Chapter one

Instantly she alighted from the bus, her succulent yet reddish heart – shaped lips parted into a wide joyful smile. In her right hand was a bouquet of orchids, while her left arm housed her raggy purse. 

Those dark eyes of hers gaped at the gigantic hospital but unlike the previous months she visited, the air seemed pleasant. 

Athena's persistent gaze on the large building would have continued, then again the rumbling of the dark night sky interrupted it. She glanced at the sky, then curved her plump lips at the thunderclouds – it was bound to

Again Athena returned her gaze to the hospital then walked steadily in with a large smile still on her lips. During her walk to a particular ward, she couldn't help but notice how intently people were gawking at her. 

Did she have something on her face? She wondered yet when her fingers brushed against her cheeks and found nothing, she merely shrugged. People always stared for no specific reason anyway. 

Done going through all due processes, Athena advanced closer to a ward and her delightfulness simply accelerated while her grip tightened on the bouquet of orchids – she was going to have an actual conversation with someone special for the past few months.

Yet, their meeting had to wait due to the presence of a doctor at the doorway. Apparently, she had been waiting for Athena for the past few minutes. 

"Doctor Sandra, it's a pleasant evening, don't you think so?" Athena's smooth voice held so much thrill in it, and perhaps the cheerfulness got the young female doctor smiling. 

"Of course it is! I mean, how can't it when Caleb is 7 awake? I bet you're eager to see your beloved, right?" Sandra, the physiologist of Caleb, Athena's long-time sweetheart, responded with an equal amount of joy. 

Athena didn't fail to display how flustered she felt by that statement. Shyly, she tucked a loose strand of her crimson red hair behind her ear. Her freckles covered cheeks were red instantly, and she simply nodded her head to Sandra's word. 

Sandra chuckled at her shyness, then proceeded to place a hand on Athena's shoulder. The sudden contact made Athena lift her lowered head to gape confusingly at her. 

"Sandra, is something the matter?" Fear was laced in her words while her lips slowly began to quiver frighteningly. 

"Absolutely not. All I wanted to inform you about is that Caleb will be discharged soon. Sincerely, I'm quite shocked at how you raised such a large amount of money for his treatment, but I'm glad you did. You truly must love him, don't you?"

While she spoke, Athena's eyes were steadily turning teary – she had no one to love aside from Caleb. During her early and lonely days in the cold nights on the street in New York, he was the only one who reached out to her. 

He accommodated her in his apartment and despite her reluctance to trust him, she ended falling crazily in love with him. Athena couldn't count the number of minimal jobs she had to indulge in just to raise enough money for his marrow transplant. 

Athena Stanford, a university dropout from the faculty of economics and an orphan. Being an extraordinarily beautiful lady placed her in numerous unpleasant situations with perverted men, yet Caleb never seemed interested in her beauty – he loved her genuinely. 

Of course, she'd go to hell and beyond that just to save him. After some minutes of speaking with Sandra, Athena attempted to go into Caleb's ward. 

Her anxiety made her heart thud violently in her chest, yet she had to calm herself down. Slowly, she reached for the doorknob then pulled it backwards and Caleb, her heartthrob, came into view. 

Seated upright in the hospital bed with a tube connected to his wrist and cladded in a patient's dress was Caleb Marley. His oceanic deep blue eyes gaped wistfully at the motionless figure of his tiny girlfriend. 

"Bunny!" His singular utterance thrived in getting balls of tears rolling down Athena's eyes – oh, how she missed being called that. 

"Cal… Caleb!" she gushed as she ran madly towards his opened arm. She ignored the fact he just regained consciousness some hours ago and hurled herself into his embrace. 

Caleb didn't mind the slight pains while he embraced her warmly. 

"How…how could you leave me for 2 whole months? You promised to never leave me for a second!" She cried raucously yet tearfully with her face buried into his chest. 

Her happiness really knew no bounds, so it was understandable how her tears couldn't be controlled.

"You're a liar, Mr. Marley! A big fat liar!" she hushed yet never tried to lift her head from his chest. She missed him tremendously – his scent, smile, and warmth; Athena missed them all. 

"I'm sorry, bunny. Forgive Mr. Marley" he smiled happily while placing a gentle kiss on her hair. 

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"Bunny, the money, Sandra told me it was quite a sum, how did you get it?" Caleb questioned, once he gulped down the meal, he chewed. Currently, Athena could be seen feeding him, since she felt he wasn't that strong to do so by himself. 

Caleb found it unneeded yet wouldn't want to dissent with her, so allowed it. Athena paused in lifting the cheeseburger, then placed it on the takeout. 

Truthfully, she wanted to avoid this question then again Caleb appeared curious and when he was, he got serious. Asides, what was she thinking? That she'd show up with such a mind-blowing amount of money and go unquestioned?

"Bunny?" Caleb gave her right hand a light squeeze – why the sudden silence? She was the unhesitant type of person during a dialogue, and her silence got him worried. 

What did she exactly do to get the money? "Promise me that you won't scold me" Athena's voice came out as tiny and overly cute. 

Caleb rolled his eyes – he remembered this strategy. Instead of responding, he reached for her face and cupped her cheeks in his palms; Now, she couldn't avoid his strict gaze.