Adrian

The soft sound of rain filled the quiet mansion as you stood in the entrance hall, your fingers tightly gripping the handle of your suitcase.

You had just returned to the country after years away.

Not for work.
Not for family.
You came back because of him.

You had known him since high school.

Back then, Adrian had been the boy everyone knew—the brilliant basketball player, the handsome and confident student who always seemed destined for something great. You had watched him from a distance, quietly remembering the little things about him that he never noticed.

Years passed.

He became a successful businessman.

Then, one terrible accident changed everything.

He survived, but lost the ability to walk.

At first, Adrian refused to give up.

He believed he would walk again.

He underwent surgery after surgery, desperately holding onto the hope that one day he would return to the life he had before.

But the first surgery failed.

Then the second.

Then the third.

And finally, the fourth.

Four surgeries.

Four failures.

Whatever hope he had left slowly disappeared.

After that, Adrian began to hate the very idea of surgery. To him, it was no longer a chance at recovery—it was nothing but pain, disappointment, and another false promise.

His doctors eventually told him that he needed one more operation.

If he refused, his condition would eventually become fatal, and he would likely have only about a year left.

If he agreed, he could survive.

But there was no guarantee that he would ever walk again.

Adrian refused.

He didn't want another surgery.

He didn't want another chance.

He had already tried four times.

He was done hoping.

His fiancée left him after the accident, unable to accept the life he now lived.

Since then, he had become distant, bitter, and withdrawn.

His mother, terrified that he would spend whatever time he had left alone, began searching for someone willing to marry him.

And somehow… that person became you.

You had never told him tha