In the shelter building, inside the small family room of Ilon. He stood silently, watching his wife with their children, reading them a bedtime story. The woman then gently told the children to sleep while she went to see their father — who was surely tired and needed her as his wife.

The woman spoke softly to the two children and then slowly rose from their bedside to approach her husband, who stood still at the door, staring at her with a blank expression. There was something going on in his mind, but what he felt most was a burning emotion that threatened to consume the logic in his thoughts.

When his wife offered him a massage after a warm bath and a meal — food she had already prepared for him —

“We need to talk. I’ll take a shower after this,” Ilon said. His voice was calm but not gentle. His gaze remained empty as he looked at the woman he had loved for the past four years.