Chapter 9

Pax and I parted on bad terms.

Four days before I left the country, she was hospitalized. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more ridiculous, Nina tried to kill herself.

“She’s got serious depressive tendencies.”

“It’s just an apology.”

Pax stood before me, fingers pressed to his forehead, as if the weight of this conversation had exhausted him. The dim hospital lights cast deep shadows under his eyes–evidence of a sleepless night.

I wondered if he had spent the night here, at her bedside.

He exhaled slowly, his patience fading by the second. “Wouldn’t you?”

I stared at him, my lips curling in amusement.

An apology?

I almost laughed.

“Of course,” I said, my assent easy, almost nonchalant.

Then I walked into her room.

The place smelled sterile and artificial, like disinfectant, with a hint of metal. The monitors beeped at slow, rhythmic intervals, the only sound to break the silence.

Nina sat on the bed, her skin pale under the fluorescent light. Her hair was combed to one side, framing her delicate features and making her look almost ethereal–like a fragile thing that was almost broken.

When she saw me, her lips parted slightly.

I took a step closer and locked eyes with her.

clearly, I

“Apologize, asshole.”

followed

blinked, stunned, as if she really expected me to come here,

quickly recovered–her expression changed like a curtain being drawn.

tears. Her fingers

2:06

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Years of Love, Seven Minutes

47.0%

if my words hurt her.

admire her.

was really good at

expected–like a script he’d rehearsed a thousand times before–Parks was already

her shoulder, and his voice softened, tender.

“Nina don’t-”

didn’t stay to listen Then I reached for my passport, my fingers curled around the familiar edge. Without another word. 1 turned and walked away.But just as I reached

out that door today, we’re

I paused

words fell between us, heavy and firm, overwhelming

and looked

was watching me,

Waiting for what?

to buckle under the pressure of everything we’ve been through, everything

we’ve shared?

let out a slow breath.

I

“Deal.”

I’ve always

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