SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER: Evening Sky by Austin Farewell.
My mother used to tell me,
"offer kindness proactively. Pay attention to the people around you and what you can do to make their lives a little easier."
Adonis was not improving; his heart was too weak for his body and activity. I tried my hardest to support him at all hours of the day and night while we waited to be scheduled for the LVAD treatment.
Despite the fact that he was ill and feeling unwell. He continued to play with Adeline and tried to chase her around the hospital. I saw how his family cared for him and how much they all loved him; Adonis was a big part of their lives.
Adonis had a family.
Adonis had people who loved him more than anything in the world, he was their little joker. Night goes by and I sat in the same chair for a month now, getting an LVAD treatment required a lot of paperwork. It was an expensive treatment that thankfully he could afford.
Maxwell and I are still legally married and waiting for the divorce settlement.
However, sitting on this couch for the past couple of weeks made me realise how much I love Adonis. How much he loves me, the way he looks at me and the way he makes me smile. His silly jokes and unfunny dirty ones. However, sleep is not healing the stress I am going through, I had restless night and my legs were walking back and forth.
"Daily joke?" My eyes widen and I look back at Adonis slowly adjusting himself up against the bed. I rush towards him, looking all over his body to make sure he's okay. "What did the penis say to the condom?" Oh, this fucking man-
"What?"
"Cover me, I'm going in!" He bursts out laughing at his own jokes. "Oh, come on, I heard you say it was funny."
"I only said that because I knew you'd come back from the dead to tell me 'I told you so'" I lie.
"Mhm, not like you cried for thirty minutes straight wanting to hear another joke."
"If you weren't already fucked up, I'd fuck you up myself."
"What did the penis say to the vagina?" I am not even going to-"Don't make me come in there!" Okay, maybe that was slightly funny. I press my forehead onto his, stroking the back of his head. I look up and see the doctor standing by the window to wait for my signal. I shake my head, asking her to give us more time.
"Adonis."
"Catherine."
"I love you."
"I love you snowflake." I crawl into the bed next to him, he takes my hands into his as touches it with a small kiss.
"Thank you, thank you for helping me...protecting me and supporting me."
"Why do you sound like you're the one whose dying?" He chuckles, I nod my head at the doctor.
The doctor pushes the door open, "Mr Nicolaides, good news!" Adonis slowly sits up; Ares enters the room with Atlas at the same time. Alex slips past and waits for the good news, "we have a heart donor." Atlas lets out a scream of happiness as he hugs Adonis, I step out of the bed with a small smile printed on my face.
Adonis grasps my hands, "I told you I wasn't going to die, now we can go to Paris and fuck all day long." Atlas squeals and steps away from the two of us, tears brim my eyes as I gently press my lips against his.
This universe connects lovers who are destined to do wonderful things together, to improve the lives of others rather than just themselves. However, introductions can take time and be spread out over weeks, months, or years.
During this time, the pain of separation acts as a focusing lens, allowing each person to see the purity of their love and be certain that they can only have one lover in their lifetime.
Otherwise, the dark force would sew paranoia and replay the pains of their past to separate them from the start.
I always tell myself that.
I have lived long enough to know that what we have in common cannot be replicated by another. This love, this feeling, is only between him and me.
If I wanted true love, I could travel the world and the seven seas, but I'd still have to return here. Not because no one else wants me or him, but because we were born to spark and run the same race. We are each other's protectors, confidants, and faithful friends.
The trust I place in him and that he places in me is what keeps us safe in this world and in this life.
So, it is Adonis' heart, whether it beats for another day or a hundred years. "I have to go to a therapy session Adonis, but I will be waiting for you when you finish the surgery." Adonis nods, and his sisters enters the room with flowers. I walk out of the room and look back once more.
"Okay, sign these papers and we are good to go." Doctor Ashrama says.
"Catherine- Catherine what are you doing?" Alexandra rushes after me, I hand the doctors the papers as they begin to prep me for surgery.
Alexandra was looking around at all the nurses ready to dress me, "Catherine!"
"Alexandra, you're my best friend, right?"
Alex looks at me flabbergasted, I take her hands into mine and feel tears glow into my eyes. I settle down onto the gurney, and the nurses inject me away with fluids.
"Catherine...no... what are you doing?"
"Alexandra, I don't have a family...I don't have a sister or a brother, my mum is dead, and my father is in prison. I don't have people waiting for me, not like Adonis has with you guys. I made a lot of mistakes in my life; I've hurt you and I've hurt everyone that I have ever loved. But this-this is not a mistake..."
Alexandra begins crying, sobbing into my hands. "What are you doing Catherine?"
"Adeline loves her uncle, she deserves to play with him without him getting tired or in fear that he won't- I am donating my heart to him and receiving his heart in exchange, I will have the LVAD, and he will have a normal, healthy heart."
"Have you told him? Have you told him this? Are you bloody insane Cathy?" Her eyes were inches away from being popped out of her skull, I could tell how worried she was and how stupid she thinks I am for doing this. But loves makes people go crazy, and for the first time...this love made me feel right.
"I have not told him, and I don't want you to tell him either. I have twenty percent chance on getting out of the surgery alive." Her arms wrap around my body, and she engulfs me into a tight hug. "And if i do die, give him this letter...and tell him how much I deeply care for him." She takes the envelope from my hands, Doctor Ashrama asks Alexandra to leave so they can take me to the surgery.
This was actually happening.
It felt crazy.
It felt utterly unbelievable, but it was for a good deserving person.
◾◾◾ THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW ◾◾◾
Alexandra stayed by Catherine's side the entire time, and she kept her promise not to tell Adonis that his donor's heart was actually—the love of his life's. Surprisingly, they were in the same operating room. Catherine returned her gaze to Adonis, who had already been put to sleep.
She extends her hand and touches his.
Catherine's entire life, she never thought she would do something as selfless as this. Her entire life people called her nothing but selfish, and for the first time...she does not feel like it.
"I love you Adonis, and your silly jokes...I will always be your snowflake, just slowly melting away." She whispers, Doctor Ashrama stands in view of Adonis and gives Catherine the okay. The okay that Catherine will be asleep and maybe-never wake up.
Doctor Ashrama held Catherine's heart in her hand, whilst the other surgical doctor held Adonis's. Two hearts, destined to be together but so far apart. Doctor Ashrama places Catherine's heart into Adonis chest, making sure the Aorta connection and the pulmonary artery was sewn into place. Doctor Ashrama stepped back and waited for the heart to beat after giving it an epi dosage.
"Come on Adonis..." She whispers.
A heartbeat.
A smile prints onto doctor Ashramas face, "alright he has a healthy heart people, close him up and let's get Catherine her LVAD." Everyone in the operating room cheers, Doctor Ashrama turns to Catherine and begins to sew his heart into hers. The LVAD machine was being properly sanitised and cleared for any infection.
"He has a good, healthy heart Catherine..." Doctor Ashrama whispers. "You saved his life."
As Doctor Ashrama waited for the weak heartbeat, nothing came onto the machines. "Alright she's gone into v-fib, let's get into cardioversion-"
Adonis has a healthy heart now, and he does not know...that the love of his life gave it to him...the love of his life that he may never see again.