"This wasn't what I thought I would meet here and it seems you just lure people out here for selfish reasons", a man left the eatery in anger after screaming at Dora.
She was speechless, sad, and hurt. She felt like everyone was looking at her due to the short drama that just happened.
With her head buried under the table, she called her cousin to come to pick her up. Malik arrived and was surprised to see Dora crying.
He quickly pushed her wheelchair out of the place and Dora didn't utter a word.
"I thought you said you are going on a date, so why the tears?", Malik asked as he drove out of the carpark.
"It was just another blind date", Dora replied as she wiped her tears.
"Oh, I didn't know. So he left because you can't walk or did something else happened?"
"We didn't even get to talk, he left as soon as he saw me. I felt ashamed the way he screamed at me", Dora replied as she tried readjusting her seat belt.
"He is a weak guy and if he had known how amazing you are, he wouldn't have behaved that way. It's his loss anyway so don't let that bother you", Malik tried making her smile but his lines were too weak to cheer Dora.
She had that heavy look on her face and Malik felt sorry for her.
"You know, I can take you out next weekend if you don't mind", he continued.
Dora smiled knowing that Malik just wanted to make her forget whatever happened at the eatery.
"We can do that some other time, this weekend is for my last chemotherapy", she replied with a shaky voice.
The two were quiet for the rest of the trip, Malik couldn't stop thinking about how Dora must be feeling knowing that she had a limited time to live.
They soon arrived home and Malik helped her again to her room. The place was designed to make things easy for her since she can't stand for long or walk properly.
Dora lived at her uncle's place since her dad died when she was twelve, and she lost her mom at birth. Many times she wished she wasn't born, Dora has referred to herself as an unfortunate child countless times.
*"It's time to give up on this", Dora said to herself that night as she tore the written bucket list from her diary.
She was on her bed reminiscing about childhood and how bad things have turned for her. Dora sighed heavily and said, "life could have been beautiful for me if all that father left for me wasn't cancer".
She turned off the bed lamp and hugged her pillow tightly.
The reflection of the morning sun woke her up since it made a round shape on her face. Dora woke up trying to dodge the light thinking it was Malik playing with her, she eventually opened her eyes properly and realized it was daybreak. She freshened up and went straight to her work table.
"I don't need these dating sites since no one even pretends to love me for who I am. More than ten blind dates and none of them was kind after seeing me in a wheelchair".
Dora started deleting her profile on different dating sites.
"Enough is enough, I should start doing things that would make me happy instead of trying to do that one last thing on my bucket list", she murmured while tapping her keyboard aggressively.
She continued checking through her system before Malik interrupted.
"Breakfast is ready", he opened the door without permission.
"I have warned you several times not to barge into my room Malik, what if I was dressing", Dora closed her laptop and wish she could lay her hand on Malik for continuously disobeying her.
"Bring me my chair", she said and Malik did just that.
Dora grab his ear when he got closer and twisted it.
"That hurts", Malik screamed.
"Sorry cousin and next time, don't barge into my room", she responded.
"Can we go to the dining now?", she asked and instead of Malik helping her get into the chair, he carried her to the dining.
After the meal, her uncle reminded her of their appointment at the hospital over the weekend.
"Dad, I do not wish to go. The chemotherapy hurts a lot and it's not like it would cure me. The doctor already said I won't make it through the year so what's the point?", she sipped from her cup and gave a fake smile.
Everyone was surprised at her decision, Malik already had his eyes wet and just a blink will give way to tears.
"You can't say that, miracle happens so you can't give up on yourself just like dad and mom won't give up on you", Malik responded even before his parents could say anything.
It was a long discussion in the dining, they tried persuading Dora but she was done visiting the hospital.
Breakfast didn't end well for the family and Dora's decision came as a shock. It wasn't easy for the family to cope with her bills all this while but they really care about her and would do anything just to keep her alive.
Months passed and Dora started getting weaker, the chemotherapy might have kept her strong and it pains the family to see her suffer.
She had lost more weight and the thought of her disappearing someday scared everyone.
Malik was seeing a movie with her when he asked if she had anything she wanted to accomplish.
"Not anymore, I used to have but one wouldn't just happen", she replied.
"What's that", Malik asked with so much curiosity.
Dora looked at him and smile as she held his hand.
"I have let go of that one difficult thing. If it was impossible when I still looked better, it definitely won't happen now that I am slowly disappearing", she touched her face to feel what was left of it.
Malik felt sad and he insisted that she told him.
"I want to go on a date, you know I never had a boyfriend before the disease showed up four years ago and I just want to know how it feels like spending time with someone on a deeper connection", she smiled.
Malik went to grab his smartphone and took a picture of Dora.
"What for?", she asked.
"To create a profile for you on Hive", he replied.
"Hive? Is that another dating site?", she asked.
Malik smiled and replied. "No,it is a decentralized blogging platform filled with many lovely people across the globe. I have a feeling that if you share that one last thing on your bucket list and your story, someone will be glad to take you out".
He completed the registration and in her introductory post, he shared Dora's story.
A lot of m members turned out to read and were willing to support her through to the end. Dora prevented Malik from sharing what they discussed about going on a date.
Every morning, Dora was eager to share how she felt and at night, she shared how her day went. Malik was always available to help her type, take photos, and do other necessary things on her blog.
Her popularity grew so quickly and she felt very much alive again interacting with people online.
After three months of continuous engagement, Dora was creating a post with Malik when she passed out.
She was rushed to the hospital and on getting there, they discovered she had less than 72 hours to live.
Dora was revived but they couldn't break the news to her. They went home with sadness, they wished for a miracle but it won't just happen.
She was too weak to blog so Malik without her permission shared her wish to go on a date before her time was up.
He shared their home address and the next day he was shocked to see people turn out in large numbers from Hive.
Malik didn't know there were numerous Hive members in his region and seeing people travel far distances just to grace her final moments was emotional.
"Someone is here to take you on a date", he whispered to Dora's ear.
She slowly turned her head to look at Malik's face.
"You are kidding right, I can't even move anymore. Who is he? What have you done Malik?", she asked numerous questions at a time.
Without giving a response, Malik lifted her and placed her in her wheelchair.
He gently pushed her outside and was accompanied by his parent.
Immediately he opened the entrance day, Dora screamed. She could recognize a few faces from her engaging on Hive.
"They are from Hive?", she asked.
Everyone gathered around her to say hello and she was excited. She couldn't thank them enough for coming out in large numbers to greet her.
Everyone went their ways before nightfall and more people came around the next day as well.
The last batch of people left and after bidding goodbye, Dora started shedding tears.
"Malik is more than a date. I am happy people aside from my family showed me so much love yesterday and today", she gently stretched her hand for a hug.
They hugged and he helped her back to her room. The next morning, Malik broke the news of her passing away while sleeping.
He thanked everyone in the article for making her last moment beautiful and memorable.