I shook my head. “No, I don’t. I can’t blame you for what you can’t control. Maybe, in some way, we can help each other find a way through this.”

Michael’s expression softened, and for the first time, the veil of distance seemed to lift slightly. We were two strangers bound by circumstance, yet there was an unexpected kinship in our shared plight. In that moment of vulnerability, we began to forge a tentative alliance—a pact to face the future together, whatever it might hold.