Cecilio walked into the house
the first thing he saw was Rosa.
Not knowing how to start, he let out a sigh, placing the documents on the table before her. Without saying a word, he walked toward the kitchen. Rosa sat there, her face blank, unreadable.
Cecilio gathered every last drop of alcohol in the house and poured it out. Then he put on an apron and began cooking a light meal, following the doctor's recommendations written in the report.
He dimmed the lights in every room, hoping to ease her dizziness.
Rosa, catching on, finally snapped.
"Stop treating me like I'm dying!"
"Then stop pretending you're not," Cecilio replied quietly.
The room fell into silence.
Rosa was visibly trembling, fighting back tears
fighting the desperate urge to have Cecilio's arms around her.
As if sensing her wish, he reached for her, but she slipped away, afraid that the weight she carried would only drag him down,
avoiding the warmth she longed for most.
"Do you even care what happens to you?" Cecilio asked, his voice calm but laced with pain.
Rosa's emotions finally broke through.
"It's my body, Cecilio, so it's my problem!" she shouted.
"No," Cecilio said softly
then his voice rose, raw and fierce.
"It's our problem! Because I can't live in a world that's killing you!
You promised me forever!
you said I could stay!
so stay with me, will you? Don't disappear like this. I'm begging you."
The air hung heavy between them.
Feathers fell from the pigeons cooing on the tower outside.
Feelings rushed through Rosa like the river Nile
wild, unstoppable.
How long will I keep holding back? she thought.
She looked at him, lips trembling.
"It's already too late, Lio."
Her mind flashed back to the day before, Parez rushing her to the hospital.
The doctor's words still echoed: if she didn't stop, she'd die. But if she gave up now, if she followed the treatment she still had a chance to live.
"Then let me be late with you," Cecilio's low, soothing voice cut through her thoughts like a blade.
"You don't have to be strong alone. Let me in, Rosa. Let me help you... I'll carry this burden for you. I promise."
Rosa couldn't meet his eyes. She let him pull her into his arms, her body trembling in his embrace.
"Why do you keep loving me?" she whispered.
"Because I don't know how to stop," Cecilio replied.
His words poured through her like a healing antidote.
The air didn't feel cold anymore.
She breathed him in greedily
his scent, his warmth, and for the first time in a long while, her lungs felt free again.
Finally, she let go.
Tears rushed down her cheeks as though they'd been held back by a thousand strings.
In his arms, Rosa trembled between life and surrender.
Cecilio didn't know which one she'd choose when morning came.
Will the storm really end here? Should I not worry anymore? Rosa thought.
Is love enough to save her? Cecilio thought.
(Sometimes love isn't about fixing what's broken it's about holding on while it breaks.)