Ludwina made an excuse when she said she wanted to calm down by shopping. In fact, she returned to the hospital for a second opinion.
The second oncologist she met confirmed Dr. Chou's diagnosis, and they asked her to immediately do chemotherapy treatment so that the spread of cancer cells could be slowed down.
Unfortunately, according to the doctors, there was no guarantee that chemotherapy would cure cancer, only slowing down its growth. Meanwhile, the side effects of chemo would make Ludwina weak, in pain, and her hair would fall out.
She shuddered when she saw several cancer patients being pushed in a wheelchair after doing chemo. They all looked more like undead than humans.
Ludwina didn't want to just give up. She immediately booked a ticket to the United States using her mobile phone and immediately contacted several hospitals in New York to arrange an appointment with the best oncologist.
When she arrived at their apartment, she immediately took out her suitcase and threw some clothes and other traveling equipment there, shocking her husband in the process.
During their 3.5 years of marriage, he rarely saw Ludwina traveling alone.
The girl was like a bird that finally found her forever home when she married Andrea and became a housewife. She didn't want to travel without Andrea by her side. Now, suddenly, she just went back and already packed to fly alone.
"Honey, where are you going?" Andrea asked anxiously. He was worried that Ludwina would return to her parents' house in Jakarta.
"Are you going to Jakarta? I'll take you there. Have you booked a plane ticket? Let me buy it. What time do you want to fly?"
Ludwina shook her head weakly. "I'm going to America to calm down. Please don't follow me."
"You don't have an Instagram account and other social media..." Andrea complained, "If you don't send news, I'll be worried..."
"I'll send you news," said Ludwina, "You can't stalk me. Don't you dare! If I found out you were stalking me on purpose, I will never forgive you... " She closed her eyes and tried to hold back tears.
Yes, Andrea must not follow her tracks in America. If that happened, he would find out about Ludwina's illness.
Andrea approached Ludwina with a cautious step, then he gently took her hand and kissed her.
"I'm sorry... You can calm down in America or wherever. I'll be waiting for you here..."
Ludwina said nothing. She did not kiss Andrea back.
After finishing packing, she immediately took her suitcase out of the apartment. Andrea rushed after her with the car keys. He brought Ludwina's bag and grabbed the girl's hand as he led her to the parking lot.
Ludwina complied when her suitcase was put into the trunk, and the passenger seat door was opened for her.
"Come in, let me take you to the airport," Andrea offered.
Ludwina complied. She sat in the passenger seat, and Andrea drove her to Changi Airport. Along the way, the man held Ludwina's hand, but his wife did not even throw him a glance.
***
Andrea did not see Ludwina for three months, but the girl regularly sent news while she was in America.
He only received some pictures of how Ludwina was spending a lot of time in Central Park and various parks in New York, Boston, and various major cities in America.
Ludwina deliberately sent news every Sunday to let Andrea know that she was fine so that Andrea didn't panic and track her movements. As a digital security expert, it was very easy for Andrea to find Ludwina and know what she did in America, but he had promised his wife not to. So he had to be content with the news that Ludwina sent once a week.
Meanwhile, Adeline started to frequently send lots of emails. After her shocking email at that time, when she told Andrea about Ronan, Adeline began sending Andrea emails and pictures of their child's daily life.
Andrea had already told Adelina that he was married, and his ex-girlfriend understood that Andrea couldn't see them because he already promised his wife.
After all, it was Adeline who was guilty of keeping Andrea from finding out about Ronan in the first place.
***
Ludwina spent three months in America meeting the best doctors from various hospitals in the US to seek second and third opinions about her illness.
She did not tell anyone, including her parents. She didn't want to make them sad. She still remembered how broken her parents and Johann were when Wolf died sixteen years ago.
They never really recovered from his death. She could not imagine how devastated they would be to find out that Ludwina had cancer.
And, oh...Andrea, her beloved husband...
Andrea would be heartbroken if he found out that Ludwina was sick. Ludwina could not imagine how devastated he would be.
Before she got certainty with second and third opinions, Ludwina would not tell anyone.
***
A week before Ludwina came home, Andrea got an email from Joe, his former boss, who moved to Canada. Joe fell in love with an English girl and decided to move to London. He founded a new digital security company and wanted Andrea to join him.
"You're the only one I could think of to work with me on this company," Joe tried to persuade Andrea over the phone after explaining about his new company. "Just help me build this company. I will give you whatever you want."
Andrea told Ludwina about Joe's offer by email, but the girl simply replied, "Whatever."
After three months, Ludwina was still cold to him...
"I will take this job for a maximum of two years until the company is stable and growing. After that, I will return to Asia, move to a company here, or set up my own company," said Andrea over the phone.
Ludwina just snorted. "It's up to you. Whatever."
Again, 'whatever'. Ludwina always said that.
Finally, Andrea couldn't take it anymore and replied, "Well, if you keep saying whatever, I'll take this job... Joe said I could start next month."
"OK." Ludwina answered curtly.
***
When she finally returned to Singapore, Ludwina was already looking thinner and paler, and Andrea still thought the girl was stressed and angry because she knew Andrea had a child with Adelina.
"How come you look so thin...." Andrea complained when picking up Ludwina at the airport, "Eat a lot, okay? Tonight, I'm cooking your favorite food."
Ludwina just nodded. She was no longer cold towards Andrea, but not as warm as usual either. She already let Andrea hold her hand as they walked into the parking lot.
Andrea cooked some of Ludwina's favorite foods, but the girl ate very little.
"Are you still angry at me ...?" Andrea asked carefully. His eyes looked very sad, and it made Ludwina didn't have the heart to see this. The girl shook her head and tried to smile.
"Just a headache, really..." She said softly. "Lack of dopamine."
Andrea suddenly fell silent. He looked at Ludwina with a face full of questions, to determine whether Ludwina meant it or not.
Lack of dopamine, of course... Dopamine was produced by the brain when a person felt happy, fell in love, and after having sex.
They had been separated for three months and had not had sex. In this case, Andrea also lacked dopamine like Ludwina.
He looked at Ludwina closely and saw the girl was not joking, so the man took it as an invitation. Andrea slowly brought his face and kissed Ludwina's pouting lips.
He missed this sulking face so much. He missed her lips, thick hair, adorable freckled cheeks, and her beautiful curves.
Andrea vented his longing for three months, not seeing Ludwina, and kissed his wife passionately.
He then carried Ludwina in his arms to their bedroom and placed her carefully on the bed before continuing his fondling. Soon, they made love to vent their longing for each other.
Ludwina tried to hold back her tears by biting her lip when Andrea kissed her many times and entered her gently.
She loved her husband very much, and in her heart, Ludwina was determined to let Andrea go so that he could be happy with Adeline and Ronan.
But tonight, before Ludwina let him go, Andrea was her husband, and Ludwina wanted to make love to him one last time.
Andrea was a little surprised because Ludwina seemed to keep demanding him to continue making love with her until both of them were very tired.
It's not like the usual Ludwina...
Maybe Ludwina really missed him because they were separated for three months...?
Andrea also felt the same longing for Ludwina. He felt touched and grateful when his wife finally returned from America and seemed to have forgiven him. She even wanted to make love to him.
From here onward, all the problems would slowly be resolved. He and Ludwina would move to London for Andrea's new job.
They would be closer to Ronan.
Thinking about this, Andrea was delighted.