At seventeen, I believed love was brave and unbreakable. My high school boyfriend was my first real love, and we planned a quiet future together—college, careers, small apartments, ordinary happiness. I thought love alone would open every door.
A week before Christmas, everything changed. He was in a terrible accident that left him paralyzed. In the hospital, I promised I wouldn’t leave. When doctors said he might never walk again, I saw it as our test—and I was determined to stay.
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