CHAPTER 4 — THE WOMAN WHO NEVER STOPPED LOVING ME
The weeks after Maya's transplant became a strange mixture of hope and fear.
Every morning I arrived at Semmelweis Clinic before sunrise with a cup of hot tea she barely touched.
Every evening I stayed until the nurses practically forced me to leave.
The doctors warned us that the transplant had gone well, but the real battle was only beginning.
Her body still had to accept the new marrow.
Any infection could undo everything.
Every fever made my heart race.
Every blood test determined whether tomorrow would exist.
Yet Maya never complained.
Even after everything she had endured, she remained the strongest person in the room.
One rainy afternoon, while she slept peacefully, a young nurse approached me.
"Mr. Arjun?"
"Yes?"
"I think there's something you should have."
She handed me a small brown notebook with worn corners.
"Maya asked us to keep this safe."
My hands trembled as I opened it.
The first page was dated almost a year earlier.
The handwriting was unmistakably hers.
Today the doctor confirmed it. Leukemia.
I smiled in front of Arjun tonight because I couldn't bear to watch him break.
I turned another page.
He worked late again.
I know he feels guilty for our miscarriages even though he never says it.
I wish I could tell him none of it was his fault.
Another page.
If I survive, I'll tell him everything.
If I don't...
I hope one day he'll forgive himself.
My vision blurred with tears.
There were dozens of entries.
Not one blamed me.
Not one accused me of abandoning her.
Instead, every page was filled with concern for my future.
She worried about whether I was eating properly.
Whether I was sleeping.
Whether someone would someday love me if she couldn't stay.
By the final page I was crying openly.
The last sentence shattered me.
Even if we sign divorce papers...
he'll always be the love of my life.
I pressed the notebook against my chest.
For the first time since we met, I understood how deeply I had been loved.
And how little I had truly seen.
That evening Maya woke to find me sitting beside her bed.
"You read it," she whispered.
I nodded.
"Why didn't you hate me?"
She looked confused.
"Why would I?"
"I left."
"I gave up."
"I failed you."
She slowly reached for my hand.
"No, Arjun."
"We both got lost."
"And sometimes..."
"...good people lose each other before they learn how precious they really are."
I lowered my head into her lap and cried like I hadn't cried since I was a child.
She gently stroked my hair.
May you like
Neither of us noticed that someone had been watching from the hallway.
A woman in an expensive black coat quietly took a photograph of us before disappearing without a word.
