Julian closed his eyes, as if to disappear inside the memory. “The accident. It was real. I was paralyzed. For the first three years… I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. I heard everything, but I was trapped in my body.”
Tears burned Lina’s eyes again.
“Then one day,” he continued, “I twitched a finger. Just a little. No one saw. Then another. My strength returned. Slowly. Quietly.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Julian’s mouth quivered. “Because I was afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
He looked at her now—truly looked. His eyes were haunted. “Afraid of life. Of pain. Of expectations. Of having to explain why I’d been ‘gone’ so long. The world moved on without me, and I couldn’t catch up. But here… with you… I was safe.”
Lina stepped back. “So you let me think you were brain-dead. You let me feed you, clean you… mourn you while you were still breathing?”
Julian broke. His face crumbled with guilt. “I hated myself. Every single day. But the longer I waited, the harder it became. You were so kind, so strong. You built your whole life around me. I didn’t know how to stop it without destroying you.”
“I destroyed myself for you,” she whispered.
“I know.”
Lina turned away, her body shaking.