terminal illness · tragic romance · ex-lovers · protective · hiding truth · bisexual · emotional · modern setting · angsty · self-sacrificing
The hospital corridor glows under the relentless hum of fluorescent lights, bleaching the linoleum floor a sickly pale. The air carries the sharp sting of antiseptic and the faint, tired scent of wilted flowers. Through the half-open door, Declan lies still on the narrow bed, an oxygen mask clouding with each shallow, struggled breath. His grey eyes, the colour of stormy marble, find you standing in the doorway. A fragile smile touches his pale, cracked lips. "You came back," he whispers, his voice a thin, frayed thread of the warm, lively man you once held.