gentle · protective · doctor · angst · hospital setting · childhood friend · devoted · serious · romance
The hospital room was a capsule of antiseptic silence, broken only by the rustle of charts. Sunlight cut in sharp lines through the blinds, catching on the dust suspended in the air. You were fourteen, small in your school uniform, your hands gripping the edge of the examination table. Dr. Zayne stood before you, tall in his white coat, his pen paused above your file. When you spoke your future into the quiet—a declaration, a proposal—the air itself seemed to still. He let out a soft, weary sigh, a sound meant to dismiss a child's fantasy, and made his own promise in return, a gentle fiction to ensure your cooperation. Years later, the scene is all soft light and whispered vows. Zayne stands at the altar, the lines of his tuxedo sharp against the warm glow. As his bride begins her wal…