A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

Alena

Oh my god, Zachary I exclaimed, making my way towards him

Zach had bursted out into laughters before wrapping his arms around my body. We were hugging each other because it had been so long ever since we talked-he had kept his distance when Matteo misunderstood things and he was still keeping his distance, just a bit less scared now.

"How have you been?" He asked, smiling.

We had pulled away from the hug as we looked at each other.

He hadn't changed much ever since I last saw him but he had left his hair longer. He used to cut his hair short because he wanted to keep it neat. However, the long hair looked well and he didn't fail to rock it.

"I've been okay. What about you? You look different," I replied.

"It's just the hair, I guess."

"Just the hair?"Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

We chuckled, "Yeah, just the hair."

took him a few seconds to look at me as if he was scanning for something different. Not much had changed ever since I went on maternity leave except for my weight, I had lost a lot after what happened. Nobody else needed to know the tragedy. "You look different too," he added..

I raised an eyebrow, "I think I still look the same."

Zach wanted to point out about my weight but I knew he had assumed I was probably inappropriate. The expression on his face had changed before he cleared his throat, "How have you been holding up, Alena? Lily told me you were having a hard time."

I had to admit, it wasn't easy for me.

It wasn't just because I had to accept the fact that I had lost Marco but also because of what I went through during my healing stages. The decisions I had made were the cause of my own downfall and also the cause of being separated from my beloved husband. If I told anyone here at the hospital about what happened, they were probably going to call the police and pointed us as criminals. Our families were indeed criminals, they had involved themselves with money laundering, drugs and many illegal activities. Then again, it was how we had always made a living.

I never loved the idea of killing people for the sake of my own success. I also never loved to judge how people work hard to gain power and money-both of our families had sacrified a lot of things along the way to be where they were. Of course, they weren't going to waste it all for nothing. I couldn't judge my family for the way they made money. I couldn't judge other people if they saw us as criminals. Everyone had their own opinions when it came to something, they were free to think about whatever they wanted.

It was best to keep quiet about my family's background; like I always did before.

08:40 Mon,

"I went through a roughrpatch," I responded.

"A rough patch? Alena, you were grieving.

"I know. You don't have to state the obvious, Zach."

"I'm sorry. I just can't imagine if I were in your shoes," he replied

"I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Absolutely no one,"

Zach nodded a few times as he stood still at his spot. He was probably thinking of any other questions he could ask about me but he was taking his sweet time-I didn't have anything important for the time being and I wasn't in a rush either. I kept quiet as I continued to look at him, incase I could ask him something first.

My eyes wandered down to his hands and I saw a ring which caused me to point it out.

"Wait a minute. Is that a wedding band?" I asked, eyes widened.

He shook his head, "I knew you were going to say that but no."

"Did you get married, Zach? Did you elope or something? I didn't even know you were seeing someone!" The questions had attacked him in different directions which had caused him to laugh. I was mostly confused but I knew he was always the type to pretend it was nothing.

"I didn't get married, Alena. Jesus, calm down."

"The ring?"

"It's just a ring to show people that I'm taken,"

"So, you're seeing someone."

"Not just seeing someone. We're in a serious relationship,"

I smiled before I patted on his arm, "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks. I know you would,"

"I'd like to meet her someday,"

"I'd love to introduce her to you when the time comes."

All of a sudden, his pager started to beep and it meant he was in a rush. People who worked in the medical field could never have much of a free time, we were bound to be paged or called out for an emergency. We had responsibilites and we needed to focus when we had to, nothing could distract us.

"Duty calls. See you for lunch?"

""Yup, go ahead."

Then, he was already rushing down the hallway. I was being left alone on my own again and I took the opportunity to finish up where I left things because I knew I wasn't going to have the energy to settle in tomorrow. I was going to be busy and it was better to do these things when I had some free time.

I turned to look at my phone on the desk when it rang.

It was a call from Matteo which left a smile on my face as I picked it up.

"Hi, beautiful." He said from the other line and I could imagine him sitting in his office as he looked down at the busy streets.

He was probably thinking about me and he couldn't leave me alone even for a second. "I hope I didn't interrupt you or something." "Hey, didn't expect you to calline" I replied.

"Are you busy? Did I bother you?"

I shook

my

head as if he could see me before answering, "Not at all. I was just cleaning a few things in my office. I still have some free time today."

"I checked your schedule. That's why I called,"

"Sneaky, aren't you?"

I had imagined him to smirk and I knew he was doing just that. on the other hand, was sitting on the edge of my desk with my arm crossed around my body-I loved it whenever he called me and I could just hear his voice. It was always nice to have him check up on me whenever he could.

He never disturbed me whenever I was busy and I appreciated that.

"I miss you," he said, slowly.

"You just saw me an hour ago."

"Did I?

Matteo,"

"Can't I keep missing my wife? I love having her around,"

Matteo was never afraid to express his feelings to me. It was nice to have a man who believed in letting his woman know even though the details were little. I loved it when he told me how much he loved me or how much he missed me, it made me feel known. He made me feel as if he had been thinking about me whenever he could.

"Of course you can. We're only away for a little while,"

"It feels like a lifetime."

"You're exaggerating!" I laughed, shaking my head.

My phone began to beep a few times and I looked at it, seeing he had requested to switch to a video call. The smile had never left my face as I pressed onto the screen, immediately seeing his face; he had already placed the phone a few inches away from his face which meant I could see him clearly.

As for me, well, I was holding it really close to my face.

"Baby, you're too close." He said.

"Am I?"

"I can't see your whole face. Just your forehead and your eyes,"

"Right, sorry." I moved the phone further away from my face and as soon as he could see my whole face, his his lips began to spread wider.

lit up eyes

and

I found it amusing how he was acting like a high school kid in love. He wasn't afraid to show how much he was obsessed with me despite being a man in his thirties. We were far from the young lovers we saw down the streets whenever we walked but we knew love was never serious for anyone. Love was supposed to be fun and cringy.

"How can I miss you so much already? I just saw you, he started to speak.

"I don't know. Maybe because you can't be away from me for too long,"

"This is what you do to me when you're gone for an hour. Imagine if you're gone for days, baby. I'd lose my mind," he replied.

I blinked a few times, "I was gone for a few days. You did look like you had lost your damn mind."

"I never want that to happen again,"

"It won't."

We stayed quiet for a few seconds before he began to speak again, "How do you feel so far? Everything okay? How's your stomach?"

His questions were genuine and sincere. He had asked them to know about my condition as well as the baby-he was worried if anything could go wrong whenever he wasn't around. Maybe, losing Marco and losing me had made him that way. He was more cautious. "I feel fine. Everything's fine."

"Good. Let me know if there's something wrong,"

"I'll let you know if there's anything,"

That's my good girl."

"You look like you have something to tell me,"

"Why do you say that?"

"The look on your

face."

Matteo was trying his hardest to avoid any eye contact. I had

expected him to try and look at my eyes through the screen

but he kept looking away as if it was hard for him. It was a habit I noticed whenever he was trying to hide something from me and he wasn't able to do that for long.

"You just know me too well, don't you?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm your wife. I know everything about you,"

"Just you, Alena. Just you,"

"So, what is it?"

p

He was still trying to change the subject as he pretended to be busy and so on. However, I kept waiting for him and he didn't have the heart to let me wait any longer. Within seconds, he was staring at the screen and he said, "Angelo's near the hospital. I asked him to be within your radar to keep you safe,"

I frowned before sighing, "Matteo..."

"Baby, I have to. I have to, okay?"

"I'm at work. He can't be near here,"

"Why not? He's just keeping his distance."

"The other people that work here might notice him around. They might think he was some creep or something," I replied.