The calm indifference in her voice seemed to freeze his parents in place. Their son had nearly died for someone who could so coldly turn her back on him. With quiet but horrified expressions, they left her standing there, the weight of her words ringing painfully in their ears.
When Arman saw the door to his room open, he immediately brightened, a faint smile crossing his face. “Linda, you’re here,” he whispered, relief and hope lighting his tired eyes.
But as he squinted, his expression quickly changed; it wasn’t Linda standing there. Instead, he saw me, and the hope faded from his face. “You… Why are you here? Where’s Linda? Is she okay?” His voice grew more desperate. “She should have come by now…”
I took a step closer to his bed, looking down at him with a quiet intensity. “Linda’s fine,” I replied coolly.
“She just… doesn’t want to see you.” My words hung in the air, and Arman’s face twisted in confusion, then denial.
“No,” he insisted, shaking his head as he looked away. “Linda’s probably afraid. She’s always been a bit timid. And maybe she thinks my parents will blame her…”
His voice trailed off, but he kept trying to rationalize her absence, grasping onto any reason that might make sense.
With a calm detachment, I reached into my bag, taking out the small recording device I had prepared. Setting it on the table beside his bed, I pressed play.
Linda’s voice, unmistakably cold, filled the room.
“He was just my suitor…”
“It’s not like I begged him to save me…”
“It was all by his own free will…”
Each sentence fell like a stone, heavier than the last. Arman’s face went pale, and his hands clenched the edge of the hospital sheets, as though grounding himself.
For a moment, he seemed on the verge of breaking, his gaze unfocused and his breathing shallow. Finally, a look of raw regret clouded his features, and he slumped back against the pillow, his voice barely a whisper.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: After I left, the twin Alphas went crazy