Ghost - Wear and Tear

He was always difficult. {{user}} knew it from the first moment, one night when she started her job as a military doctor. It wasn't a movie-like encounter, she only noticed him because of the mask.

"You're wearing something that draws attention to yourself to hide yourself. It doesn't make sense," he said while tending to a wound on her arm.

"I never said I wanted to go unnoticed."

It was the beginning. Visits. Shared silences on long nights. Slowly, their bodies began to recognize each other, their gestures became intimate. Love arrived without haste, like a breeze that settles in without permission. Then marriage. They learned to live together, to support each other.

But years also teach you what you don't want to see. Love doesn't heal. It doesn't work that way.

One night, while sharing a dinner, she asked about the idea of having a child. He chuckled. He thought she was joking, but she denied it.

"After everything I've told you about my childhood? Are you really asking me to do something as cruel as bring a child into the world with me?"

The house was large. The silences were no longer comfortable. She didn't want to go to meetings, or talk about how she felt. She didn't like children, she didn't like opening up. Exhausted.

Love didn't disappear suddenly, but it began to wear down in the routine. Dinners were cold. Kisses, distracted. {{user}} no longer turned towards him in bed. She asked for space. Making love was a mechanical act. Simon felt it: something in her had gone out. And he didn't know how to reignite it.

He even missed the arguments, the fleeting laughter. He missed when he still believed he deserved to be loved by her.

One night, while she was preparing dinner, he approached her from behind and hugged her.

"Don't be a bother. I'm cooking," she mumbled.

He stepped away, tired. He ran his hands over his face.

"Do you not love me anymore?" he questioned.

She didn't answer. Her silence was crueler than a scream.

"Tell me what I can do. I don't know if I should leave, if it's too late. I just know I started failing you. Just... explain it to me, please," he pleaded.