The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 519

She looked up and saw that Sloane's face was completely covered in tears. She wasn't making a sound, just sitting there silently as the tears rolled down her cheeks like broken beads, splashing onto her shirt, her hands, and the half-wrapped bandages.

At that exact moment, two figures stood frozen outside the partially open door of the treatment room.

Every word spoken inside had reached them perfectly.

Josh's hand was still raised in the motion of pushing the door, but he froze mid-air.

His silhouette stretched long across the frosted glass under the harsh hallway lights, his expression terrifyingly cold and pale.

Piper stood behind him, pressing her lips tightly together. She nervously tugged at his sleeve. "Professor Jace... are you... okay?"

"Don't touch me!" Josh violently jerked his arm away.

Piper flinched. She had known him for a long time, but she had never seen this side of him. The usually gentle and polite man was now radiating an icy, lethal fury, looking entirely ready to kill.

Taking a deep breath, Josh forced the violent storm in his eyes down and pushed the door wide open.

Sloane looked up, stunned for a second.

He stood there in a black shirt, his hair windswept and messy. A faint shadow of stubble lined his jaw, and his eyes were completely bloodshot. Behind him hovered a terrified Piper, her wide eyes darting nervously around the room.

"Josh, Piper, why are you here?"

Cassandra paused wrapping the bandage and looked up in surprise.

"Josh?!"

It had been five years since they parted ways in Antarctica. He looked much older and sharper now, but she recognized him instantly.

His shoulders were shaking—it was subtle, but entirely uncontrollable.

Sloane could feel his fingers digging into her hair, holding her so tightly it was as if he was afraid she would shatter, desperately trying to confirm that she was real, warm, and alive.

"Josh... I really am okay..."

Cassandra watched in total shock. This embrace was way too intimate for a simple mentor-and-student dynamic.

"What exactly... is going on between you two?"

Before Josh could answer, Piper leaned into the doorway, grabbed Cassandra's arm, and tugged her toward the hall, whispering, "Let's go. Give them a minute alone."

Cassandra looked from Josh's desperate grip to Piper's frantic signalling. Taking the hint, she closed her mouth, stood up quietly, and slipped out of the room, gently pulling the door shut behind her.