It had been a couple of days since Corrie had that run-in with Luca just outside her apartment. He'd mistaken her health to be poor because she was on drugs, so just to keep from arguing, Corrie told him that it was, in fact, drugs. Even though, she believed herself to be sparing him some sort of pain, by making him leave, what did she think would happen when she died and he found out? Well, she just hoped to God he'd leave and forget about her. Why was she trying to be so tough about this? She knew she wasn't in control of herself, why not just break down and let him come back and take care of her. Why? Because that is who Corrie was. She'd never gotten help from anyone before for anything like that, so why on Earth would she start then?
She was unable to do much for those few days, but lay on her bed and cry. It had even grown old to cry by that point. She felt as though she had stared a hole through her ceiling, from looking at one spot for so long at a time. When she DID get up, she had painful dizzy spells and chest pains.
Finally after sleeping a good fourteen hours at once, she was able to get up and move around again. She missed the fresh air of New Orleans, so she got dressed in a sundress, she pulled her hair into a bun, with a few strands of wavy hair hanging down against her cheeks. Her bright blue eyes were dull and her skin as pale as ever. She really did look like she was on some kind of drugs. After slipping some sandals on her feet, she wandered downstairs and out the front door into the warm sun.
As she turned to the right, a flash of color caught her eye. There was a flyer sticking out of her mailbox. She shook her head and turned back to go upstairs. She had to search through one of the drawers in the kitchen, to find the key to the mailbox, but once she did, she grabbed her bag and planned on not walking back up those stairs for a while, the rest of the day.
Finally, she came to a stop at her box, she unlocked it and pulled the door open. There wasn't just one flyer, the box was full of them. Corrie shrugged and shook her head, but she couldn't help but laugh. Fortunately, there was a sidewalk trashcan just a few feet from her, so she used both of her hands to grab the wad of paper and carry it to the trash can. She didn't notice it, but when she pulled out the flyers, the little white envelope with Luca's ring inside of it, fell to the ground. But, as she walked back over, she saw it lying there alone on the concrete. "Hm?" It didn't look like a bill or an eviction notice or anything like that, so she bent down carefully, and picked it up. It had her name handwritten on the front. "Gry..?" Her brows pulled together, and she bit her bottom lip, and turned the envelope over, to see the words 'from Luca'. Her eyes filled with questions along with salty tears. What was he giving her? After all that she'd said or done to him? Well, it was probably a letter telling her how much he hated her and more about how happy he hoped she'd be with her drugs..which were killing her.
Getting that enveloped, changed her demeanor for the day, completely and her feet took her swiftly back up to her apartment where she could wallow and read the letter. It ways awfully heavy and bulky to be a letter. She couldn't help but wonder why it said 'from Luca'. Maybe it wasn't Gry? She didn't know of any Luca's.
Setting her bag down on the floor, she let her slender body fall to the couch cushions. Her hand went back to pull her hair from the bun and she laid on her back, her fingers grasping the envelope and her thumb tracing over where her name was written. Swallowing hard, she tugged open the envelope, and reached inside, to pull out what first was a silver necklace chain, but then the ring was revealed, dangling on the end of the chain. "Gry.." Her eyes were wide, and she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Moving her fingers over the texture of the chain, she grasped the ring and examined it. It was that ring that he wore every time she'd seen him..except the last. It was all clicking now. Her eyes traced the words that were carved into the inside of the ring. It was in Romanian, thus she had no idea what it meant. Her lip was pulled in tight between her lips by this point and a single tear fell onto her cheek. What was he giving her that for? Was she really more special than all of those other girls? Her mind raced with confusion, but she knew in her heart what was going on. She was special to him. Just like he was special to her. Her heart was warm and unstable in her chest, as her tears were on her cheeks by then.
She remembered translating French online once, so why shouldn't she be able to translate Romanian, yeah? Well, she went to searching and she finally came across a website that would do translations for Romanian to English. She typed in the exact letters and clicked the button so that it would translate. It only took two seconds to comprehend what she'd taken months to, "I love you."
Corrie pressed the ring to her lips, her eyes closing tight. She felt a sense of panic go through her. He wasn't just using her for her couch..and her food. It was still hard to comprehend, but she knew it now, inside of her..was a part of him..and inside of him, a part of her. At that moment, she admitted to herself that she really did need him..that she wanted him..even if it was just til the next week, and she'd pass away soon, she'd rather know what it was like to be in love for a tiny moment of time, than die without ever knowing it. She had to bring him back. She had to tell him everything. There wasn't any time to waste, so she got on her online journal, and posted something to him, in case he got on there, but after that, she set out on foot to look for him. This one thing, she could control. She could tell the one person in the world that really meant anything to her, that she loved him.