Strangers When We Meet Again

As I sat across from Aleena, I noticed her instinctively shielding Neil Sheppard, as if afraid I might attack him.

The sight made me pause, but instead of feeling angry, I smiled.

I slid the divorce papers across the table, then looked more closely at Neil. He looked almost uncannily like Aleena's first love, Quinn Cowan.

"You really do look like him," I said with a faint smile. "I hope you two will be happy together. I genuinely mean that."

It was the first time in three years that I'd spoken to Aleena without any anger or resentment. She looked surprised for a moment, but she immediately felt suspicious.

"Josiah Brown, I'm warning you right now. If you so much as lay a finger on Neil, I'll break your other leg."

I couldn't help but laugh at her reaction.

After so many years of fighting, she'd come to expect the worst from me. Now that I was willing to walk away peacefully, she probably thought I was plotting something even worse.

As I looked at Neil again, the familiar pain in my right leg came back. His resemblance to Quinn stirred memories I'd spent years trying to forget—especially the day Aleena pushed me down the stairs and broke my right leg. That was when my dreams shattered and our relationship began to fall apart.

…

Three years earlier, I had been preparing for the biggest skiing championship of my career, with a real shot at another gold medal. But just before the event, Aleena came down with a high fever. I couldn't leave her alone, so I withdrew from the competition to care for her.

Quinn took my place.

Perhaps he wanted to prove he was better than me, so he attempted a stunt beyond his abilities. He lost control on landing and broke both legs, costing our team the gold medal we were sure to win.

The reaction was swift and harsh.

People flooded social media with angry comments, blaming Quinn for ruining the team's chances. As the criticism continued, he finally reached his limit and jumped off a rooftop, taking his own life.

She blamed me for everything that happened, and from that day on, she treated me as the one who caused Quinn's death.

It was hard to believe that Aleena and I had once been so close. We grew up together, almost always side by side.

Yet, after Quinn died, all those years of friendship and love seemed to vanish. We became two people who could barely be in the same room without hurting each other.

I pushed those memories aside and looked at Aleena, who still watched me suspiciously.

"You don't need to worry about me anymore," I said calmly. "I'm not going to hurt Neil or anyone else you care about. Also, there's something I've been wanting to tell you."

I'd finally decided to tell her about my cancer diagnosis, but before I could say another word, she cut me off with a cold laugh.

"You'd better keep your word, Josiah. Because if you ever hurt Neil, I swear I won't hesitate to kill you myself."

I looked into her eyes and saw nothing but hatred. Even though I'd heard her say many cruel things over the years, her words still hurt more than I cared to admit.

I pressed my aching right leg and forced a smile. I'd planned to tell her I was dying, but after hearing what she said, I no longer wanted to explain. "All right, Aleena. If there's nothing else you need from me, I'll get going."

I slowly got to my feet and headed toward the door, hoping to leave before things turned ugly again. But as I passed Neil, he suddenly grabbed my wrist.

"Josiah, I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop bothering Aleena," he said.

His grip was tighter than I expected, and I winced as his fingers dug painfully into my wrist. I tried to pull my hand free, but Neil didn't let go—instead, he suddenly shoved me backward.

I stumbled, lost my balance, and bumped my forehead against the cabinet behind me. A sharp pain shot through my head, and warm blood trickled down my face.

The impact also knocked over a LEGO model of a pair of skis that Aleena kept on the cabinet. Its heavy acrylic case fell off the edge and landed right on my already hurt right leg.

The pain was so intense that I nearly passed out. Cold sweat covered my body, and I struggled to stay awake as my vision blurred.

When Aleena saw what had happened, her face went pale. She rushed to the cabinet and crouched, trembling as she gathered the scattered LEGO pieces.

Neil seemed to grasp how serious the situation was and quickly tried to explain, "Aleena, I swear I didn't mean to knock it over. It was an accident."

Despite the pain, I looked at Neil through blurred vision and felt a flicker of satisfaction. I knew how much that LEGO model meant to Aleena, and I was sure she wouldn't forgive him easily. After all, it was the only gift Quinn had ever given her, and she treasured it above everything else.

However, what happened next was nothing like what I'd expected.

Instead of getting mad at Neil, Aleena gave him a comforting smile. Her face was still pale, but she seemed more concerned about making sure he wasn't scared than anything else.

Then, without warning, she spun around and slapped me across the face as hard as she could. "Why can't you just die, Josiah?" she screamed. "Why couldn't you have been the one who died back then instead of Quinn?"

I was so shocked that I could only stare at her.

"You knew how much that LEGO set meant to me! You saw it falling, so why didn't you move out of the way? Why did you let it shatter into pieces?"

Her voice was so angry that even Neil looked surprised.

When he turned back to me, I saw something unexpected in his expression. For the first time, he seemed to feel sorry for me.

I couldn't blame him; even I was struggling to believe what had just happened. My forehead was bleeding, and my injured leg throbbed painfully, yet Aleena was angry with me for not protecting a LEGO model from falling.

As I sat there looking at her, I suddenly remembered how deeply I had once loved her. I gave up my chance at a championship because I couldn't leave her alone while she was sick, and somehow, that choice had brought us to this moment.

The thought was so absurd that I started laughing, even as every movement sent another wave of pain through my body.

Aleena stared at me, clearly unable to understand what I found so funny. I wanted to tell her she wouldn't have to hate me for much longer—the cancer was already doing that for her.

But I knew there was no point in telling her now.

I struggled to catch my breath, then looked up at her with a faint smile.

"Soon... Aleena," I whispered, my voice barely audible over the pain. "You'll get your wish soon enough."