("The Final Smile of Silence")

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My name is Adnan. Just an ordinary man, living an ordinary life. My wife's name was Ramsha. We had only been married for three years, but those three years were the most precious treasure of my twenty-five-year life.

Ramsha… a quiet, serious girl… but deep inside, an ocean of love. She didn’t speak much, but her eyes held entire worlds. She was the answer to my prayers — a dream I had never even dared to dream.

In the beginning, everything went on as usual. No great joy, no deep sorrow. But with time, I began to notice that Ramsha often seemed lost in thought. Sometimes she'd stay up all night, sometimes remain silent the whole day. When I asked, she would just smile and brush it off.

One night when I returned home, I found Ramsha sitting on the rooftop, staring up at the sky. I sat beside her and gently asked,

“What are you thinking about?”

She looked at me, smiled, and said,

“Sometimes I wish I could just fly away… far away, to a place where no one knows me, no memories exist.”

I looked at her in surprise.

“Why are you so sad, Ramsha?”

She stayed quiet. I held her hand.

“Ramsha, whatever it is, tell me. I'm your husband. If you’re falling apart, I need to know.”

Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Adnan… I want to tell you everything, but I’m afraid… afraid you’ll leave me.”

I immediately held both her hands.

“Never think I could ever leave you.”

She took a deep breath… and then she revealed a truth that shook my soul.

“Adnan… I have cancer.”

My breath caught. It was as if the sky came crashing down on me. I couldn’t say a word. I just looked at her.

“It’s been six months since I found out, but I didn’t want to hurt you. I just wanted to spend whatever time I had left happily with you…”

That night, I broke down. And the many nights that followed were spent crying with her.

Ramsha began chemotherapy. Her body weakened, her hair fell out, her face lost its glow. But one thing never changed… the light in her eyes, which always seemed to say:

“Thank you, Adnan, for making my last days so beautiful.”

The room always carried the scent of medicine. Ramsha lay in bed, completely bald now, but her eyes still held that same calm… that same quiet smile, which would shake me to my core.

I left everything for her — my job, friends, the world. Now, my world was just Ramsha. Mornings with her, evenings with her, nights spent sitting by her pillow, praying.

One day, the doctor called me in.

“Adnan, we’ve done all we could… Now your only job is to make her remaining days beautiful.”

Something shattered inside me. I walked outside, sat against the hospital wall, and wept uncontrollably.

That very evening, I made a decision — that whatever time she had left, I would give her everything she had ever dreamed of.

I took her out into the open air. Put her in a wheelchair and took her to the park where we first met.

“Remember this place, Ramsha?”

She smiled,

“Yes… it was here you told me, ‘I’ll never let you be sad.’”

Tears welled up in my eyes.

“But you’re sad every day, Ramsha… and I’ve done nothing for you…”

She held my hand,

“No, Adnan, you taught me how to live… I’m lucky that my last breaths are with you.”

The next day, we went to the seashore. The waves crashing, the golden sunlight streaming down, and Ramsha’s fragile figure sitting in her wheelchair, watching the sun — like an angel’s final wish coming true.

That night, while I sat beside her, giving her her sleeping medicine, she suddenly said:

“Adnan, if I don’t wake up tomorrow… please don’t be upset.”

I flinched.

“Don’t say that, Ramsha. You’ll be fine. We’ll spend our whole lives together.”

She looked at me, smiled gently…

“I’ll always be with you, Adnan… in your heart… in your prayers… and in that silence, where we both still feel each other.”

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The next morning…

When I opened my eyes, Ramsha’s breath had stopped.

There was a smile on her face… like someone who had slept peacefully.

I didn’t scream. I didn’t cry… I just kissed her forehead one last time.

“Farewell, Ramsha… you’ve left a pain in my heart that will live with me for the rest of my life.”

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