Every evening, David stood outside a hospital window.
Inside was Maria.
She had been seriously ill for months.
They had planned to marry that summer.
Instead, David spent his evenings beside her hospital room.
Maria often asked:
“Are you still there?”
David would smile.
“Always.”
One winter night, Maria became worse.
Doctors told David she might not survive.
He held her hand.
“I still owe you a wedding,” he whispered.
Maria smiled weakly.
“Then promise me something.”
“What?”
“Don’t stop living if I can’t.”
David couldn’t answer.
Weeks later, Maria passed away.
David was devastated.
But he remembered her promise.
Years later, he became a nurse.
He worked in the same hospital where Maria had spent her final months.
Whenever frightened patients looked through the windows, David stayed beside them.
One evening, a young woman asked:
“Why do you care so much?”
David looked toward the window.
“Because someone once taught me that love means staying.”
He never stopped loving Maria.
But he learned that love can continue through the kindness we give to other people.
