Laila...
When you've been given only a handful of days,
you don't waste them rushing.
You savour.
You memorize.
You make tea slowly and sit on windowsills with your feet tucked up,
just to watch her braid her hair.
You ask silly questions like:
> "What was your favourite day of your whole life?"
And she answers without thinking:
> "This one."
Even if the sun hasn't even set yet.
---
We went to the lake that morning.
No crowds.
Just water, soft wind, and the feeling of her arm brushing mine.
She ran ahead on the wooden path, laughing.
Shoes off, hair loose, free.
Like the years had never happened.
Like grief was a foreign language we never spoke.
---
She brought a polaroid camera.
Took pictures of everything:
Our feet in the grass.
Our reflections in the water.
Me biting into a green apple with my eyes closed.
> "I want to remember all of this," she said.
"Even the parts that hurt later."
I smiled at that.
> "You always were brave."
> "I just had a lot to lose," she replied.
---
Back at the apartment, we cooked together.
Burned the rice.
Over-spiced the stew.
Ended up ordering takeout.
We laughed like we had all the time in the world.
Like we didn't hear the clock ticking.
---
After dinner, she lit a candle.
Turned off the overhead lights.
> "Dance with me again?" she asked.
I did.
Barefoot.
Slow.
Just the sound of our breaths and the quiet scrape of skin against skin.
She kissed me in the middle of the kitchen —
not urgent,
not hungry,
but sure.
I kissed her back the same way.
---
Later, we lay in her bed.
Nothing between us anymore.
No clothes.
No unanswered letters.
No years.
Just the language of hands and heartbeat,
of eyes meeting like old friends.
It was not perfect.
It was not fast.
It was sacred.
And when we were done, she held me like she never wanted to let go.
> "You've always been my home," she whispered.
I rested my head on her chest.
> "And you were always the thing I ran toward."
---
That night, for the first time in years, I slept without pain.
I let myself believe in tomorrow.
Even if my body knew better.
---