Faded Like the Aurora

Cyrus woke up early the next day.

Before dawn, he deliberately took a detour to Florence's favorite breakfast cafe. She was a picky eater. Besides, she had just donated her bone marrow. She was weak, so she needed to be fed properly.

Carrying the breakfast back to the car, he suddenly remembered that Gayle used to love Mr. Beach's Sandwiches.

Even after she was ill, her appetite worsened, but the only thing she would miss and crave was those sandwiches.

He had promised her a few times that he was going to get it for her, but each time, he was always interrupted, either by Florence or being called away by the doctor, or simply forgetting.

At that moment, that thought just appeared in his mind suddenly.

Feeling a little annoyed, he furrowed his brows and took his phone out.

[Gayle, are you up? I suddenly remembered you want Mr. Beach's Sandwiches. Once I'm done here, I'll buy you some.]

He waited a moment, but no reply came. Perhaps she was not awake yet or hadn't had the chance to see her phone.

He threw his phone to the side passenger seat and started the car.

Florence had been waiting on the ground floor of her building for a long time. He took her luggage and handed her the warm food.

They arrived at the airport together. Suddenly, Cyrus stopped in his footsteps.

Not far ahead, by the floor-to-ceiling windows near the check-in counters, a familiar figure struck his mind like a bolt of lightning.

Gayle?

No. Impossible.

He quickly dismissed the thought. Gayle still had to be at the hospital. She was so weak she needed help to sit up.

He must have been hallucinating.

He shut his eyes tightly and opened them once more.

That figure had finished the check-in procedure and was heading toward security.

His heart strangely skipped a beat.

"What are you looking at?" Florence interrupted him.

He shook his head and replied, "Nothing. I must have imagined it."

On the flight to the Ice Islands, Florence fell asleep on his shoulders.

Looking out at the clouds, he couldn't help but think about the figure he saw at the airport, but he soon dismissed the thought.

He was sure that Gayle was still at the hospital waiting for him to bring her favorite sandwiches.

The sky over the Ice Islands hung low, the landscape barren yet magnificent. When the aurora appeared, Florence threw her arms around him in excitement.

He suddenly remembered that when he had just gotten married, he had planned to visit the Ice Islands with Gayle to make a wish under the auroras.

Later, he got busy with work. Their schedule could never fit. Then, later, Gayle fell sick. The promise was pushed back indefinitely.

Cyrus looked up at the sky, but his heart felt empty. He thought to himself that this was him gathering an experience. Once Gayle fully recovered, he was going to bring her here.

He took a photo and snapped a shot of the aurora.

He then went to our chat. The last message was still the one he sent that morning about how he was going to get her sandwiches.

Gayle didn't reply.

He tapped on his phone and sent the photo of the aurora.

[Gayle, I just finished work, so I came to see the aurora. Get well soon. I'll bring you here next time.]

The photo loaded for a while before sending.

But then, nothing else happened.

There was no immediate reply like before. No string of excited messages like [Wow!] or [Amazing! It's so dreamy! I would like to visit too!]

No other messages asking him to send more photos. No messages asking him if he was eating well or sleeping well. No messages asking him to stay safe and warm.

Nothing.

The chat was as silent as a grave.

He furrowed his brows. He then selected a few more photos and sent it over.

Still, silence.

Had her phone run out of battery? Or was she angry at him? Or did she find out that he was there with Florence?

Perhaps she was angry.

But Florence had saved her life. He had only hidden it from Gayle because he didn't want her to worry. After all, Gayle had become much more sensitive emotionally after she fell ill.

He was going to explain it all to her once he returned. He reckoned that as long as he spent more time with her and cheered her up, all would be fine.

Cyrus consoled himself, suppressing the sense of unease and annoyance in his heart.

But his mind kept returning to the figure at the airport. Was that really a coincidence?

He could no longer press that thought down.

Even by the end of the trip, when he was boarding the plane, Gayle still had not replied to any of his messages.

The thoughts he had suppressed grew stronger.

Once he landed, he didn't even bother sending Florence home. He headed straight to Mr. Beach's Sandwiches to get some sandwiches before rushing to the hospital.

The moment he pushed the door open, a female patient looked up at him and said, "Who are you?"