He rubs his forehead as he checks the clock hanging above the doors labelled 'Intensive Care Unit'. It's two in the morning. He'd been here for more than forty eight hours and things don't seem to be looking up.
Everything was going really fine up and until that moment forty eight hours ago. His wife and himself were enjoying a really good movie while he served her his home cooked meal. She'd smiled at him and opened her mouth as he fed her, one spoon at a time.
"I wish you didn't have to take care of me like this," she'd said, her voice raspy and strained. He shushed her and said, "If I don't, then who will?"
He'd looked into her eyes and seen the little tears that were pooling at the sides and bent forward to wipe them away. As much as it pained him to see her like this, it was his duty to take care of her. He'd made a vow.
His wife had been struck with throat cancer and by the time thy found out, the ill fated disease had reached it's final and most painful stage.
After he'd fed her, he'd sat her up to wash her face. She was his love and he would do anything for her.
It was then that she'd begun screaming. Screaming in pain. Seeing her in pain, all he could do was tay strong. He'd called the ambulance and she was taken to the ICU. She'd been there ever since.
He remembered,when they were loading her into the ambulance, how she'd held his lttle finger by her own and whispered, "Forever" into his ear.
"Forever" was their little way of comforting each other after they'd discovered the disease growing in her. But at that moment, it hadn't provided him any comfort at all. In fact, it gave him the exact opposite.
As he sits by the ICU, waiting to see his wife, he can't help but think over the wonderful time they'd shared together. How they'd first met. He still remembered it as if it were only yesterday that he'd met the feisty red-haired woman who had spilled cofee all over his new shirt and had the audacity to ask him to apologize for ruining her morning drink.
Everything after that was pretty much straightforward. They'd gone on more than a million dates and had some pretty good laughs. He knew he'd fallen for her hard. And that she loved him just as much. They'd moved in together and started a new life.
It was probably a very long time after which he'd had the guts to propose her. And they were married. A bond tha tied them together. A bond based on love.
Their lives were pretty amazing, filled with happiness and loads of love. Until that moment when they found out about the cancer.
But even then, he refused to let her down. In what little ways possible, he'd tried to cheer her up. And it worked for quite some time. But soon, the cancer had began to take it's toll. On both of them.
Nevertheless, he chose to be by her side. And he knew she was grateful for that.
He hadn't slept; he needed to see her. To be by her side.
He gets up from his seat and rushes over to the nurse who had come out of the ICU. "Can I see my wife now?" he pleads and hopes she agrees.
"Who?" the nurse asks, confusion etched in her face.
"My wife. She was brought here two days ago. Please, I need to see her. Nobody's telling me how she is. Let me in, please," he asks, tears staining his fae.
The nurse stares at him and finally it dawns on her. His wife was the one cancer patient in the room. She felt pity for the man. His wife was a fighter. She wanted to live.
But the disease always has the upper hand.
There wasn't much time left for her. Surely, this man must have known that?
