When Aurelia woke,Santino pulled back the softness in his gaze,and his eyes hardened into coldness again.When he finally spoke,it wasn’t out of concern but filled with questioning.
“Why did you go to the hospital?The follow-up call came to me.”
She remembered her last visit for the brain tumor.The doctor had told her to come back for a checkup.She hadn’t thought much of it and,as always,filled in both her number and a family contact.
For the past ten years,that contact had been Santino.Perhaps the hospital hadn’t been able to reach her,so the call had gone to him,and maybe that was the only reason he came back.
“Just a routine checkup.”Aurelia kept her tone light,unwilling to let him know the truth of her illness.
Only then did Santino’s expression ease slightly,but almost at once his brows furrowed again when his eyes landed on the stomach medicine by her side.
In a daze,Aurelia felt that this moment overlapped with the way he used to take care of her years ago.She instinctively explained,“When I was eating,I didn’t think it was that spicy…”but before she could finish,she stopped herself.
She could no longer taste the sweetness of cake,nor the heaviness of spice.The illness had grown worse,pressing on her nerves and already dulling her sense of taste.
Santino picked up her phone,unlocked it with ease,held the screen in front of her,and frowned.“You booked a ticket to Iceland,why?”
Aurelia’s heart tightened,and she quickly snatched the phone back,forcing her voice to stay calm.“Business trip.”
In the past,she would have pulled him in to complain endlessly about work,but now all she gave was those two plain words,“business trip,”and even then,only after he noticed the ticket and asked.
This thought made Santino’s face darken further.
The sudden ring of the phone broke the uneasy silence between them,and Astrid’s soft voice came through.“Santino,come out with me to set off fireworks!”
Santino’s expression softened,and his voice carried a gentleness Aurelia hadn’t heard in years.He turned and left,his figure light with the eagerness of a boy discovering love for the first time.
Aurelia closed her eyes wearily as the sharp pain in her stomach twisted her insides and left her breathless.She remembered how she had once set off fireworks with Santino,too,on her birthday,when he had planned it days in advance,even designing the shapes of the fireworks himself,just to make her smile.
A burst of dazzling light lit up the night sky outside the window,scattering sparks of color across the darkness.
Another birthday had come,and again she was watching fireworks.Only this time,they were no longer for her.
Looking out the window,Aurelia shut her eyes before the glittering sky and made the same wish she had never once changed.
Every year on her birthday,her only wish had been that Santino’s life would be safe and smooth.Ever since meeting him,she had stopped making wishes for herself.
Santino never came to see her again.He seemed truly busy,caught up with school seminars,buried in laboratory data,and so occupied that he no longer had the time or even the desire to spare a single extra word for her.
In the past,Aurelia could still catch glimpses of his life through the posts he made on social media,but now,with Astrid beside him,even those had vanished.
All she could do was search through the university’s official website,scrolling through countless photos and reports just to catch sight of him again.
After going through hundreds,she finally found him on the 999th post.
He was standing beneath the university’s“love tree,”smiling as he accepted a love letter from Astrid.The last photo in the set showed the two of them kissing under the branches,the date clearly marked,Valentine’s Day of this year.
Aurelia still saved that photo,quietly cropping it down until only Santino’s figure remained,and she set his image as the wallpaper on her phone.
In the days that followed,she gave up on her work and spent her time wandering aimlessly through the streets,circling endlessly until at last she found herself back at Santino’s high school,the place where they had first met.
Sunlight poured down,and for a moment,Aurelia thought she saw the boy in his school uniform,standing on the playground and waving at her,but when she blinked,he was gone.
She walked past the caféwhere she had once sat with Santino,the amusement park where they had laughed and played,and the pet store they had visited together,until at last she reached his university.
The top university stood tall and magnificent,and Aurelia lingered outside the gate for a long time,yet she never found the courage to step inside.In the end,she went to a bar beside the campus and drank herself into a haze.
Back then,Santino had always kept a close eye on her;whenever she picked up a glass,he would immediately set aside his book.“Aurelia,drinking is bad for your health.”
Now,there was no one left to stop her.She raised her glass with a mocking smile and ordered a few more of the bar’s special cocktails.
“Alright,please wait a moment.”
The familiar voice rang in her ears,and Aurelia turned her head to see Astrid,dressed in a waiter’s uniform and working part-time here.
When Astrid noticed her,her face lit up with surprise.“Aurelia,what are you doing here?”
Astrid was young and pretty,lively and cheerful.Though she came from a poor family,she was hardworking and full of spirit,like a little sun warming everyone around her.It was no wonder Santino had fallen for her.
“I was just wandering and thought I’d try the drinks here.”Aurelia changed the subject.“You’re working here?Santino doesn’t mind?”
“Of course,he doesn’t agree,but his birthday is in a few days,and I want to save money to buy him a gift.Aurelia,you can’t tell him,alright?”
Aurelia nodded softly.“I know.It’s a surprise.”
As she watched Astrid walk away,Aurelia quietly counted the days again.Santino’s birthday,exactly the day her flight to Iceland was set to leave.
