She looked away, her gaze dropping to the ground. “I don’t want to hurt you… maybe it’s better this way.” Her voice wavered, a delicate mixture of guilt and self-doubt. He nodded, his eyes steady, understanding the storm raging within her. “I understand how you feel,” he said simply, offering no judgment, only acceptance.
“Then why are you waiting?” she whispered, almost as if she wished he wouldn’t. “Why hold on when I can’t promise you anything?”. His lips curved into a bittersweet smile, his gaze unwavering as it met hers. “Because you’re the only one who makes me feel truly alive,” he said. “You brought back my smile when I thought I’d lost it forever. I’ll wait, not because it’s easy, but because I believe that one day, the time will be right, and we’ll be together again.”
Her breath caught at the conviction in his words. There was no demand in his tone, no pressure for her to change her mind. Instead, there was patience, a kind of love that didn’t seek to possess but to understand and endure. He continued, “I don’t wait with expectations. I wait because I believe in the person you are, even when you can’t see it yourself. And if waiting is all I can do for you right now, then that’s what I’ll do.”
Tears welled in her eyes as his words settled into the depths of her heart. She had tried to push him away, to shield him from the mess she felt she was. But here he was, choosing to stay, to wait—not because he had to, but because he wanted to.
In the silence that followed, she didn’t respond. Yet, for the first time, she began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, there could be a future where his patience and her fears could finally find peace.
