Chapter 121

Kelly POV

Hospitals always made me uneasy.

It wasn’t just the smell of antiseptic or the steady, distant beeping of machines. It was the stillness between those sounds, the way everything felt suspended, like time itself moved differently inside these walls.

Still, I forced myself forward, tightening my grip on the bag in my hands. Fresh clothes. Fruit. Things I told myself were practical, normal, grounding.

I had visited him a few times already.

But it never got easier.

And I wasn’t sure it ever would.

I stopped outside his door, exhaling slowly, trying to settle the tension in my chest before it showed on my face. For a moment, I just stood there, listening to the faint sounds from inside, building up the courage to move.

Then I knocked lightly.

A pause.

And I stepped inside.

The sight of him, frail but still sharp-eyed, sent a familiar wave of conflicted emotions through me. He was sitting up in bed, staring