"The result came in." this causes her to draw a sharp breath, but he continues, "I know you're dying, Neriah. And this may sound cliché, but I want to help you."

The door opens wider not because Cainan pushes it, but because Neriah lets go and moves aside, allowing Cainan to step in, but once he's fully in, she surges forward and slaps him hard on his face. She thought that was all there was in her until she strikes again, this time harder than the first.

Her first outburst doesn't surprise Cainan, nor does the second one. He's, however, surprised she's been so calm in all of this.

"You want to help?" She demands incredibly, scoffing loudly, "Take me back to three months ago when you kicked me out of my apartment when I had so much hope for the little life I had then or a week ago when an eviction notice came and kicked me back to the bottom, or this morning when the last hope I had in life crashed before my very eyes all because you had ruined me completely!"

"Neriah, that was-" he begins, but Neriah doesn't let him finish.

"What? When you didn't know I had cancer? Or when you didn't know that I was dying and had just a few more months to live?" She demands with tears running down her face and she brushes them off.

Her words were harsh and painful to hear, but they were the truth.

When she'd collapsed earlier today, he'd thought she was trying to pull a fast one on him and probably make him feel guilty. He wasn't new to the game. Clara and Samantha knew how to play their cards well and he'd fallen into their traps many times and he had picked up on some of their tricks. Neriah was no better and even as the rain became heavier he waited for her to get up but she didn't and after waiting for her to get up from the act for nearly three minutes, he realised she wasn't faking it. He ran out of his car and ran over to where she was, passed out on the sidewalk.

Yes, a part of him felt worried about her when he brought her home with him, but he did not make his mind up, so he asked a family friend Fraya to run a few checks on her. It was upon seeing the test result that he'd felt the guilt of the last three months. She was already in pain and misery and his refusal to let go of his hatred towards her only added to it.

"I'm sorry," he says, as they are the only words he can say in this situation.

She shrugs, and steps towards the door. "Your apology is no longer needed, you may go now."

Cainan nods and turns to leave when he sees her bags packed and standing beside the bed and a note on the table.

He's seen this before and the memory of coming home and not finding Clara, but seeing a note instead, rushes back into his head. That was the worse day of his life and he will never forget it for a long time because of how painful and heartbreaking it was.

"You're not planning on running away, are you?"

"The last time I checked it's none of your business what I do because you're leaving." She points to the door.

"You think a letter is going to be enough for him? You think sorry will just make everything right?" His eyes show slight anger and his voice is increasing, and it's terrifying the level of fury in him. He did not direct his anger at her, but rather at himself, for the point he now is at in his life.

"You need to leave or I'm calling the police." She goes to the bed and picks up her phone before dialling the emergency line and placing it to her ear.

"One look at Shawn and you'll know he's madly in love with you and not just that, but he's ready to make you happy and you're just going to throw him a letter and think he's going to get over it like a little puppy?!"

She lowers the phone from her and points an accusing finger at him. "I have no choice. You gave me no choice!"

"Don't you pin this on me," he warns, hardly, "I'm not the one who asked you to leave, nor the one who took you to Surulere, a place so far away from here you two would never make it work and then he'll have no choice but let you go."

"So you're telling me you did that for him?" she demands. "Threatening to buy the house if the landlord leased the house to me, you did that why thinking of my relationship with Ola?!"

"No, but I think you've lied to him enough, and it's time for the truth."

He says it as if it is so easy; he makes it sound as though he has some kind of power to make her do anything and it annoys and irritates her like hell.

"You know nothing about the truth and I think you were leaving earlier." She says, pointing back to the door.

"Fine," he says and walks to the door, but turns back to her. "I know it's your decision and I have no say in it as we are not even friends, but think about your decision. You might think the truth would be the most unbearable fate, but not being given a place to decide is worse. You might never want to, but here's my card. Call me if you need anything." He places his card on the sewing machine and walks out of the room.

When the door closes, Neriah looks down at the paper. She's about to leave a note on the table and although she doesn't want to, she's forced to think about what Cainan has said. Was she going to make things worse by just leaving? And even when Cainan said little, she felt that he's been in such a complicated state before where his choice was taken away from him and more than anything; she didn't want Shawn turning into anything like Cainan.

When a knock comes on her door, she knows it is Shawn, and she hurries to the door and opens it. As always, he was the light to her gloomy day and, just as expected, his eyes light upon seeing her.

His day only gets better as he sees Neriah as the door opens and he steps into the house as she steps aside from the door. She's about to ask how his day went when he silences that question with a deep, seducing kiss on her surprised lips. The kiss makes her forget everything she's about to say and when he pulls away; she blinks a few times, trying to regain herself.

"This is for you," Shawn says, pulling out a red rose from his back and handing it to her.

Neriah feels surprised and her heart swells, even though it hurts her like hell. "Thank you," she collects the flower and sniffs in its pleasant odour. "What's it for?"

"It's officially three months today since we met and I thank God every day for that day."

She forces herself to smile even though her eyes grow glassy. "You remember."

"I can never forget that day, my love, what seemed to be the worse day ever became the happiest day of my life and I owe it to you-" he pauses as he sees the tears running down her face, "what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"I'm just so happy," she says, not completely sure what reason was causing the tears in her eyes to flow.

"Well, I'm glad they are of joy 'cause that's what you bring m-"

She doesn't let him finish before hugging him deeply and sobbing into his white T-shirt.

He takes her by surprise and Neriah is aware of that; she wasn't one to want emotional hugs. It never comforted her, but she cannot help it. The truth is much harder than she imagined. How is she going to come out with the truth? She's going to hurt him terribly, something she never intended to do.

"Let it out, babe," he coos, rubbing circles around her back and kissing her hair.

"I love you so much, Shawn. I hope you know that." She whimpers weakly.

"I know, hun, I love you too."

Moments pass and her sobbing reduce, "Remember three weeks ago when you said you wanted to meet my mom and the rest of my family and I said the timing wasn't yet right?" She asks with a small voice.

He nods, "Yeah?"

"Well, I lied," she says and pulls back to watch the reaction on his face.

His face displays a little confusion as he stares at her. "Why?" He asks.

"I didn't want you to meet them," she truthfully replies.

"Did I cause that? Or you are not on good terms with them?" He asks, trying to get a grip on what is happening.

More tears run down her eyes as she shakes her head, "No, not that, no one is at fault." She replies weakly and moves away from him to she drops the flower in the vase on the shelf close to the bed, then she wipes her tears with tissue from the nightstand.

He steps towards her, "Whatever it is, you can tell me."

She nods because she knows she can tell him, but the fear lies with how he's going to take it.

"Come on, Neriah, the wait is killing me already."

"I have cancer, Shawn, I'm dying."

He takes a few moments to properly grasps what she's just said, both the first and the last part. The words replay in his head over and over and over. His eyes grow weak and his face drops and is void of every emotion even as he stares at Neriah, wanting her to give him a sign that she is joking and her last words were just a prank on him to see his reaction.

"What? How? When?" His voice is trembling, which tells Neriah that so is he, but she numbs on how to console him without losing it herself.

He runs a shaky hand over his low-cut hair, "It can't be, you can't have cancer."

She moves closer to him, "I'm sorry, Shawn-"

He raises his hand, silencing her apology, "How long have you known?"

"Shawn-"

"How long have you known damn it!"

"Close to a year now," she answers sincerely, but even she knows this sincerity is going to cost her a lot now.

A frown appears on his face and only deepens as the moment passes by. "You knew even before we met and you said nothing?!"

"Shawn, I-"

A tear drops from his eyes. "What kind of person does that?!"

"I'm sorry, Shawn. I was scared. At first, I didn't owe it to you to tell you the truth and then our relationship grew and I fell in love with you and I got scared of getting you involved in my mess. I saw how your mom's illness had gotten you down and I didn't want that, I never wanted that."

"Those migraines and dizziness that you constantly complained about were because of it, right?"

She presses her lips together and nods.

"So what were you hoping to do, keep me in the dark forever?" When she doesn't reply, red flashes in his eyes. "What kind of person are you?"

"Someone who's been in this situation before, Shawn. When I was nineteen, I was diagnosed with brain cancer. It was rare and no one could understand why I had it and I saw how my family had to give up all they had and although I recovered, my family didn't recover from all we lost in the fight against cancer and that was five years ago. I moved to the city with hopes to better the lives of my family again. But about a year ago the sad news returned, and I have been trying to do it on my own."

There's a sharp pain in her head and she rubs it slowly, trying to ease the pain thereof.

"Isn't it what loved ones do? Help share the pain?" He asks, pained and his eyes already swimming in tears.

"I've seen you go through a lot of pain and I love you too much to bring you mine."

He moves closer to where she is by the lampstand. "That shouldn't be your decision to make, Neriah. I'm old enough to know what I want." His fingertips slowly stroke her cheeks. "You're dying and you're scared, but no one in this situation would want to be alone."

Neriah knows there's no way she's going to talk him into not taking responsibility for her, Shawn has always been stubborn, maybe a little more than her and now as much as she wants him around, she needs him to move on with his life.

It sounds absurd, but if he moves on now, it won't be so hard when she's gone and that is what she wants, for him to move on and be happy.

She picks up the card Cainan had left on the table and hands it to him. Shawn pauses and stares at the card, which he knows is Cainan's card, which is now in Neriah's room. The only explanation is that Cainan has been here, but for what? He wonders.

"Cainan knows," she mutters silently.

He looks down at her with curiosity and confusion on his face. "Knows what?"

"That I have cancer," she replies, feeling weak and going to sit down on the chair beside the table.

"When? How?"

"This morning, I passed out and his doctor did the test and I don't know how but they came out so."

Something ticks off in Shawn and even Neriah feels it, too. "He's the reason I now know the truth, isn't he?"

Neriah has always known him to be smart enough to put two and two together and that's what he just did and if he would just be smart enough and run for the hills now, it would be so great.

She nods, "Yeah if he didn't find out and confront me about it, I don't think I would have ever been able to tell you." There was no other way to make the truth any less hurtful and even she knew it.

"And I thought you loved me."

"I do-" she tries taking his hand, but he moves it away.

"No, you don't. If you did, you would have trusted me to decide and now you told me the truth not because you want to but because Cainan made you."

"I'm sorry." She doesn't know what else to say. She admits she messed up, but she was afraid of hurting him and in the end, that's what she has done.

"For what, breaking my heart in a thousand pieces? Deciding for me like I am a child that can't think for himself-" he grits his teeth and heaves a deep breath, "I wish I could hate you, I wish I could, but I can't and that hurts like hell." he wipes away his tears and walks out of her apartment.