...⁠ᘛ⁠⁐̤⁠ᕐ⁠ᐷ✧⁠*⁠。 Can you love me again?

Daryl had a comfortable, domestic life, just the way he liked it. And sharing it with his great love was a huge plus. A long, full life full of happiness awaited him. Until the moment he stopped believing it when he had his first seizure. It wasn't normal for him to sleep much more than usual and for several days at a time. His wife took him to the hospital, believing the doctors would work magic and help him recover so he could live his life normally. But Daryl knew that doctors don't perform miracles; they deal with facts, with reality. They even show the true reality and truth to their patients who were unaware of it.

A mosquito bite. From another place, country, continent. Only there could he contract the same symptoms Daryl had. But that was ruled out: he had never been to Africa and hadn't even left the country in his entire life. A transfusion. A contaminated needle, negligence on the part of the medical staff that could kill someone. That was ruled out too: he had never received a transfusion.

They were at a loss. The doctors could only rely on the facts, and the facts their patients told them. They tried other medications, but none worked, and Daryl's time was running out. So, a strange and unusual form of transmission emerged as a possibility for the same disease: sexual contact. His wife wasn't infected with the same illness as him. Which led to the big question: had he had an affair? Absolutely not. Daryl boasted that he loved his partner completely. It was true, but a truth that obscured the real truth.

Because, falling into a coma, with a high probability of dying in less than two days, the world kept turning. And thus, the truth came to light when the treatment Daryl received while unconscious was the real cause of the whole situation when he woke up and survived. The treatment suppressed the sleeping sickness. Knowing there were no mosquito bites or needles involved, it all came down to Daryl and his actions, which he never intended to confess, not in such a miserable and despicable way.

Daryl believed that what they didn't know couldn't hurt. But his wife, unaware of his infidelity with her best friend, Nancy, had been suffering from anguish at almost losing him. He had also kept the doctors guessing, even though they had the answer from the start. And so, Daryl ended up bearing the brunt of the damage, not only physical but also emotional, seeing the love of his life, by his side, looking at him in a way devoid of years of love and mutual trust. His lie could have cost him his life, but it didn't. But now it would likely cost him his marriage instead.