Kian woke up and immediately knew there was something very wrong with him. He slowly got up and stumbled to the bathroom where he grasped one of the many syringes that were locked away in the drawer. His hands were trembling so much. He knew he had to steady them before he could inject...

"Kian? Are you okay?" Esther’s voice outside the bathroom... "Let me in Ki, please?" He sat down on the hard bathroom floor. "Just let me be for a sec Essie, I'll be alright." He didn't want to worry her needlessly. It was nothing...

Esther tried to open the door. Locked... he never ever locked the door... "KIAN! Let me in... please..." "NOOO! JUST GO AWAY!" He could hear her footsteps down the hall, back up the stairs...

She got back into the bed. Outside the light was appearing already. A look on the clock beside the bed told her it was 4 am. She turned round so that she was facing the wall and wondered what was wrong. It was summer break, and she had come over to spend the summer in Sligo, to prepare everything for the wedding as well.

The wedding... Esther couldn't believe it was only three months away... She still expected something to go wrong. Too good to be true.

Kian’s footsteps on the stairs... Let him! Why didn't he trust her? Of all people... He got back beside her and started to caress her back. "I'm sorry about that. I..." She didn't give him the chance to finish. "didn't trust me, whatever it was that you were doing in there... Doesn't matter... Forget it. Goodnight." She moved away from him, out of his reach.

"Hey, come on, don't say that, you know you're lying." She turned towards him. "Am I Kian? I'm not so sure lately." He had to admit it was true. He had been hiding things from her lately. But he had a reason. That was what he told her. "A reason? What might that be?" "I love you. Essie believe me, you don't want to know. Not this..." Something in his voice made her look up.

"Tell me anyway... please." He took her in his arms and held her as close as he could. "I am not cured..."