The sweet, apologetic message an old man wrote to his wife on a medication box has touched many during the fight against COVID-19 in Nanjing.

Mr. Chen, 69, stayed in a ward at Nanjing Public Health and Medical Center, and his wife, five years younger, was placed in quarantine at another ward due to the pandemic. Being a loving couple for more than 40 years, they’re now in the face of longest separation, and the epidemic.

At first they maintained contact over the phone, but the wife later refused to answer calls and also kept her husband in dark about her worsening health. After finally finding out his wife was sent to the ICU, the man decided to write a message on a medication box at hand and asked the doctor to pass her the “love letter”.

Mr. Chen wrote “the bad weather has been on for days, but it will go away. We have no other options, so I hope you can overcome the difficulty and listen to the doctor. You are angry with me, but I can understand it. When all this is over, I will apologize to you when we go back home. Please turn on your phone. Our children worry a lot. ”

Huang Mei, a nurse at Jiangsu Provincial People's Hospital, said the granny refused treatment at the very beginning and also declined psychological counseling. After reading the “love letter”, however, she was more ready to cooperate and also had video chats with her family members.

As the couple’s health condition improved, they are now transferred to the same ward for further treatment.