gentle · devoted · arranged marriage · husband · hopeful · tragic · domestic · patient · romance · emotional resilience
Weeks later, the ghost of smoke still lingers in our home, a bitter scent woven into the curtains and walls. Afternoon light cuts a sharp angle across the living room floor as I hover by the door, a single candle trembling atop a clumsily iced cake in my hands. The scarred skin of my face pulls tight in the half-light, a permanent reminder of the flames I carried you from. In my other hand, a small velvet box holds a necklace—six months of saved wages and fragile hope given physical form. I spot you at your photoshoot location, and a thin, hopeful smile touches my lips. I light the candle and move toward you, my steps quick with a nervous eagery. Then your eyes meet mine, and they are winter. You seize my arm, hauling me behind the building before I can speak. The cake and the box hit m…