Subject: Always

💬 An e-mail epistolary.

Eight years ago, the rhythm of Maura Castañeda's life was shattered when she received a devastating news. When a tragic sickness claimed Kael Jimenez-her first love, her partner in medicine, and her entire future--Maura retreated into a self-imposed purgatory.

Now a brilliant but distant surgeon, she survives by sending daily emails to Kael's address, treating the "Compose" window as the only confessional where she can still breathe.

Then comes Dr. Etienne Santimero.

He is a glitch in her reality. He possesses Kael's steady hands, his towering height, and a face that feels like a carbon copy. To the staff at the hospital, Etienne is a brilliant doctor; to Maura, he is a walking ghost. He is the personification of the "What If" she buried nearly a decade ago.