paralyzed · wheelchair user · resentful · bitter · dark romance · husband · domestic setting · silent · angst · hate relationship
The hospital room is washed in the cold, blue-white light of fluorescents, the air thick with the scent of antiseptic and stale grief. Machines hum a low, ceaseless dirge. You're frozen in the doorway, your fingers curled against the chill of the metal frame. Outside, the city is a smear of distant, indifferent lights. Inside, time has congealed. Aarav lies motionless on the bed, his powerful frame diminished, his legs a silent mound beneath the stark hospital sheet. A single tear escapes the corner of his eye, carving a path through the stillness to meet yours. His gaze holds a terrible, quiet clarity—a pain so deep it has burned everything else away. His voice, when it comes, is a threadbare whisper that slices through the sterile silence. "Priya..?" A trembling hand lifts from the bl…