2 PROLOGUE: INFLAMMATION

I squinted my eyes open, fighting my heavy eyelids to open, my vision was blitzed by the sunlight invading through the white parted curtains. I shut my eyes momentarily and reopened them, only to meet with the white ceilings. I stared at the ceiling perceiving a familiar scent and the patterns on the ceilings weren't the same as the ceilings of my bedroom.

I slowly descended my eyes around the room, wondering what place was this. I also heard a beeping sound, I periodically and slowly traced my eyes around the room to make out where I was. I tried to sit up but the numbness in my bones won't let me, I gave up the struggle and let my body lay limp on the white bed. I looked over to my shoulder to where the beeping sound was coming from and there lay a heart reading monitor.

I diverted my gaze as I took into my surroundings, wondering how I got here, the last thing I remembered was standing in front of his house. My thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and a man emerged dressed in a white lab coat with a stethoscope around his neck.

I didn't need to be told he's a doctor and this was a hospital, and I was in some ward. But the question that left me curious was how I ended up here. The supposed doctor walked in with a male nurse. He wore some spectacles over his eyes and a grin displayed across his face when he approached me.

His brooding eyes penetrated through as though he was trying to read me, I managed to curl my lips into a weak smile as he stood in front of me.

"How are you feeling?" Came his voice, calmly.

He pulled out his stethoscope and stuck the earpiece in his ears. He placed the drum on my chest, probably checking my heartbeat.

"Weak," I managed to utter a word, which rather came out faint. I watched him attentively as he went on with his business.

"You aren't feeling any pain right?" He asked again, pulling his eyebrows together creating a thin line.

"Apart- from the numbness- I'm feeling, no," I picked my words one after the other as I replied to him.

"I must say, your body is a strong one," he said and broadened the smile on his face. I wondered what he was talking about, what prompted him to say that?

"Thank goodness your vitals are back to normal. Everything is working perfectly well again." He added.

I still couldn't understand what he was yapping about or the language he was communicating with. All I could just do was respond to him with a stare.

"There was an inflammation in your airways...." he trailed off momentarily, holding my gaze. "How often do you stay in humid weather?"

I raised an eyebrow inquisitively, failing to understand what he asked. He quickly elaborated seeing the look on my face. "How often do you stay under cold weather?"

"I don't know….., why?"

"As I said earlier, there was an inflammation in your airways, they accumulated so much moisture- your lungs would've completely shut down if you weren't brought on time by your boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" I raised my brow inquisitively at him again.

"Yes," he nodded. "The man that brought you here, your Boyfriend. You were drenched in the rain considering the fact you are asthmatic," he paused momentarily before continuing.

He rubbed his forehead and let out a worried sigh. "For now, you are suffering from MPA."

"MPA?"

He nodded. "Moderate persistent asthma, the symptoms occur every day including nights and if care isn't taken…..it might lead to the final stage which is SPA." He explained when he saw the look in my eyes.

"Severe persistent asthma which is constant and could lead to death."

I shut my eyes as I pondered what the doctor said, I felt the doctor's voice grow distant as I drowned myself in what he just blurted out. I wasn't after the fact that my life could be shortened if care wasn't taken. I knew from the beginning that my life was to be short-lived but he also mentioned my boyfriend was here, could it be him or someone else?

Yes, I went over to his place but didn't meet with him. Could he have come out later and out of the abundance of his heart taken me to the hospital?

What if he didn't? What if I'm just reading meaning into nothing? Could what I heard yesterday be my figment? A single tear escaped my right eye and rolled down my face as my mind traveled back to what I heard him say behind that closed door, the words he told her. My chest tightened when his words from earlier flooded in.

"Anyways, have a good rest before going," the doctor's voice came again, pulling me out of my thoughts. "And stay away from anything cold, wear sweaters or warm clothes. Clothes that will keep your body heated up and come for medical checkups.

With those words from him, he turned and strode out of the room with the male nurse who didn't speak at all but instead scribbled down things on the hand pad he held.

"The man that brought me…..my boyfriend…..," I corrected myself quickly to avoid being given a suspicious look by the doctor. "Is he here? Can I see him?'

"Unfortunately he left the moment he brought you here," sighed the doctor. "I guess he was busy with something, he had to leave so quickly but I believe he will be back. To check on you."

"Alright," I mumbled faintly and faced the ceiling as though I could find the answers to the questions in my heart.

𝐸𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟~

Thunders roared, lightning flashed across the skies as a heavy downpour rained on me, I stood half stricken on the ground. Not minding the heavy pouring on me. If it would hide my tears. If it would help wash away the pain I'm feeling right now, so be it. So be it. The tears flowing down my face didn't stop the rumbling sounds in the sky nor did they hinder the lightning from flashing.

I ought to move away from the rain because of my health issues or get scared at the reverberated sound from the sky but that wasn't my priority. Passers-by stared at me like one that had gone crazy but I didn't mind their stare or what must be going on in their heads. I lifted my eyes to the apartment building. The tears flowed nonstop, I felt my heart shattering into tiny pieces as I evaluated what I just heard from the first door on the left on the second floor.

Was that how much I mattered to him? Was that how much I meant to him? My heart thundered, threatening to explode at the words I heard. I never believed this would happen to me. If I hadn't come here. If I didn't decide to surprise him on his birthday by showing up unannounced at his doorstep, I would be living in denial, I would be living in a fantasy world believing it to be true.

I stayed rooted on the ground, letting the pain sink in and the rain bathed me. The clouds rumbled as I lowered to my knees, my tears kept flowing down like a stream but the rain did well to hide it.

"You are evil," I heard a female voice from the bedroom door, behind the closed door and she let out a dry laugh. My heart sank at the voice of a lady with him, in his bedroom. Who could she be?

"But she's in love with you."

At first, I thought I was standing before the wrong door, so I placed my hand on the doorknob, ready to turn it when the voice I knew came, his deep husky voice. The voice that always sent my pulse racing. The only voice I want to hear for eternity. The voice that lit me inside.

"And I wasn't in love with her from day one," he prompted. I lost my footing at his outburst, my hand fell from the door knob making sure my ears weren't playing pranks on me. I stumbled backwards away from the door, feeling a knot build in the pit of my stomach and my heart tightening at the words I just heard.

"You are the only one my heart beats for," I heard kissing sounds and moaning from the room. I moved back from the bedroom door, almost colliding with the railing of the stairs. "You know the reason I'm still with her"

"You are cruel but I like the sound of that," the unknown woman's voice came again followed by her laughter.

"I like the way you think and she won't know what hit her, she won't know where and how but by then it will already be late for her."

"She will be long gone by then, probably in heaven," the lady with him laughed again.

At every laugh, I felt my heart breaking and my lungs shutting down. Finding it hard to breathe. I moved away from the door as tears cloud my vision. I moved towards my bag and zipped it open, I searched inside and fetched out my inhaler.

With trembling hands, I pressed into my mouth. Inhaling the air. The thumping in my heart slowed down but pain rode in. My breathing normalized as I placed back the inhaler back into my bag, staring into the thin air as the words from the two voices replayed in my head. Unable to take in the pain and the more I stayed here, the more I would be tormented by everything they say.

I thought he loved me, I thought I was the one for him. Was all that a lie? His endless promises of the future? His sweet words? Tears stung my eyes as I alighted the stairs careful not to topple. I ran all the way down out of the building as his voice and his words echoed in my ears.

It poured heavily outside but I didn't mind. I wanted to believe all I heard was false but the more I lift my eyes to the second floor of that building, I see the silhouette of two figures making out.

All I ever cared for was his love, all I cared for was to have a beautiful love story before calling it quits. I lowered myself to my knees and poured out my heart when the attack I experienced earlier came back.

My breathing became difficult again and my lungs were shutting down, I tried to grasp some air but it was getting worse. My chest tightened, I can't seem to understand what was going on, and the pain was unbearable coupled with the attack I was experiencing.

I inhaled some air but it was worse as a sudden rush of moist wind surged towards me, messing up my hair and helping the wetness of my clothes soak in my bones. I shivered as I brought my bag into view and searched for my inhaler but the blinding darkness didn't help.

It worsened my plight, my fingers gave way until I couldn't feel almost half of my body. I tried to stand on my feet to move away from the rain but the attack grew serious. I fell limp on the ground, letting the water flood me.

My vision blurred and I couldn't tell if it was my figment but I saw two pairs of legs walking towards me in hurried steps. I don't know who they belonged to but I hoped they belonged to my boyfriend Marcus.

~~~~

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛'𝑠 𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟

"You must be new to this city, Sir?" A man clothed in a red sweatshirt and jean shorts coupled with the black baseball cap on his head swerved the steering wheel that led downtown. He lifted his eyes to the rear mirror at the man seated on the back passenger's seat clothed in a black blazer. And who was more interested in looking through the windshield than he was interested in his questions.

"Why?" Came a low detached reply from the man behind.

"You kept looking out of the window." The driver said and let out a small chuckle. "And it's raining heavily."

Toro got to admit that even in the rain and the enveloping darkness, the roads were bustling as though it was daytime. This is why it was called the busiest city. Los Angeles. But something got his attention from afar, he leaned his face closer. Trying to get a glimpse of what that might be.

The rain splashed on the windshield as he gently pulled it down, the rain crashing on his face.

"Sir, what are you doing?" The driver asked, stunned at what he was doing. "You will get your face all wet." The driver spoke out of concern.

He worried but Toro was more interested in what caught his attention. He saw a figure lying lifeless on the ground with the rain beating him or her mercilessly. Why can't no one help that being? He saw the passerby walk past the helpless creature.

He frowned when he noticed no one was attempting to help that person.

"Where are you going, Sir?" The driver threw another question, surprised when Toro ordered him to stop the car and climbed down and made his way towards that being.

This isn't the hotel he told him to drop him off at. What must have prompted him to get down from the car and into the rain, getting his expensive blazer drenched? Minutes later, he saw him coming back and in his arms lay a lifeless lady.