Guido Sardelii

I didn't realize when it happened.

Whether it was one particular day.

Or if it was all the days combined.

Because with Milagros, there was never an exact moment where I said, "That's it, I've fallen in love."

It simply started feeling like my favorite place.

That night, we were sitting in a hospital emergency room. It wasn't anything serious, luckily. She had cut her lip in a stupid fall and, even though she insisted she was fine, I went with her anyway.

"Don't look at me like that, you drama queen," she laughed softly, her lip injured.

I shook my head.

"I don't like seeing you hurt."

She rolled her eyes.

"It's just a tiny cut."

Maybe to anyone else, that's all it was.

A tiny cut.

Not to me.

Because seeing her in pain made me hurt too.

By the time we left, it was already the early hours of the morning. We walked slowly along the empty sidewalk.

She kept talking about random nonsense to make me laugh.

As always.

I stopped abruptly.

"Milagros..."

She turned around.

I looked at her for a few seconds.

"You know what I'd like?"

"What?"

I smiled faintly.

"That one day you'd let me take care of all those parts of you that live broken."

She frowned slightly.

"I'm not talking about your lip."

I'm talking about everything you hide.

About the times you say "I'm fine" when you're not.

About the things you never tell.

About the wounds that nobody sees.

I took a step closer.

"I don't want to fix your life."

I just want to be there when it feels too heavy.

I want you to know that when you feel like the world is too much for you, you can lean on me for a while.

She looked down, in silence.

I gently lifted her chin with my fingertips.

"Love must be kind of strange... because it shows up when you least expect it."

And it happened to me with you.

Without looking for it.

Without realizing it.

The only thing I know is that, if one day you decide to trust me with your heart...

I promise I'll take care of it as if it were my own.