The next day, I accompanied Everett to a drinking party, and as I raised my glass, he sat calmly to one side and watched me.
I’m reminded of Jasper’s words. Drinking alcohol is tantamount to shortening your life. If you want to live longer, love yourself more. In the next second, I tilted my head back and drank the wine in my glass.
Live, and for how long? Just a few more months, kinda pointless.
There was a roar of approval and a cacophony of voices, and I was given another full pour.
I don’t know how long I’ve been drinking, but when I raised my glass again, Everett pressed my hand, “If you can’t drink it, don’t drink it.”
“It’s fine.” I smiled at him and raised my glass again.
He was still holding me down tightly, his eyes dark and unseeing, his voice cold, “That’s enough. I said enough, Isadora.”
I reached out with my other hand, lifted the glass up, and drank it down in one gulp, and his face sank in a flash, and for a moment, he slowly let go of my hand.
Off to the side, I was advised, “Miss. Quinn, you don’t look too good, why don’t you stop drinking.”
This time, Everett’s voice was louder, audible to the entire room, “Let her drink and drink herself to death!”
The box went quiet and everyone could tell that Everett was pissed.
We both seem to have had a fight.
So in no time at all, those who were supposed to leave did so.
We ended up leaving the show and in the car, he and I both sat in the back.
My stomach turned over, and I was nauseous and had a throbbing pain. My stomach cancer was in an advanced stage, and the pain was connected to the nerves, making it feel like not only my stomach, but also my organs and limbs were following the pain.
I wanted to take the medicine out of my pocket, but then I remembered that you can’t take medicine if you’ve been drinking, so I had to stop. But my stomach really hurt too much, a reflux came up, I thought I was going to vomit, and hurriedly bowed up to cover my mouth, but the result was a fishy sweetness in my throat, and my mouth was filled with the taste of rust, and I secretly spread my hands, and saw a blood red.
I quietly withdrew my hand, grabbed a tissue from the side to wipe the blood away, and bowed.
Everett’s eyes look over and I don’t move, tucking the paper in my hand into my coat pocket.
Suddenly, a patch of stomach warmers came into view.
I looked at Everett.
He squirmed and tossed the stomach warmer into my arms, averting his eyes, “The ones Jasper bought look shitty, mine are better.”
I ripped open the stomach warmer patch and put it on through my shirt, feeling the warmth slowly travel into my stomach.
Couldn’t help but ask, “Have you ever regretted marrying me?”
He looked at me steadily, the emotions in his eyes hidden under the dimness, indistinguishable, and he didn’t answer, he asked me instead, “What about you, do you regret it?”
I shook my head, “Everett, I’ve never regretted it. It was the best thing that ever happened to me to marry you, honestly.”
I don’t know if it’s just me, but his face seems to look a little better.
Everett broke down and stopped going out on dates every day. He started staying home and not going anywhere except to the office.
In the evenings, too, he would sit next to me while I watched TV and pour me a cup of hot water, as he used to do.
I leaned on his shoulder and not only would he not push me away, he would shift his position to make me a little more comfortable.
I’ve witnessed several times when Juliana called him and he didn’t answer.
The days settled down again. Feelings like this make me feel like I’m back in the old days.
There are no fights between him and I, no gap between us, we still want to be as good as before, and my mood is getting better day by day. I can’t help but think that it would be nice to live like this for the rest of the months.
Unfortunately, time passed too quickly. Without realizing it, a month had passed.
Early one morning, Juliana called Everett once more.
He didn’t answer. It wasn’t long before Juliana called me.
With one word, she made my mind go “buzz” and then blank.
“Sis, he’s not answering my calls, so I had to contact you. I’m pregnant, you guys won’t care, right?”