He answered as if it were an oath:
“Then I will continue watching until morning.”
And that same darkness revealed another secret.
He was ill. He didn’t have much time left.
“I didn’t want to leave you alone,” he said, “in this house… in this world.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“So you bought me?”
He hit her head.
—No. I trusted you… with my greatest fear.
Something strange happened after that. Fear became routine. Routine became a kind of security.
And then he collapsed.
The following morning, there was no chair, no footsteps, no silent vigilance. Only sirens and the hospital.
The white walls seemed like a prison. The machine’s beeps, the smell of medicine, the hurried shoes… everything intensified my fear.
He lay unconscious, older and more worn than he had ever seen him.
A doctor took me aside.
“His condition is critical ,” he said. “His heart and mind… What are you to him?”
Dude, and in that hesitation I realized that this marriage was already “paper”.
I answered firmly:
“I am his wife.”
He remained unconscious for three days. On the fourth, his fingers moved. He opened his eyes.
The first thing he asked, so gently that it broke me, was:
“Were you asleep?”
Tears flooded my eyes.
“No,” I said. ” Now it’s my turn to watch.”
