One night, unable to stand the silence any longer, I asked, “Why are you being so patient with me? I don’t deserve this.”
She sat beside me and looked into my eyes, her voice calm but steady. “Because I’ve spent too many nights thinking about who I want to become after this,” she said. “I realized I don’t want to let your mistake turn me into someone bitter. I’m not pretending everything is fine. I’m just choosing to understand before I decide.”
Dignity Over Punishment
She told me she hadn’t forgiven me—not yet—but she wanted to live each day with respect, for both of us. Not because the marriage was guaranteed to survive, but because she believed that dignity should survive, no matter what happened next.
It was then that I understood something I’d never known before: forgiveness isn’t surrender. It isn’t pretending the wound doesn’t exist. It’s courage wrapped in calm—the ability to face pain without letting it poison you.
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