Synopsis

The dentist’s chair felt less like a throne of healing and more like a stage for a slow-motion tragedy. Arthur, normally a man of quiet composure, found himself performing a weary pantomime of patience as Helen endured the extraction. He’d anticipated a gentle, reassuring presence; instead, he was navigating a minefield of antiseptic smells and the rhythmic whir of drills, his own anxieties simmering beneath a veneer of calm. He’d promised to be there for her, a steadfast rock through the or