The words pinned me in place.

I opened my mouth, but it took a long time to get anything out.

“Please don't joke about that.”

“I'm not joking.”

Xavier stood beside the bed without moving closer or asking me to accept him.

“I've loved you for years.”

“When you entered your first perfumery competition at sixteen, you were so nervous you didn't sleep all night. The next day, you came running out with your medal, hugged me, and asked if you were the most talented perfumer in the world.”

“That was when I realized I felt more than an uncle's affection for you.”

I looked at him in bewilderment.

“But you never said anything.”

“Because you've always thought of me as your uncle.”

He smiled faintly, bitterness threading through it.

“You trusted me. I didn't want to exploit that trust to make you return my feelings. Then you fell for Sebastian, and he was all you could see. I had even less right to interfere.”

“What about Paris?” Sebastian asked suddenly.

He stood by the window, his white coat making him look tall and austere. His voice, however, was openly sharp.

“You knew she was with me, but you arranged her training and encouraged her to leave Boston. Is that what you call not interfering? Taking advantage of an argument to lure her away?”

Xavier turned to him.

“Sophie submitted the application herself.”

“And you had no selfish motives?”

Sebastian pressed him, his eyes frighteningly dark behind the glasses.

“You've played the considerate, gentle uncle for years. You've watched her rely on you and trust you. Then you appeared at exactly the moment she was disappointed in her relationship.”

“How are you any better than me?”

Xavier's expression darkened.

“At least I respect her choices.”

“Respect?”

A cold curve touched Sebastian's lips.

“She loves me, not you. Yet you couldn't wait to confess the moment she woke up, making her deal with your feelings when she's at her weakest.”

“That's respect?”

The words hit a sore spot. Xavier's fingers slowly clenched.

“I admit this isn't the right time. But if I don't say it, you'll keep using my feelings to mislead her. You'll make her think I caused your breakup.”

He looked at me.

“I helped with the program because it's your dream. You didn't decide to go to Paris to be with me.”

“You simply realized that in your relationship with Sebastian, you'd stopped being yourself.”

Sebastian's voice turned sharp.

“Enough.”

“Why shouldn't I say it?”

Xavier's long-suppressed anger finally broke through.

I spoke helplessly.

“Please stop arguing. My head is starting to hurt.”

Both men went silent at once.

Sebastian hurried to arrange another examination, but not before warning Xavier.

“If you keep disregarding medical advice and upsetting my patient, I'll have your visiting privileges revoked.”

After examining me, the doctor prescribed medication for the pain and agitation.

I soon fell asleep, though my brows remained uneasily drawn.

Sebastian sat at my bedside holding my hand.

After a long time, he took my phone from his pocket.

Since I woke from surgery, he had kept it from me, saying I needed to rest.

He stared at it for a few seconds, then opened the door and handed it to a worker collecting the waste.

“Dispose of this phone.”

“Of course, Dr. Hale.”

Once he shut the door, he saw his face reflected in the glass.

Calm. Clearheaded. Thoroughly despicable.

He knew exactly what he was doing.

A doctor was exploiting his patient's memory loss to alter the evidence through which she could discover the truth.

But whenever he imagined me remembering and looking at him with that dead, final gaze again, he couldn't stop himself.