He hung up without hesitation.

Then he blocked Xavier's number and returned to watching the woman in the bed.

Another morning came.

I woke to find myself resting in Sebastian's arms.

Listening to his steady heartbeat, I smiled in satisfaction.

“Sebastian.”

“Mm.”

He woke the moment I opened my eyes.

“You're so different from the way you were before I won you over.”

I poked him through his white coat.

“When I was chasing you, Tessa said you were a block of ice no one could thaw. A workaholic. Completely incapable of comforting anyone.”

“She bet I'd be crying and giving up within a month.”

His fingers paused in my hair.

“She wasn't wrong. I don't know how to comfort people.”

Otherwise, I would never have broken up with him.

“That's not true.” I looked up, my eyes bright. “You've put work aside to stay here and make me feel better, haven't you?”

“And you're definitely not cold.”

I tugged lightly at his collar.

He still carried that cool disinfectant smell. His sleeves were rolled to his forearms, revealing the clean lines of his wrists and tightly defined muscle.

After looking for a while, I smiled.

“You have such a nice body.”

His eyes darkened. “Behave. We're in a hospital room.”

“I'm only looking. I'm not doing anything.”

“Looking isn't allowed either.”

“Why?”

I asked so directly that he lowered his gaze, his throat moving slowly.

I had no idea what I was doing.

No idea what my complete lack of caution meant to him.

For two years, he had locked every passionate impulse beneath his reason. Even when I came to him, he didn't dare indulge himself.

He was afraid of frightening me. More afraid I'd discover he had never been the calm, restrained doctor I imagined.

He had never wanted only a hug.

He wanted every lingering glance. Every scent on my skin to belong to him. Every night of my life to end in his arms.

But I had been so easy to satisfy.

He said he was busy, and I found excuses for him.

He told me not to be difficult, and I swallowed my tears.

Only when I truly left his world did he realize the things I'd taken away had long since seeped into every inch of its air.

Now I had forgotten the breakup.

Forgotten the disappointment.

I remembered only the day I loved him most.

Sebastian lowered his head and gently brushed a fingertip beside my eye.

“Sophie.”

“Yes?”

“Do you really like me that much?”

I nodded immediately, as though it was a strange question.

“Of course I do.”

“How much?”

“I chased you for six months.” I counted on my fingers. “Six months of bringing you breakfast. All those love letters. Waiting outside the hospital for you every day.”

“You ignored me the whole time. You were incredibly hard to win over.”

I moved closer in his arms.

“I never dreamed I'd actually manage it.”

“Be honest. You liked me all along, didn't you? You were just too embarrassed to say it.”

He didn't answer.

I caught the edge of his coat and looked up.

“Didn't you?”

“Yes,” he said at last.

Satisfied, I smiled until my eyes curved.

“I knew it.”

I leaned in, brushing my cheek against his jaw.

His shoulders went rigid.

“Don't.”

His voice was much lower than before.