenly my stomach starts churning.

"What?" I ask, in complete disbelief of what I just heard.

"Yes" her eyes fill up and she looks up at me, her lips trembling.

"Tess- what-" I am unable to form words in my mind. "How?"

"I don't know" she bites her lips together, and the amount of pain in her voice is killing me right now. "They performed a biopsy now, to check for- cancer"

I'm pretty sure I heard the last word wrong. Did she just-

"Check for what?" I step back from her and she nods her head, telling me that I heard it right. "You might- you might have-" the lump in my throat isn't allowing me to speak right now.

"Hey" she comes closer and holds my face with her cold hand, wiping the tears I didn't know were there.

It all makes sense now. Her coughing, her getting sick often. And I was there neglecting the signs, giving my work more importance.

"We aren't sure yet" she whispers and I remove her hand from my face.

"You don't have- You're not sick. You- you are fine Tessa" I scoff and almost laugh because this all has to be some sort of joke.

"I don't think I am" she whispers and tears run down her cheek.

"Shut up" I wipe her tears. "You are completely fine. You- come we can go watch Five Feet Apart. Come on, this is all bullshit. Let's go" I hold her hand and start walking but she holds me back.

"Hardin" she calls but I keep walking, taking her with me. "Hardin!" she shouts and I snap back.

"What?" I whisper and look into her eyes.

She says nothing and pulls my mouth into hers, swiftly entering her tongue in my mouth. I hold her waist tight and kiss her harder.

"There is nothing wrong with you, okay?" I breathe in her mouth and she nods, still crying silently. "I love you"

Tessa's POV:

Hardin is taking this news, worse than I thought he would. He is in straight up denial and I cannot watch him like this.

"How are you feeling?" he asks me, interlocking his fingers with mine as he drags me out of the nursery ward.

"Fine" I lie because I am feeling a little dizzy, after the anesthesia I guess.

"You don't have to lie to me Tess" he says, his voice laced with guilt and sadness.

"I am not" I give him a small smile and he nods.

We are called in by the doctor who attends me. By the look on Hardin's face, I can tell he is scared but he isn't showing anything.

He takes a deep breath and sits down on the chair beside me.

"I assume you're her husband" the doctor asks him and he just simply nods, looking at me.

"So what we did today was take a sample of your abnormal tissue, a part of the tumor. We have sent it to the labs and analysis will take a few days. Any doubts?" He asks us and Hardin keeps his hand above mine.

"No-" I say but Hardin cuts me off.

"What are the-" he whispers, and after years I've heard his voice break. "What are the chances of the-"

"80%" the doctor says with pity and Hardin looks away, standing up in aggression.

Without any word, he storms out of there and I give the doctor a last nod before walking out too.

"Is everything okay?" Kimberly asks and Hardin keeps walking, ignoring literally everyone around him.

"I don't know" I tell her and she clicks her tongue.

I honestly don't know what's happening. It feels a big deal now that Hardin is involved too. I am positive that he isn't going to take it well, worse than anyone.

Kimberly and I stop by the medical area, to buy some prescribed medicines.

"I'll call him to see where he is waiting" I inform Kimberly and dial Hardin's number.

It goes straight to voicemail.

"He isn't picking up" I tell her.

We exit the hospital and wait for him outside in the main gate, still no word from him.

After 20 minutes of patient wait in the car, Kimberly suggests we leave for home. I don't know where Hardin went but I'm worried about him. I know this news came as a big shock to him and I just hope he didn't storm off to a bar or something. Because that's one way of him dealing with things.

"Hey, uhm, where did you go? Hardin please call me back. I am headed home and I expect you to be there too. Don't do anything stupid" I leave him a voicemail and Kimberly starts driving.

***

Author's note-

All I can say is do not worry, maybe. Don't forget to vote and comment, let me know how you like it! xx