I pressed my lips together, struggling to keep my composure as I repeated, “They found a heart. A real match… a good one.”
He just stared at me, the game controller still resting in his lap, the screen blank and forgotten, as he processed my words.
“For real?” he asked, his voice dropping to a whisper, almost as if he were afraid to say it out loud.
I nodded, tears already building again. “For real.”
Kyrin’s gaze searched my face, his expression a mix of hope and disbelief, as though he were trying to decipher whether that was some kind of joke or a dream he didn’t want to wake from.
“When?” he finally asked, his voice barely above a whisper, filled with a cautious excitement.
“About three weeks,” I replied gently. “They have to run more tests, get you stronger, prep everything… but it’s happening, Kyrin. It’s really happening.”
That revelation was the turning point.
His face transformed slowly, not in an overwhelmed rush, but rather like a delicate flower beginning to bloom.
“I’m… I’m really getting a new heart?” he asked, disbelief still lingering in his voice.
And that question? That simple flicker of hope? It broke me completely. Tears began to slip down my cheeks like a long-held dam finally giving way.
“Yes,” I whispered. “You are.”
Kyrin released a small breath, almost as if he’d been holding it since the day he’d learned about his condition.
“Dang…” he murmured.
I let out a watery laugh, my tears mingling with the remnants of my happiness. “That’s all you’ve got? Just ‘Dang’?”
He shook his head, running a hand over his face. “I mean… I don’t know what to say,” he admitted, the weight of the situation dawning on him. “I thought—” but he stopped abruptly, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t know. I just… didn’t think it would happen this fast.”
“Me either,” I said softly.
We sat there together for a heartbeat, wrapped in the shared silence, the unspoken possibilities unfurling between us.
Then he looked up at me again. “You okay?”
I blinked. “AmIokay? Boy, you’re the one getting a whole new heart.”
“Yeah, but you’re the one who’s always stressing. I be chilling.”
“If you say so.”
“I do!” he insisted. “I mean… I be tired, but you be doing the most for the both of us.”
I placed my hand on my hip. “Well forgive me for caring.” I chuckled.
Kyrin grinned a little, then his expression softened again. “Thank you, sis. For real.”
I nudged his shoulder. “You ain’t gotta thank me; that’s my job.”
“Nah,” he shook his head, “You been doing more than that.”
I looked away for a second, swallowing the emotion creeping back up.
“I told you I got you… always. Ain’t no clocking out over here.”
Kyrin leaned back against the headboard, exhaling slowly. “Three weeks…” he said, almost to himself.
