Between Love and Loss: The Daughter I Made

Chapter 5: Till Death Do Us Part

Eight months. That’s all the time Kailiax had with him, but it had felt like both a lifetime and a second all at once. Time had moved in strange ways since the diagnosis—each day passing too quickly, and yet every moment weighed down by the knowledge of what was to come. Now, with every labored breath he took, she felt the sharp reality that their future had already slipped through her fingers.

He was fading. The man she had once known—so full of life, so vibrant—was barely more than a shadow of himself now. But to her, he was still everything. He was still her world, her soulmate, the love of her life. Even as his body gave out, the essence of him, of their love, was still there, lingering in the fleeting time they had left together.

Kailiax sat beside him, her hand trembling in his, her heart heavy with the unbearable weight of knowing that each breath he took brought them closer to the end. She had been preparing for this moment for months, but now that it was here, nothing had prepared her for the sheer devastation of it. How could anyone prepare to lose the one person who made their life complete?

“You’re so strong,” he whispered, his voice barely more than a rasp. His once-bright eyes were dull now, clouded with exhaustion, but they still found hers. Even now, even in his final moments, he looked at her with love.

Kailiax couldn’t stop the tears. They streamed down her face in waves, silent but relentless, like the tide pulling her under. “I’m not strong,” she choked out, her voice breaking under the weight of her grief. “I’m not. I’m falling apart.”

He smiled weakly, though it was tinged with sadness. “You’re stronger than you think. You’ve held me together… all this time.”

His words only made the ache in her chest worse. She had tried to be strong for him, but how could she be strong now when everything she loved was slipping away? How could she possibly hold herself together when the very heart of her world was leaving her?

“I don’t want to lose you,” she whispered, the words tumbling out like a confession, like a desperate plea. “I can’t lose you. I don’t know how to do this without you.”

His hand, so weak, tightened slightly around hers. “You’ll be okay,” he said softly, though his voice wavered. “You’ll find a way to keep going. You promised me, remember?”

“I didn’t think it would be this soon,” she sobbed, her body shaking as the reality of it all crushed her. “I’m not ready… I’ll never be ready.”


In the weeks leading up to this moment, she had watched him fade, piece by piece, until there was almost nothing left. She had tried to savor every moment, to make their time together count, but it was never enough. How could it ever be enough?

Now, here they were—just the two of them, in the room that had once been filled with so much love, now filled with silence and the steady beeping of machines. The man who had held her, loved her, laughed with her, was slipping away right before her eyes, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Kailiax’s tears fell freely, soaking the sheets as she leaned over him, holding onto him like she could somehow keep him here, keep him with her, just for a little longer. “I don’t know how to do this,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “I don’t know how to let you go.”

He closed his eyes, his breath shallow, his strength nearly gone. “You don’t have to let me go,” he murmured. “I’ll always be with you. You know that.”

But that wasn’t enough. She wanted him here, now, in the way he had always been—their late-night talks, their playful banter, the quiet moments when they had just been. How could she live in a world without him in it?


As the hours passed, his breathing grew more labored, and she knew—she knew—the end was near. Her heart shattered with each breath he struggled to take. She wanted to stop time, to freeze this moment so that he wouldn’t leave her, but time, cruel as it was, moved forward anyway.

“I love you,” she whispered through her tears, pressing her forehead against his. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” he whispered back, his voice barely audible now. “Always.”

She clung to him, her tears falling onto his chest, her body trembling as she held him. She wasn’t ready. She would never be ready.

“Please don’t leave me,” she sobbed, her words raw, her soul exposed. “Please, not yet.”

His fingers twitched in hers, a final attempt to reassure her. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “I’ll always be with you.”

And then, just like that, he was gone.

A World Without Him

The silence that followed was suffocating. Kailiax stayed by his side, her body curled around his, as if holding him would somehow keep him close, keep him from leaving entirely. But she could feel it—he was gone—and the emptiness swallowed her whole.

Her chest ached, the pain of his absence so sharp it felt like she was being torn apart from the inside. She had lost him. Her soulmate. Her everything.

How was she supposed to keep going without him? How was she supposed to live in a world where he didn’t exist?

But then she remembered his words—the promise she had made, the way he had looked at her, full of love even in his final moments. And though it hurt more than anything she had ever known, she knew she had to keep going. For him. For them.

Kailiax kissed him one last time, her lips trembling against his cool skin. “I love you,” she whispered, her voice broken, her heart shattered. “Till death do us part.”

But as she stood, her legs weak beneath her, she knew that death could never part them. Their love was eternal, woven into the very fabric of her soul. It would stay with her, even in a world where he no longer lived.

And that, she realized, was how she would keep going.