The Revenge of One Humiliated
No matter what I choose.
"Are you okay?" he asks in a voice that expects no answer, a voice that knows it's not okay, that it won't be okay, that it may never be okay, but that is there, that is there to say it, to say that it will be okay, that it will be, because he is there, because I am not alone, because we are together, because that's what love is—being there when it's not okay, when everything collapses, when everything explodes, when everything is too heavy, too hard, too true. Being there. Holding. Waiting. Hoping. Loving. Loving enough to stay. To not leave. To not flee. To not be afraid. To not abandon. To not let go. To be the one who holds the hand, who squeezes tight, who says,