John was worried about Nicole. He tried calling and texting her for the last days with no response. He'd just walked up to the front desk at his hotel in Chicago.
"Mr. Cena, this just came for you." The desk clerk said handing him an envelope. He recognized the handwriting on the envelope as Nicole's.
When he got up to his room he opened the envelope. There was a letter inside it read.
Dear John,
This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I'm so sorry but we can't see each other anymore. I can't tell you why, I can only tell you it's better this way. This has nothing to do with you. It's all me. You were the best boyfriend I've ever had. Being with you was the greatest experience of my life. Please don't try to contact me. Please stay away. You need to forget about me. I want you to be so happy in life. I hope one day you'll understand. I'll miss you. Please always remember that I love you.
Nicole
John was so confused. He didn't know what to think. Again he called and text Nicole. Again she didn't answer.
Three weeks later Faith was cleaning when there was a knock on her door. She answered it. John was standing there.
"Hi John." She said.
"Hi." "Can I come in?"
"Yes." He went inside.
"What's wrong with Nicole?"
"Um." She said knowing she wasn't supposed to tell him.
"I know something's wrong." "I called her work and they said she took an extended leave." "I went to her apartment in Manhattan and she doesn't live there anymore." "What is going on?"
"I promised her I wouldn't tell you."
"Just tell me if she's ok."
"She's not ok."
"What's wrong with her?" "Faith please, if you know something you have to tell me, please." He pleaded. "I have to know."
"She's going to kill me." "Well you know she had to go back to law but you don't know why."
"She never told me."
"When she was twenty, she was diagnosed with leukemia." "It was very aggressive and it almost killed her." "It's back John."
"No." "Why didn't she ever tell me?"
"I don't know." "I told her to." "When she found out she had it again she said she couldn't tell you." "She said if she didn't break up with her you'd only stay with her because you had to." "She didn't want to burden you with it."
"It's not a burden." "I want to be there for her."
"I know."
"Where is she?"
A half hour Nicole was at home. She'd just got done throwing up as a side effect of the chemo therapy. She was pale. The doorbell rang.
She answered it. When she saw John standing there with tears in his eyes, she knew he knew. He hugged her.
"It's ok." He said.
"John please go."
"No I'm not going anywhere."
"Like I said, you need to forget about me." "My mom shouldn't have told you."
"No, you should've."
"I didn't want you to know."
"I want to support you." "I love you."
"There's nothing to support, I'm dying."
"No you're not dying."
"I only have a twenty percent chance of survival."
"I can get you the best doctors."
"I want you to remember me the way I was." "See how pale I am?" "This is just the tip of the iceberg." "I'm going to get a lot worse and I don't want you to watch me fall apart." "The Nicole you know will be gone."
"I love you, not how you look."
"You think you can handle this but it's only because you've never been through it before." "It's hard."
"I know and I want to be there through everything."
"I don't want you to watch me die."
"You're not." "Please Nicole, let me stay." "Here, want to see how much I want to stay, how sure I am?" He took a little box out of his pocket.
"What's that?"
"Well it was supposed to be your birthday present but… He got down on one knee and opened the box. "I've wanted this for a long time." "Knowing what I know now, I still want it." "Nicole, will you marry me?"
"John… She said with tears in her eyes.
