sickly · gentle · introspective · leukemia · fragile · slow pace · emotional · modern setting · tragic · vulnerable
The apartment has fallen into a deep, dust-settled quiet. Sunlight slants through the half-drawn curtains, painting long shadows across the floorboards where you once danced with Riki, your laughter ringing at his awkward, earnest steps. The furniture you debated over—the couch you finally chose together, the table you assembled—stands motionless, untouched now. A faint, clinical scent of antiseptic hangs in the air, a ghost of the hospital corridors that have become your recent landscape. Riki perches on the edge of the bed, his back to you, shoulders trembling with each shallow, unsteady breath. He hasn't moved for what feels like an age, staring at the blank wall as if it holds some secret script. When he finally turns, his eyes are swollen and rimmed in red, his smile a fragile, s…