Chapter 442 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“Her condition is not curable at this stage. She could receive treatment. That would at least improve her quality of life and give her some weeks or months. You have to convince her to receive treatment,” Lucas advised, and Amy looked at him through her wet lashes.

“Convince? Did she say she doesn’t want to receive treatment?” Amy asked tearily, and Lucas nodded.

“If she says she doesn’t want to receive treatment, then she most likely will not do so. Miley doesn’t decide to do anything without giving it a lot of thought, and once her mind is made up there is no telling her otherwise,” Amy said as fresh tears gathered in her eyes.

“You won’t do anything to change her mind? Then why are you here?” Lucas asked, slightly irritated that she was just crying and was willing to let Miley do as she pleased even if it wasn’t the best thing for her.

“I’m here to comfort her and be with her. What else can I do?” Amy asked as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Then you should stop crying so much if you are really here to comfort her. Your presence here won’t do her any good if you are going to just keep crying this way,” Lucas said, and Amy wiped her tears with the back of her hands as she gave him a nod.

“I know. I won’t cry in front of her. But right now I can’t help it. I’m just so sad. I’m sad for her, I’m sad for her family, and I’m sad for myself. Just yesterday I was thinking about what to get her for Christmas, and now this. I don’t know what else to do. What can I do for her?” Amy cried helplessly.

“I will tell you what you can do. Start by convincing her to receive treatment and advise her not go ahead with her crazy plan of getting married and having a child,” Lucas said when he noticed that she was at the verge of breaking into another bout of tears, and as he expected, her head snapped up and she blinked at him

“Marriage? But she isn’t in a relationship, or is she? Did she say anything about being engaged?” Amy asked in confusion, and Lucas looked at her wondering why she was asking him, a stranger that, when she was Miley’s best friend and should know the answers to that.

“No. She is not engaged.”

“Then who is she getting married to? Did she ask you to marry her?” Amy asked, thinking that was the reason Miley had picked Lucas from the bar and had taken him home with her.

Lucas looked at her in incredulously, “No. Not me. Why would she ask me to marry her? She said it’s on her bucket list. She wants to get married and have a kid.”

Amy paused as she thought of it, “Hmm. She wants to adopt a kid? Adoption might work, but I’m not sure about marriage…”

“She doesn’t want to adopt a kid. She wants a child with her genes.”

Amy’s brows pulled together as she tried to make sense of what Lucas was saying, “How will that be possible? I mean her doctor said she has barely six months and from all you’ve said, she doesn’t want to receive treatment…”

“She wants a child through surrogacy. She plans to pay someone to marry her and pay someone else to carry the baby for her. I was trying to talk her out of it before she broke down,” Lucas explained, and Amy looked at him.

“Why were you trying to talk her out of it?” Amy asked in confusion, and Lucas raised a brow.

“Are you really asking me that? It’s not a logical decision. Although I understand that it is difficult to be logical at a time like this, I think this is a very wrong decision. Let’s assume she does find a man who is willing to be paid to spend the last months of her life with her doting on her, will she be happy? And how soon before she finds a suitable surrogate? What are the chances of it really working? Let’s assume it works, she is not going to live long enough to even see the child be born. She is going to spend what little time she has left worrying about a child she doesn’t even know and wishing she could see the child’s face at least once instead of enjoying her last moments. And what if complications arise with the pregnancy? All her efforts will be wasted…”

“Are you just being pessimistic, or is this your way of voicing your concerns for her wellbeing?” Amy cut in before he could finish when she noticed how passionate he was in dishing out his thoughts on Miley’s decision. He seemed to care a lot about her.

“You seem to have given this a lot of thought. Are you sure you only just met her today? If I didn’t know better I would have thought you’ve known her for a long time,” Amy said, but Lucas just stared at her without saying a word.

“Are you going to just let her have her way?” Lucas asked in resignation, without answering her question, as he too was wondering why he was feeling so affected by Miley’s decision.

“That is what you don’t know about Miley. It’s not about whether you let her have her way or not. She is going to do what she plans to do and leave you to decide whether or not you want to be a part of it,” Amy said softly.

“What do you think about her plan? Do you honestly think it makes sense? Do you want to be a part of this craziness?” Lucas asked, and Amy smiled.

“To you it might not make sense, but it makes sense to me. If this is something she wants to do, I will make it happen for her even if it means I have to set up interview with thousands of men to get her the right husband. As for a surrogate, she won’t be needing to find one,” Amy said, and Lucas raised a brow, and then looked at her with a slight frown, hoping it wasn’t what he was thinking.

“You are not thinking of being her surrogate, are you?” He asked incredulously, and Amy smiled

“I am. Carrying her child would be a way of having a part of her with me. It would be like giving birth to her,” Amy said, and Lucas looked at her like she had gone crazy.

“You are okay with her not receiving treatment and dying?” Lucas asked, unable to understand the logic.

“I don’t want to be selfish. As much as I want her to remain with me, I should also think about what she wants. I know you probably won’t understand this, but Miley means too much to me. All I want is to make her half as happy as she has made me in all the years we’ve been together. I want to help her achieve all she wants in what little time she has left.”

Celsie had a broad smile as she waved goodbye to Aaron and Harry as Benne drove out of the restaurant’s parking lot.

“Harry’s dad is charming. I get where Harry got his charms from,” Celsie told Benne when she turned in her seat to face him.

“I take it you enjoyed yourself, yeah?” Benne asked, and she nodded.

“A lot more than I expected, considering that I didn’t even notice how much time we had spent with them until you said it was time to leave,” Celsie said, thinking about how she ordinarily hated to meet new people or interact with people, but how easily she was getting along with everyone who was close to Benne.

“I usually don’t like to go out, and I find it tiring interacting with people I’m not directly related to. I don’t know if it’s because I love you, or it’s just the kind of people you have around you, but talking to your family and friends is fun,” Celsie said, and Benne smiled.

“Do you remember what I told you the first day I drove you home as your driver after you kept me waiting?” Benne asked, turning to look at her.

“You said a lot of things. Which of them?”

“About breaking every wall you set up and being in your space until you want to spend every moment with me?” Benne asked, and Celsie smiled at the memory.

“Why are you bringing that up now?” She asked curiously.

“Because I think we are gradually getting there, don’t you think so?” Benne asked, and Celsie bit her lower lips as she thought of it.

She didn’t think they were gradually getting there. She thought she was there already. Why else had she chosen to go out with him to have dinner with Harry and his dad when she could have stayed back at home to see a movie or read a book? Or why was she at his place when she could be alone in the solitude of her apartment?

“I don’t mind losing to you on that. I never planned to fall in love with you or date you after all, but here we are,” Celsie said after some time, and Benne smiled.

“I like that. Let’s keep going with the flow. One day at a time,” Benne said, and she nodded.

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