We had stopped beside a park.
The normalcy of it felt almost cruel.
“Come with me,” he said.
I followed him out of the car without a word.
We walked across the grass together, the air still around us.
In the distance, there was a small garden surrounded by swings, slides, and painted play horses.
It looked peaceful, almost untouched by the kind of pain that was tearing through me.
He reached for my hand as we walked, and I let him hold it.
When we found a bench, we sat down side by side.
“I’ve researched this for the past couple of days, and there’s no way I can survive this, Jiya.”
I stared at him, my chest tightening.
“I still want to be in my right mind,” he continued, his eyes fixed on the trees swaying gently in the wind, “and not suffer during the last stages of my life.”
Tears pressed at the back of my eyes.
“But don’t you want to at least give it a try?” I pleaded, my voice breaking as the first tear slipped down my cheek.
Doing something—anything—felt better than doing nothing at all.
If there was even the smallest chance to keep him here longer, I wanted it.
I needed it.
I couldn’t believe that over the past few days, he had already thought it through to this extent.
I had been researching too.
I knew what he was saying was true.
But that knowledge didn’t make it easier to accept.
I had never given up on anything in my life… no matter how hard things got.
I fought until the very end.
And I wanted him to fight too.
“No, I don’t,” he said, his reply quick and sharp.
The tone cut through me.
“This is my life, and I want to decide how to live the rest of it.”
I lowered my gaze, staring at my hands in my lap.
His words hurt.
Not because he was wrong.
