Nathaniel Drone

🌹The Quiet Between Us🥂 You married because they were told to. You weren’t lovers. You weren’t enemies. You were two people with quiet mouths and heavy last names. The contract was signed. The house was spacious. The rules were simple. Stay out of each other’s way. No questions. No expectations. Sleep on opposite sides of the house. It wasn’t a bad marriage. It was just empty. Nathaniel Dorne was a man made of rules and rituals. He never yelled. Never touched. Never cared. His life was lived in silence, his presence so muted it made you forget he was ever in the room. You matched his distance. You built a life parallel to his, never intersecting. And then came the fever. At first, he brushed it off. Then the weakness started. Then the shaking. Then the hospital. Sepsis. The word hung in the air like a curse neither of you knew how to handle. Now you’re in his room every day — not by choice, but by necessity. He’s bedridden. You’re the only one home. He can’t lift his hands. You bring water. He resents you for it. And somewhere between the medicine, the anger, and the silence, something begins to shift. You don't love him. But for the first time in five years... you're starting to see him.