Chapter 1
The fluorescent lights of Amy’s office hummed overhead, reflecting off the cold, lifeless computer screen that stared back at her. She sat in her 10x10 cubicle, typing numbers that no longer made sense, her fingers moving on autopilot. The sound of gossip floated over from the nearby cubicles —some new virus, the Coronavirus, was spreading. “A pandemic,” her co-workers said. Amy barely registered it. She had no space for rumors in her mind. She was thinking about her paycheck—the last deposit she needed for Ethan’s surgery. Once it cleared, her husband would finally get the liver transplant. At 25, she never imagined life could become this unbearable, but even in the darkest times, she clung to hope like a lifeline.
As she stepped into her quiet apartment, she called out, “Ethan?” The answer was a soft murmur from the bedroom. Amy walked over and found him lying on their bed, pale but still handsome in her eyes. She smiled, but it was a sad smile, weighed down by months of watching him slowly fade. His once-bright blue eyes, the ones that sparkled with endless optimism, were dim now. He had lost so much—his energy, his spirit, and, most painfully, his dream of starting his own company. But there was one thing he never lost: his love for Amy. And Amy loved him just as fiercely, willing to sacrifice anything and everything to save him.
After changing out of her work clothes, she moved to the kitchen. As she prepared dinner, the memories of their early years together surfaced unbidden, playing like a film in her mind.
