Until The Very End

CHAPTER 14: Weak

            After enjoying their late lunch while Matt and Rodolfo told Hailey about their trip to Italy, they have decided to hang up again to other places. Hailey asked if they were free again tomorrow after school, and without even thinking about his schedule, Matt answered he was. And he, too, was excited as much as Hailey did. Rodolfo, nonetheless, said that he wasn’t sure, but he did hope he’s free.

            Then, Matt remembers that Rodolfo will stay at his place. He wondered if Rodolfo knew about this already. Whatever Rodolfo would be doing that he seemed to be busy tomorrow after school, Matt will know because, at that time, they will be together at one place.

            Time went on. More and more customers came to the restaurant, picked a table, get stuck while ordering a right and delightful menu, and eventually ended up with just a plate of special pasta or a slice of cake. As the sun passed on, nearly meeting its ending horizon, the atmosphere inside of the restaurant became cosier. Candles started to lit up in the dark areas of the restaurant, although it was ten minutes before five o’clock in the afternoon, rather than those lighting up the white luminous modern lights. Of course, the candle itself cannot give a proper bright for the inside so, there were supporting yellow electric lights from the walls and a huge chandelier. The chandelier has both candles and yellow electric lights to maintain the proper theme of the restaurant. Nothing was more attractive and extraordinary than this restaurant that Hailey had suggested. It was much worth the money.

            And there was it again, just like the last time when they were together, Hailey was the one who stood up first from their seat. It was five minutes before five o’clock when she remembered that she has to meet up with her friends to finish the case study that they had started a week ago. Matt offered her a ride back to the university, but Hailey refused and said that she will grab a taxi instead. He tried to give her money for the taxi, but she said that the late lunch was already enough. When Rodolfo asked for a thing that they could help her with, she answered that their schedule for tomorrow’s meeting would be the best. Since she refused all the help and offer that Matt and Rodolfo tried to give, the two men just let her go. They watched her as she sprints to get a taxi.

            Matt and Rodolfo went back to the parking lot. It was a perfect time to tell Rodolfo about what Mr Petterson wanted for Rodolfo. They have not talked nor utter a single word on their way to Matt’s cheap car. The two were afraid to start a conversation. Down the parking lot was nothing but empty cars, properly aligned. Footsteps, even human voices or any noises made, echoed the whole parking lot. It was a moment of tranquillity.

            After minutes, before he could reach the door of the car, he had built enough courage to break their silence. But before any words came to Matt’s mouth, there was a sudden, unexpected, involuntary act that cleared his throat. It was a rapid expulsion of air from his lungs. Thinking it was over, he tried to speak, but he coughed again twice. Rodolfo looked at him worriedly, and, after a short moment, he spoke.

            “Are you okay?”

            “Yeah, yeah. I am,” Matt answered. He had a hard time using his normal voice to express that he was really okay. He continued to walk to his car and opened the car door immediately after. Before Rodolfo had entered the car, Matt coughed again. When both of them were already settled and had their seatbelts on, Matt drove. The silence was present while they hit the parking driveway.

            Finally, they were out of the parking lot. The sky was bright blue. From beside the driver seat where he sat, Rodolfo gazed at Matt, then looked away from the window. His head was uncomfortable, and his thoughts were running fast. Rodolfo felt his sweat ran down from his side of the head. He took a peek at Matt again. Matt, who was busy driving, had been observing his friend. He knew that Rodolfo wanted to say something but couldn’t. Until, when he had enough of Rodolfo’s strange looks, he asked Rodolfo about it.

            “Come on, Rod. What is it?”

            Rodolfo felt surprised by this. He remembered again what his father had said to him yesterday night. He does not know what emotions should he use to reply to his friend. He does not know what to feel either. Irritation rolled over Rodolfo so does his anger and humiliation. And he answered just after an awkward moment in silence but was incomplete, “It’s my father… he told me something that I think I couldn’t do.”

            “Your father called me,” Matt said right after Rodolfo talked. He intentionally made it short as possible, so Rodolfo would ask questions and make their conversation healthy.

            “He did? When?” Rodolfo asked automatically. His eyes suddenly went fixed to his friend.

            Matt looked at him, gave him a smile, then looked back at the road, replying, “Yeah. Right after we split up to take our first subjects.”

            When Rodolfo opened his mouth to say something in return, Matt interrupted him, saying, “Oh, right, no. Not right after, silly me. T’was ten minutes or twenty minutes after I entered our room, I think? Around twenty-five minutes for sure.”

            “Okay, but how did you excuse yourself to answer the call? Did the professor went angry at you?” his friend confusedly questioned.

            “Oh, no. I was in the café when your father called,” Matt simply responded.

            “What?!” exclaimed Rodolfo. “Why would you be in the café at a time like that. I mean, how about your class? We agreed that when we get back, no more stupid things that could get us in trouble.”

            “What are you talking about? Have you forgotten the message I sent to you?” Matt hysterically laughed a bit. Rodolfo’s brows met in the centre, perplexed by his friend’s response. “There was no professor at my first subject. I don’t know if he’s on leave or just forgotten that he has a class to attend to.”

            “Oh, right! You told me you don’t have a professor in your first subject. That explains it,” said Rodolfo, remembering Matt’s message. “Then, what did my father said?”

            “A lot,” Matt answered.

            “A – a lot?” echoed Rodolfo while stuttering. “You know you could expand your answers so I would not be left here horrified and kept asking you questions. What did he say? Why was it a lot? What are those lots?”

            “Now you’re asking me a lot of questions. I’ll tell you later over video chat tonight,” replied Matt. He excused to said the words ‘video chat’ to see Rodolfo’s reaction. There won’t be any video chat happening the following night because the two of them will be together. “What was this something that your father told that you think you couldn’t do?”

            “Well,… it involves you, actually,” Rodolfo began. He was hesitating out of the great embarrassment he will get from Matt.. “…he told me that you knew about this already…, but I have to make sure… and ask you myself if…”

            “Okay, go on. Please, continue,” Matt glanced at his friend, hoping Rodolfo would talk honestly.

            “Uhmmm, he wanted me… well…,” blabbered Rodolfo. He looked outside, seeming furious about something. Matt felt it but did not talk nor ask regarding it. He waited until Rodolfo finished what he was saying. “… this is… look, this is already too much to ask… I can’t do it… what was my father thinking? It’s too much,… too much to ask for.”

            “It’s okay. That’s what your father also said,” said Matt honestly, looking outside. He noticed two gay couples on the street. He noticed a sudden envious in him.

            “Wait, what?” Rodolfo asked out of his puzzlement. “So, you knew about this already?”

            “Yeah, of course. So, are you okay to stay up in my place? Don’t worry. I won’t charge you for anything. It’s all free to those people whose close to me. I just do hope, you enjoyed my place,” teasingly replied Matt with a bit of excitement on his lips. He couldn’t get rid of the gay couple in his mind.

            “But, Matt, this is too much,” said Rodolfo. His voice was kinda sad.

            “How?” Matt couldn’t understand him. “I don’t get it. I don’t understand. This is what your father wanted for you, and if it is for your safety, it wouldn’t be that too much for me.”

            “Okay, okay. I’d stay at your house,” responded Rodolfo.

            Silence came again to the two. None of them talked for certain minutes, and none even dared to look at each other. Matt went his thought back to the gay couple he saw earlier while having a conversation with his friend. The gay couple was happy and free. Then he imagined something. Imagined something that he had not imagined before. Matt couldn’t think of anything else than what he was daydreaming about.

            Hoping those imaginations were in accordance with reality, Matt moved his head to his right side. He tried to picture the person he was looking at in his mind. Then, he turned back to the road. When Matt looked at his friend one more time, he remembered the message that he sent to his friend. But he doesn’t want to ask about it directly. He thought of something else to know why Rodolfo have not replied to his message.

            “So, how did you reply to your father?”

            “I haven’t replied yet,” Rodolfo said.

            “Why not? I’m sure he's waiting.”

            “I got caught by the professor using a phone in his class. Well, not exactly got caught. Zander saw me using my phone while in the class and he told the professor. The professor then took my phone, leaving my message to my father on draft, which is good, by the way, because, as time went on, I thought and thought and thought it all for a long period of time and decided to talk to you first before I sent a reply to my father about it,” Rodolfo explained while eyes on Matt. Rodolfo wished that Matt will eye him back. But he was unlucky.

            “That makes sense. I thought that brat left us already in peace,” Matt was irritated when he heard Zander’s name.

            “It looks like he wanted revenge,” said Rodolfo. “Then, while I was in the hallway, going to the next class, I was typing my message to reply to you when Hailey came, asking about us. Yet again, my message was still on draft. After that, I was too busy for the next few hours. So, I’m sorry for not replying to you on time.”

            “And how did you respond to Hailey when she came asking?” questioned Matt, looking at him for a short moment. Rodolfo, who desired it moments ago, did not see it. He was looking outside.

            “I told her that we’ll tell her together. That she will have to wait until we three are together. That’s all. I didn’t talk much. Then she asked about schooling,” answered Rodolfo. Like what had Matt did, Rodolfo also glimpses at Matt, hoping again.

            Matt nodded and did not reply. He focused again on the road. Then Hailey came to his mind. And everything that he and Rodolfo told her. About their little vacation to Italy, about him being a CEO of such a big company, and being the ex-president of the university where they went. He does not want to lie anymore. She was his friend. But he was doubting her because Hailey has a circle of friends, which Matt did not meet. Not even once. Maybe, Matt thought, she’ll secretly tell her friends when Matt told her about his current life and position. Matt was afraid of it.

            The next thing that Matt knew was he stopped the car in front of Rodolfo’s house. He didn’t even realize that he and Rodolfo were already there. He stared at Rodolfo’s house. It was closed and was in silence. He pictured the place on his mind being dark with no one inside. It was lonely, although he used to live alone in his big mansion. It came to him that being alone in a lonely house might be the reason why Rodolfo cried every night. Another moment, his mind spoke, saying that it was a weak sauce. There might be another reason for crying. Overthinking over Rodolfo, he looked at his friend with his blank face and forced himself to smile. Just then, Rodolfo spoke while opening the door of the car, going out;

            “Well, gotta go.”

            “Rod,” Matt called him before he closes the door. Rodolfo stopped and bent over to see Matt’s face. At last, their eyes met. Matt felt nervous out of a sudden. “I’ll pick you up later. Around 8:00 p.m. or so. We’ll have our dinner at the house.”

            Rodolfo moved his head and his eyes to the steering wheel for three seconds. He cannot take Matt’s handsome eyes at that moment. Then, after that three seconds, he faced back to Matt’s eyes, replying, “Alright. I’ll be waiting.”

            He nodded again with his smile and drove after. While at the road, he felt himself in a place full of snow and cold wind. After many minutes of holding his cough, for he does not want Rodolfo to feel worried, he took his chance to cough and cough. As pale as he was, his energy began to drop lower. And, although his body responses seemed normal, his muscles started to become less weak.

            As the wheels of his car rolled on, his hands began fumbling. And the horizon whirled around slowly. Matt couldn’t take it anymore, so he drove faster to get home. After twenty spinning minutes, he stopped in front of his gate, then clumsily took the remote gate opener in the leather car organizer that that was placed on the seat gap. He stretched his hands outside and clicked the remote. Leaning his forehead on the steering wheel, he waited while the modernly designed wooden metal gates were opening. When it was opened, he drove inside, stopped to close the gate by using the remote, then hits the long driveway. Dead leaves flew away on the driveway as he drove his car.

            Leaving his car parked on the driveway for he will use it again to take Rodolfo, he jolted around while he made his way inside. Because of drowsiness, he helped himself walk by placing his right hand on the wall. By doing that, it helped him not lose his balance, now that he thought his mansion was spinning. He continued to walk like a zombie until his hand reached a circular thing attached to the wall. It was the smart home thermostat. It woke up after his head passed on it, showing a snowflake sign with a “cooling” blue-coloured small font-sized word beside the snowflake and a number of “50” underneath the “cooling” word having a larger font than that of the said word. Without realizing it, he inadvertently swiped down the ring of the thermostat, dropping it on 7. 7ºF became the target temperature after swiping it almost complete clockwise. This started the temperature inside cool down.

            This time, his energy became very low. He went to the living room, not very far from the smart thermostat, and rest his body on the nearest long couch. He took out his phone from his inside pocket and placed it beside him, noticing the time. It was 5:47 in the afternoon. He fought his clumsy hands while opening his phone. He created an alarm at seven-thirty in the evening. But right after he clicked the “set alarm”, he loses all his energy in his body, closing his eyes, dropping his phone on the brown carpet. It thuds.

            There was nothing in his eyes but eigengrau. Later, he fell asleep. He had nothing but just a few couch pillows beside him and one on his head. He did not realize that he was exposing his skin to a very cold temperature. This made his body temperature drops down and causing more suffering. The sun began to meet the horizon. Sundown was coming. The sky turned to bright yellow and orange. Rays of sunlight appeared on his windows. It even passed to his eyes, but he was in a deep sleep. Until, dark came. Outdoor lights began to light up automatically when night came. However, the inside of his mansion remained dark. Although there were reflected lights from the outdoor lights, it wasn’t still enough to light everything inside. Silence filled the mansion, not until his phone, that that was lying on the carpet, rang.

            It lasted for five minutes. But he’s still sleeping. Time continued to run while the temperature inside remained at 7. Shivering in cold, he moved his body across the couch. This leads him to fell down, and, after this good incident, caused him to wake up. His elbow hit the home button of his phone, then the phone’s lock screen appeared. While massaging himself out of the cold with his fumbling hands, he slowly opened his eyes, turning his head to gaze at the window. He saw the dark sky and took his phone. Growing his eyes bigger after seeing the time, he stood up, fighting and trying hard to support himself, and rushed upstairs to his bedroom. It was already 8:23 in the evening. He was late to pick up Rodolfo. But it was dark on the stairs, so he pauses in the middle of the stair, held his phone on his mouth level while he took a strong grasp on the stair handrail, saying. He was mumbling.

            “O – o – op – en… a – all th – th –e, la – lig – gths – tss.”

            “I’m sorry. I didn’t get that. Could you try it again?” the device assistant responded, then left a sound suggesting that it was Matt’s turn to talk.

            Matt cleared his throat, partially pissed-off, and try hard as he could to make his voice clear, speaking in a manner of a kind person, “Open, all t-the lights.”

            There was a pause when he talked. Ultimately, his personal smart assistant on the phone got it and replied, “Okay. The lights are on.”

            Lights began to turn on. He continued to climb the stairs, then to his bedroom. The room was a little less cold than downstairs. While he started to cough again, he immediately took off his shirt, let it laid on the floor and walk again to, this time, his closet room. The lights inside the closet room automatically turned on after he opened the door.

            After opening the door, Matt saw himself shirtless from the huge mirror, though it was few walks away from him. The mirror was attached to the wall, facing the door of the closet room. After observing himself in the mirror for five seconds, he walked left. He passed one section of cloth shelves and entered the second one. That section of cloth shelves was full of t-shirts and polo shirts. Matt wanted a sweatshirt at that moment because he felt very cold, and he thought he was on the right section. He took one hanger, with a t-shirt in it, took the t-shirt, and throw the hangar on the floor. He thought he just took a sweatshirt. While Matt was on his way out of the closet room, he had a hard time wearing the t-shirt he took.

            He came downstairs, finally done wearing his t-shirt, jolting around. It was late when he realized that he was wearing a t-shirt again because of the cold temperature downstairs. But he didn’t want to go up again, to take a sweatshirt. He was struggling to go upstairs due to drowsiness and lack of energy. He directly went outside of his mansion, coughing, forgetting to set the thermostat to a higher degree. Nervous filled inside him, with different pains on his body, when he got into his car. He stopped for a moment inside, staring at the steering wheel. It was spinning. Everything was spinning. Then, he had a second thought. He can’t drive a car when his sight was unstable, has fumbling hands, lacking coordination, has slow, shallow breathing, and has a mild cough. Matt asked himself silently;

            “Should I go?”

            Matt coughed, then, after a moment, something came that answered his question. It pictured in his mind when Mr Petterson said that Rodolfo was crying every night in Petterson’s lonely and dark house.

            “But he’s my friend. I have to.”

            Yet again, something bothered him after he coughed. This drove him mad. There was again another question in his mind that he asked himself, without speaking it out loud.

            “But I’m sick. What if I infect Rodolfo unintentionally?”

            As he waited inside his car, overthinking and having a second thought, time runs. After an immediate decision, he finally spoke his last words to himself;

            “Whatever. I want my friend.”

            Matt was not so sure what he meant by the last phrase he just told himself. He took a deep breath, building up enough strength, energy and courage, then hit the driveway that leads to the remote-control wooden metal gates. After the same process of opening and closing the gate, another thing came to his mind. He thought that if he wanted to get to Rodolfo’s place fastly, he’d have to use one of his sports cars. The sports car was way faster than the cheap car where he was in. But he was already outside of the mansion. It would consume a lot of time to get to his fancy garage. He does not want Rodolfo to wait for more. He hated waiting or left someone waiting.

            With shaky hands and a shivering body, Matt drove. He was full of nervousness. Every second, he thought that he’s going to hit the car in front of him, the lamp posts, the people walking, a wall, or a fire hydrant. Everything that was possible to appear on the road. He drove like a half-drunk person. But he fought it. At one moment, he drove steadily, then his clumsy hands would mess up. He coughed thrice in a row. It was his first time coughing thrice in a row.

            Highly strung while driving, he looked left and right to make sure he’s driving safely. After minutes on the road, he arrived at the Petterson’s house, coughing twice. Because Matt sees everything spinning, he pressed the horn twice, making two short honks, to let Rodolfo know that he was waiting outside of Petterson’s house. But Rodolfo did not come out. It looks like Rodolfo didn’t hear the honk. No other choice to alert Rodolfo, Matt came out of his car. He didn’t realize that he could actually use his phone, that that was in his pockets, and send a message to Rodolfo. The more he uses his last energy to walk, the more he became weaker. When he reached the door, he loses his balance and hit the door with his body, creating a loud sound. He fell on the doorsteps in a sitting position, leaving his body and head lean on the door. Eyes were closed, arms around him, with a shaking body, he waited ‘till Rodolfo opened the door.