A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

Chapter 105

Alena

Oh my god, Zachary | 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 | 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," | replied.

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

"Just the hair?"

We chuckled, "Yeah, just the hair."

took him a few seconds to look atas if he was scanning for something different. Not much had changed ever

since | went on maternity leave except for my weight, | had lost a lot after what happened. Nobody else needed

to know the tragedy. "You look different too," he added..

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

Zach wanted to point out about my weight but | knew he had assumed | was probably inappropriate. The

expression on his face had changed before he cleared his throat, "How have you been holding up, Alena? Lily

toldyou were having a hard time."

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

It wasn't just because | had to accept the fact that | had lost Marco but also because of what | went through

during my healing stages. The decisions | had made were the cause of my own downfall and also the cause of

being separated from my beloved husband. If | 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.

| never loved the idea of killing people for the sake of my own success. | 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. | couldn't judge my family for the way they

made money. | couldn't judge other people if they saw us as criminals. Everyone had their own opinions when it

cto something, they were free to think about whatever they wanted.

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

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Chapter 105

"I went through a roughrpatch," | responded.

"A rough patch? Alena, you were grieving.

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

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

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"lI 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 aboutbut he was taking his sweet time-I didn't have anything important for the tbeing and | wasn't

in a rush either. | kept quiet as | continued to look at him, incase I could ask him something first.

My eyes wandered down to his hands and | saw a ring which causedto point it out.

"Wait a minute. Is that a wedding band?" | 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? | didn't even know you were seeing someone!" The

questions had attacked him in different directions which had caused him to laugh. | was mostly confused but |

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,"

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

"Thanks. | know you would,"

"I'd like to meet her someday,"

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

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. | was being left alone on my own again and | took the

opportunity to finish up where | left things because | knew | wasn't going to have the energy to settle in

tomorrow. | was going to be busy and it was better to do these things when | had sfree time.

| 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 | picked it up.

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

busy streets.

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Chapter 103

He was probably thinking aboutand he couldn't leavealone even for a second. "I hope | didn't interrupt

you or something." "Hey, didn't expect you to calline" | replied.

"Are you busy? Did | bother you?"

1 shook

my

head as if he could seebefore answering, "Not at all. | was just cleaning a few things in my office. I still have

sfree ttoday."

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

"Sneaky, aren't you?"

| had imagined him to smirk and | 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 calledand | could just hear his voice. It

was always nice to have him check up onwhenever he could.

He never disturbedwhenever | was busy and | appreciated that.

"I miss you," he said, slowly.

"You just sawan hour ago."

"Did 1?

Matteo,"

"Can't | keep missing my wife? | 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. | loved it when he toldhow much he lovedor how much

he missed me, it madefeel known. He madefeel as if he had been thinking aboutwhenever he

could.

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

"It feels like a lifetime."

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

My phone began to beep a few times and | looked at it, seeing he had requested to switch to a video call. The

smile had never left my face as | pressed onto the screen, immediately seeing his face; he had already placed

the phone a few inches away from his face which meant | could see him clearly.

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

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

"Am I?"

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

"Right, sorry." | 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

| 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 withdespite 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.

08:40 Mon, Nov

Chapter 105

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

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

"This is what you do towhen you're gone for an hour. Imagine if you're gone for days, baby. I'd lose my

mind," he replied.

| 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 losinghad

made him that way. He was more cautious. "I feel fine. Everything's fine."

"Good. Letknow 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. | had

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

FD

but he kept looking away as if it was hard for him. It was a habit | noticed whenever he was trying to hide

something fromand he wasn't able to do that for long.

"You just knowtoo well, don't you?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm your wife. | 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, | kept waiting for him

and he didn't have the heart to letwait any longer. Within seconds, he was staring at the screen and he said,

"Angelo's near the hospital. | asked him to be within your radar to keep you safe,"

| frowned before sighing, "Matteo..."

"Baby, | have to. | 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 screep or something," |

replied.