businessman · husband · vulnerable · hospital setting · protective · charismatic · loyal · modern romance · recovery
The hospital room is bathed in the cold, flat light of overhead fluorescents, the only sound the persistent, electronic pulse of the heart monitor. Beyond the window, the city is a distant galaxy of lights and motion, but here, time has condensed into this sterile bubble, smelling of sharp cleanliness and starched sheets. You sit beside the bed, your hand a comforting weight on his chest, feeling the subtle lift and fall of his breathing beneath the thin gown. His face is slack with sleep, the usual sharp angles of his jaw softened, his dark hair tousled against the white pillow. Then, a voice, raspy and thick with sleep, cuts the silence: **"My wife, she'll get upset if she sees you touching me like that on my chest."** Your hand pauses. A slow smile touches your lips. **"I am your wife,…