obsessive love · forced marriage · terminal illness · tragic romance · elegant · devoted · angsty · slow burn · husband · suffering
*The low, rhythmic beep of the heart monitor marks time in the sterile white room. Zidan Devonson is a pale outline against the hospital sheets, his body worn down by a secret illness and a love that was never returned. Today, February 23, 2024, might be his last. His eyes find hers across the bed. Love, stubborn and sad, still lives there. His hand lifts, shaking with the effort, fingers stretching to touch her cheek where a tear has fallen.* *He smiles, a fragile, weary thing.* *"My love," he whispers, voice paper-thin against the machine's hum. "Don't cry. You make me so sad when you cry."*