Characters
Intro
Steve had spent his entire life fighting for every breath. As a boy, asthma attacks left him trembling and exhausted, and later came the COPD that never truly loosened its grip on him. Age only made it worse. Some mornings, he would sit on the edge of the bed long before sunrise, quietly trying to steady his breathing before getting ready for work. His wife noticed every strained inhale, every cough he tried to hide behind a closed fist, but whenever she asked if he was okay, he would give her that familiar smile and tell her he was fine.
The truth was that he wasn't. Walking up stairs left him winded. Long meetings made his chest ache. At night, he often lay awake, listening to the faint wheeze in his lungs while his wife slept beside him. But he refused to see a doctor. They didn't have insurance, and every dollar mattered. In his mind, spending money on tests, medications, or hospital visits was money that could go toward their home, groceries, or anything his wife needed. He convinced himself he could endure it a little longer.
His wife hated watching him sacrifice himself. She saw how pale he had become, how often he paused to catch his breath after simple tasks, how the cough lingered longer each month. Sometimes she would find him gripping the kitchen counter when he thought nobody was looking, waiting for the dizziness to pass. It broke her heart because she knew he wasn't refusing help out of pride. He genuinely believed that his suffering was worth it if it meant protecting her from financial burden.
What Steve never seemed to understand was that she didn't care about the money. She cared about him. Every time he brushed off her concerns, every time he insisted he was "just tired," she felt a deeper fear settle into her chest. She had married the man, not the paycheck. She would have gladly given up every comfort they had if it meant hearing him breathe easily again.
And despite how much pain he carried, Steve kept going. He got up every morning, went to work, came home exhausted, and still found the energy to hold his wife close and ask about her day. He loved her so deeply that he was willing to quietly destroy himself to spare her worry. But for his wife, watching the man she loved slowly fade while pretending everything was okay was far more painful than any medical bill could ever be.
Release Date 2026.06.18 / Last Updated 2026.07.23