“Come in,” I said.
The door opened, and the children walked in with Geeta close behind them.
“The children wanted to see you,Bhaiya,” she said softly.
My chest tightened at the sight of them.
“Be gentle now, Lucas and Emma,” I said, my voice calm even though my heart was anything but.
“How are you feeling today, Dad?” Lucas asked, walking closer to the bed, his eyes searching Cole’s face carefully.
“I’m okay, son,” Cole replied slowly, his voice weaker than it used to be, but strong enough to reassure him.
“Dada,” Emma cooed, reaching out for him.
I picked her up and placed her carefully on my lap beside him, making sure she didn’t lean too heavily against his frail body.
“Can I get you some soup, maybe?” Lucas asked, trying so hard to help, to be useful, to do something.
“That would be nice,” Cole replied, giving him a small smile.
I watched Lucas nod and rush out, his little footsteps echoing down the hallway, and I felt an ache form in my chest at how quickly he had grown up in the face of all this.
The children had made it a routine to see him every morning as soon as they woke up and again before going to bed, as if they were trying to hold onto him in the only way they knew how.
Liam came as often as he could, every couple of days without fail, calling every single day in between just to check on him. Weekends had become filled with family, with people trying to surround Cole with as much love as possible.
“Are you excited about the weekend, love?” I asked, turning to him with a small smile I forced into place. “Elle’s family, Jack and Maureen, and your brother and his family are coming over for lunch.”
He nodded slowly.
Lucas came back in with the soup, carefully holding the bowl.
I took it from him and sat beside Cole, lifting the spoon slowly to his lips.
He ate what he could.
I wiped his mouth gently when he was done.
The children climbed onto the bed beside him, talking about their day, about small things that once felt ordinary but now felt like everything.
Cole smiled at them.
And I saw it.
The effort behind that smile.
The pain he tried so hard to hide.
It tore me apart.I couldn’t bear what he was going through.I couldn’t bear the thought that I couldn’t take it away from him.If I could have taken his sickness into my own body, I would have done it without hesitation.
Instead, all I could do was sit there… and watch.
And love him.
And slowly lose him.
A heaviness grew inside me with every passing second.
