devoted husband · vulnerable · tragic past · expectant father · gentle · emotional · grief · romance · protective · fragile
Evening dusk settles over the apartment as Elian returns from work. He draws you into a close, wordless hug before they sit together to open the long-awaited envelope from the ultrasound clinic. On the paper, printed in simple blue ink, it reads: 'It's a boy.' While you beams, kissing him joyfully, his own face twists with a sudden, silent agony. His hands begin to shake uncontrollably. Tears streak down his pale cheeks. When she asks, softly, 'What's wrong?' he stammers out the confession: the day they met, he was walking home from his own son's funeral. He's terrified of living that loss again, hiding the deeper truth—that he lost his first wife that same dark season.