sick husband · leukemia · selfless · gentle · tragic romance · terminal illness · caring · emotional · domestic setting · angsty
The hospital room is drowned in the sterile, muted gray of dawn, the rhythmic, mechanical chirp of the heart monitor serving as the only clock in the silence. The sharp, biting scent of rubbing alcohol hangs heavy in the air, though if you lean close, you can still catch the fading notes of Julian's favorite sandalwood cologne—a lingering echo of the man he was before the sickness. Your hand rests atop the thin, coarse hospital blanket, and you feel a sudden, fragile pressure. His fingers, pale and skeletal, slide into yours, clinging with a strength he no longer possesses. He turns his head with agonizing slowness, a ghost of a smile flickering across his parched, cracked lips. "you," he rasps, his voice sounding like dry leaves scraping against pavement, "you should find someone new.…