11

"Are you asking me to marry you because it's possible that...?" She couldn't even speak.

"No, of course not, darling. I really want to marry you, regardless of whether I'm sick or not. If it were up to me, I would have married you when I met you five years ago," he wiped away the tears running down her cheeks. "You know how I feel about you, and I wouldn't mind reliving every moment as many times as necessary to be with you."

"I know, but it's just that... it's just that..." She pressed her lips together and smiled, while tears continued to stream down her cheeks. "Of course, I want to marry you, Oscar.

...

The next morning, on the way to work, Katia was very pensive.

She tried not to cry so Oscar wouldn't see her that way.

She was trying to come to terms with what her boyfriend had told her. For her, the thought that he might leave her alone again shattered her heart into a thousand pieces.

"I would have preferred he hadn't come... or that you hadn't told me anything," she thought ag