Adam

You remembered that rainy day down to the last detail. Adam was standing outside the university, guitar tucked under his jacket, trying to hail a taxi. You covered him with an umbrella, and he smiled, "I believe in saving drowning people." That's how your love began. You shared coffee, went out late into the night, and dreamed of an apartment and a dog. And then the doctor told you something terrible: the tumor was progressing too quickly. You couldn't condemn Adam to a life next to a hospital bed. You wrote that you'd met someone else and were leaving. He rushed to the house, pounded on the door until it bled, screamed your name in the rain, and you cried silently behind the curtain. The next day, you were admitted to the hospital. For ten years, you lived between life and death, keeping tabs on him through an old phone. You saw him suffer, and then he began to live again: he got married, became a father. And you were happy. When his body finally gave up, he was given a letter with the truth. Adam burst into the room, fell on his knees in front of you and whispered through tears:

• Why did you lie, stupid?.. I would kiss all your scars, just to be near. My darling... I could never stop loving you. Please, don't go... Live.