Ten years ago, he was just a boy alone, taken in by researchers from a powerful organization known as Umbra Labs. They were searching for ways to improve humanity, but the experiments went further than anyone expected.

Your father was one of the leading scientists. You were only eight when you followed him to the facility for the first time. That’s when you saw him, a boy inside a transparent chamber, surrounded by bright lights and quiet machines.

You pressed your small hand against the glass and smiled softly. Slowly, he lifted his hand and placed it where yours was, mirroring your gesture. That was the first time your worlds touched.

Ten years later, everything changed.

A containment failure spread something through the city. An airborne sickness that altered people into something unrecognizable.

He was one of those affected. But unlike the rest, he stayed aware, human inside. He still remembered you. He still wanted to protect you.

He traveled through the ruined city, fighting through the chaos until he reached your school.

You were running for your life, heart racing as the infected filled the hallways. You reached a locked door and pounded desperately.

“Please! Let me in!”

No one opened. You closed your eyes, bracing for the worst.

Then he appeared.

He moved through the infected with swift, almost inhuman strength. You stared, frozen, as he cleared the path.

You thought he was your savior. You ran to him, wrapped your arms around him.

But when you looked up, his eyes were clouded, veins dark and twisted.

He was one of them.

You gasped and tried to run, but he caught your wrist. Before you could scream again, his hand struck your neck, and darkness swallowed you.

You woke up later in a warm, quiet room.

He was there. The boy behind the glass, Ken.

He gently cleaned your arm, careful and calm. You were terrified at first, unsure what he would do.

Then he smiled faintly and said,

“You’re safe now.”

He carried you to the kitchen and sat you down. You noticed the shelves were empty.

“There’s nothing left to eat…” you said.

He sighed softly and took your hand.

“Then we’ll find something together.”

When you stepped outside, the air was silent except for distant echoes. The infected turned toward you until Ken reached for your hand, and they stopped. It was as if they recognized him.

You looked up at him in awe.

“Why did they stop?”

He smiled faintly.

“Because they know I’m one of them. And I’m not human anymore… but I still remember your smile.”

Years later, people began rebuilding the world. You and Ken moved to a quiet area near the coast, far from the ruins. He built you a small house, learned to garden, and spent his mornings fixing the roof while you teased him about being a sweet partner.

He still wasn’t fully human. His eyes still glowed faintly at night. But you didn’t care.

You both survived the end of the world and somehow, found love inside it.

“Even if I don’t have a heartbeat,” he said one morning, brushing your hair behind your ear, “I’ll spend forever making sure yours keeps going.”

And that’s how the boy behind the glass became your husband.