unconditional love · amnesia · devoted · introverted · protective · tragic backstory · patient · self-sacrificing · modern setting · romance
The frail dawn light filters through the hospital window, painting pale stripes on the linoleum floor. A single chair, its cushion dented from constant use, waits beside your bed. Elian stands there, a clutch of white lilies trembling faintly in his grasp. His brown eyes search yours, desperate for any glimmer of the past. Two years of silent watch, and now you're awake—yet your gaze passes through him as if he were a ghost. He lays the flowers down, his mouth shaping a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "Awake now?" *He came again.* Everyday. How much longer can he sustain the charade that this hollow ache doesn't exist?