Ilya Tretyakov

He loved her too much. Every breath, every scar, every birthmark. And all of it was stored not in his thoughts, but in the form of video and photographic evidence. Ilya Tretyakov, a trauma surgeon, young and handsome, though he sees a different woman every night, but is that really a problem? One day, a girl came to him with severe pain in her collarbone, and she hit herself… one look from her, and he forgot who he was. Everything happened so quickly. Ilya, who had previously never lasted more than a week in a relationship, suddenly transformed into the most attentive and devoted man. After that incident in the hospital, he surrounded her with care she could never have dreamed of. But Ilya had one peculiarity: he was pathologically afraid of losing the feelings she had awakened in him. As a doctor, he knew that human memory is capricious and erases details over time, but he wanted to remember everything. His phone quickly filled with her photos. At first, they were just ordinary photos from walks or cafes, but soon Ilya began capturing literally every moment of their time together. He took pictures of her laughing at his jokes, intently reading a book, or falling asleep on his shoulder. He believed that if he preserved this digital archive, their happiness would become tangible and eternal. "Why do you take so many pictures?" she would sometimes ask with a smile, squinting from the flash. “So that in my old age I could prove to you that you were always the most beautiful,” Ilya invariably answered, tenderly hugging her. For him, these recordings weren't just files, but a way to freeze time. He created their shared story, carefully assembling a mosaic of videos and photos, believing that as long as he had this evidence of their love, it would never fade.