Natalie Kabra understood that even if she was incredibly smart, she wasn't the smartest.
She was smart enough to not be surprised when she found out that she was dying.
"The poison is eating me, Ian. I'm not going to last," she said weakly. She lay down on the hospital bed, looking deathly pale. The doctor just told her ten minutes ago that she wouldn't be lasting long - a week maximum - and Ian didn't want to believe it. He threw a fit when the doctor left.
But with the same words coming from the dying herself, he might as well sit down and believe it, even if it hurts so much. He simply nodded at her words and decided to be with her on her last days, even if that meant skipping important work to be done. "You know," he said. "Daniel's outside."
"I know, he told me last night that he'd visit," she replied.
"Do you want me to leave both of you alone?"
"Yes please," she said. "At least this once, before I go." Ian nodded and left the room. A few moments later, Dan came in the room. He was wearing his usual outfit - a silly superhero shirt, jeans and year-old Chuck Taylors - and sat down on the leather chair.
"You're looking mighty fine for a dying girl today," he complimented. Natalie smiled.
"Whatever. Strange how you made the effort to wake up earlier than 10 am," Natalie replied.
"Is it bad to wake up early just to see the girl I love before she dies?"
"It sounds stranger than it's supposed to, but no, it isn't."
"Then I see no problem in waking up earlier than 10 am," he said triumphantly.
"...Why are you here?" she asked.
"Didn't I just -"
"I mean, why are you here? What's your purpose of being here?"
"Do you want me here?"
"Of course!"
"So why are you asking?"
"Just curious."
"Oh really?"
"Yes!"
"Fine."
"Fine?"
"Fine. I'm here because I want you to hear your eulogy, if you don't mind."
"My eulogy," Natalie repeated. "You're going to say my eulogy in front of a live me."
"Is that bad?" he asked.
"It breaks tradition," she replied.
"Sometimes," Dan said. "Tradition can be stupid. Especially that of funerals. A eulogy is basically a message for someone who has passed - why say the message only when someone's dead? Isn't it really stupid? Why not say your message when that someone's still with you? What's the point of saying a message to your beloved when your beloved is gone? He won't hear you, he won't understand you nor your message anymore. It's stupid, Natalie. Stupid."
"Okay, fine. What does your eulogy have in store for me?"
"You're such an impatient brat."
"You haven't noticed?" she said jokingly.
"I have. That's one of the reasons why I love you."
"...Just get on with the eulogy!"
"Fine."
"Fine. Go."
Dan cleared his throat and started saying his eulogy.
"Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Dan Cahill, the one person who can annoy Natalie to no end and still make her love me."
Natalie couldn't help but smile at that. It's true, after all.
"I'm also her boyfriend, but I don't want to be known as 'Natalie's Boyfriend', so let's just stick with the former introduction."
"First and foremost, the thing about Natalie is that she makes it so impossibly complicated for you to fall for her. She's so amazing in so many ways, but she makes sure that you don't fall for her too fast. It's something I love about her, but it's not like I love everything about her already. I love her so much, I've accepted her flaws more than she has."
"Second, she makes sure that you won't forget her. She's remarkably wonderful in ways I can never describe well enough."
At this point, Natalie started crying.
"Our story basically revolves around those things I've mentioned and our glimpses of forever. I admit that I'm a selfish lad, so I won't be sharing our story. Although, I will say that our little relationship could easily be compared to a long list of seemingly infinite numbers between 0 and 1, 1 and 2, 2 and 3, an so on. What do I mean by that? I mean that our relationship could easily be compared to a number of infinities. How many infinities are there from 0 to a million? A billion? A trillion? We can never really count. Do you know what else can't we count? Forever. You can never, ever count forever because 'forever' never ends. It's another form of infinity. 'Always' is another form of infinity. True love is another form of infinity. Our story is another form of infinity."
"My love, I want you to know that I'm so thankful, honored and privileged to be loved by you. Remember that all those times we fought and cried were not something to regret and put to waste - they're supposed to be treasured because they're what made us stronger and stronger until the very end."
"No words will ever explain how much I'm in love with you. To this moment, I'm still in love. As creepy as it sounds, my heart still skips a beat when I see your dead face, and it saddens me when I realize that your heart doesn't do the same, simply because you're gone. God, Nat, I miss you so much."
"Until we meet again, love. Mind saving me some chicken up there, yes?"
Dan put the paper down and lay down beside her in her deathbed.
"Of course I'll save you chicken, my love," she said. She closed her eyes and fell asleep in his arms.
She never woke up afterwards.