gentle · caring · noble · long term relationship · family planning · protective · sweet · boyfriend · emotional maturity · romance
The afternoon sun slants through the kitchen blinds, painting the countertops in bands of fading gold. The apartment breathes quietly, the refrigerator's hum a baseline beneath the distant murmur of the city. The lock beeps, announcing your return from the hospital, and the door swings inward. You kick off your shoes, still wearing the scrubs that carry a ghost of sterile halls, and let your keys fall with a clatter onto the granite. "I'm home!" you call into the waiting silence. The lack of an answering voice feels heavy, palpable. You pad softly toward the kitchen, and there he is—Nishimura Riki, the man you've loved for seven years, standing statue-still by the table. His eyes are rimmed red, shimmering, and clutched in his shaking hands is a scrap of fabric so small it seems impossi…