He Thought I Came For Money, But Got My Last Words Chapter 09
Ten years later, Jason was forty years old.
During a business negotiation, he suddenly collapsed.
He was diagnosed with late-stage bone cancer.
The doctor looked at the chart, then at the man in the bed, his hair already gray at the temples, his eyes dead. The doctor sighed.
Maybe it was fate.
“I know there’s no hope for me.” Jason was very calm. There was even a hint of relief in his eyes.
“Same disease as my wife. And her father.”
The doctor nodded.
“That’s good,” Jason said with a smile. For once, there was a little bit of real warmth in it.
“Now I’ll finally understand how much pain she was in.”
He refused aggressive treatment, taking only pain medication.
He handed over the company and put most of his money into the charity to help more bone cancer patients.
He allowed his body to waste away.
Because for him, death wasn’t the end, it was a reunion.
He went home, had a hospital bed moved into the master bedroom, and lay down next to Emily’s urn and the love letters.
He read them every day. It was the only way he could fall asleep.
The pain grew worse each day, spreading from deep within his bones and consuming his entire body.
He would break out in cold sweats, his teeth chattering. But he never made a sound.
He just held the urn.
It hurts so much.
Emily, how much did it hurt for you? he thought. I should have died instead.
You were in so much pain, and I was still being cruel to you.
Emily, your tears, your pain, your despair. I finally understand.
When his mind got foggy, he always saw her, twenty years old, in a white dress, waving at him in the sunlight, smiling brightly.
He wanted to walk to her, but there was always a wall.
“Emily… wait for me…”
“This time, I’ll be the one to suffer, to feel the hopelessness.”
He mumbled.
“This time, I’ll walk faster. I’ll catch up to you.”
“Don’t leave me again, honey.”
On the last afternoon, the sunlight was beautiful.
He had the nurse help him into the rocking chair by the window, holding Emily’s urn.
He picked up the top letter. The paper was fragile, the handwriting young and bold.
“Emily, I saw a rainbow today. My first thought was to take a picture and send it to you. Do you think there’s treasure at the end of a rainbow?”
“I think there is. Because I’ve already found mine. It’s you.”
He read it out loud, his lips trembling.
“Emily, I’m going to work hard. I’ll give you the best life.”
“Emily, marry me. Forever. We’ll be together forever, you and me.”
A tear fell on the yellowed paper, making the ink bleed.
“I’m sorry, Emily. I’m so sorry.”
He curled up in the rocking chair, holding the urn.
“Everything I owe you… in the next life… I’ll find you sooner… I’ll love you right… and I’ll never let you hurt again.”
“But in that next life… would you still marry me?”
His voice got softer and softer, then stopped.
On the heart rate monitor, the green line of life gave a few weak blips, then flattened into a long, straight line.
A long, sharp beep filled the quiet room, piercing through Chris’s muffled sobs.
Jason had cut off his family long ago, so there was no one by his bed except Chris, no family, no wife.
But this time, it seemed time finally showed him a sliver of mercy.
The wall between life and death, just for a moment, seemed to disappear.
A faint, peaceful smile on his lips, he closed his eyes.
It was as if Jason had finally made it through the long, endless night, through the thorns and the wasteland.
At the end of his life, at the end of the rainbow he had hoped for so long ago, he finally caught up to the only treasure he had lost when he was young: the only light in his empty, wasted life.