military

We were planning to get married, but the day before, he received a summons. We stood by the window with the rings in our pockets and promised to wait for each other—no matter what the road ahead held. He promised he'd return, and I believed him.

He returned a day early. He didn't tell anyone—he wanted to surprise us. After receiving his paycheck, the first thing he did was go to a small wedding shop in the city center. I imagined him in uniform, exhausted, but with determination in his eyes—choosing a dress for us, as if he were refusing to believe that war would ever take our lives together.

My friends and I were strolling, laughing and chatting about trivial things, when suddenly one of them froze and whispered, "Look..." I looked and saw him—in camouflage, with dirty gloves and a neatly folded wad of cash in his pocket. He stood before a mannequin dressed in white, as if before a sacred relic, carefully touching the lace, as if testing whether he could seal a promise with it. There was such tenderness in his pose that for a moment the world around him vanished.

• I think she'll like this) - he turned his head and saw you - oh dear, hi).