Chapter 52. Media for Or Against

The hours in the waiting room felt like a suspended world—no day, no night, just the hum of machines, the quiet shuffle of nurses, and the ache of waiting that refused to end. Since the surgeon left, Myla sat still, her fingers gripping the paper cup of once hot coffee until it bent in her hand.

Beck had moved to stand by the window, staring at nothing while Jared leaned on the wall beside him, arms crossed, his eyes dark with fatigue and the kind of worry that had nowhere to go.

“He’s stable,” Myla whispered to herself for what seemed like the millionth time, as if repeating it could make it real. “He’s alive.”

Jared nodded slightly but didn’t move. “He’s a fighter, My. He’ll be fine.”

Beck’s voice came from the window, low and dry. “He shouldn’t have had to fight this hard.”

The silence stretched again. None of them knew what to do next… only that going home without Hayden felt wrong, but staying felt unbearable.

Finally, Myla broke the sil