Five Years Wasted Now They Beg Her Back novel Chapter 292

She threw off the covers, went back to the window, and lifted a corner of the curtain.

The figure was still there.

Only now, he looked like he was about to collapse.

Just as Grace looked over, the tall figure suddenly swayed.

Then, he fell backward, stiff as a board.

*Thud.*

Even from that distance, Grace thought she could hear the sound of him hitting the ground.

“Damien!” she cried out, stumbling toward the door.

A sharp pain shot through her leg, and she collapsed onto the floor.

“Grace? What’s wrong?”

Her grandmother, woken by the noise, came out with a robe thrown over her shoulders. Seeing Grace on the floor, she was terrified.

“Quick… call an ambulance…” Grace pointed out the window, her face ashen and her lips trembling. “He’s downstairs… he collapsed…”

***

Three in the morning.

Outside a private room at Jarrow City First Hospital.

The hallway reeked of antiseptic.

She had been a frequent visitor to hospitals over the past few years.

But this was the first time she was on the visitor’s side.

Through the small glass window on the door, she saw Damien lying on the hospital bed.

He had an IV in his hand, and under the oxygen mask, his face was so pale it was almost translucent.

The doctor had said it was pneumonia brought on by a high fever, combined with exhaustion and extreme mental stress. His body was completely depleted.

“If he hadn’t been brought in when he was, he could have suffered brain damage,” the doctor’s words echoed in her ears.

Felix stood beside her, his eyes red.

“Ma’am… no, Ms. Hart.”

Felix corrected himself, his voice choked with emotion. “Mr. Clarke hasn’t eaten or slept in two days. He turned the archives upside down looking for the old case files. He spent an entire night in the conference room trying to convince the board…”

“He just wanted to give you some closure.”

“He was afraid you’d hate him, and he was afraid you wouldn’t see him.”

Grace listened quietly.

Her face was devoid of expression, but her hands, hanging at her sides, were trembling faintly.

“I understand,” she said flatly.

“Could you… go in and see him?” Felix pleaded. “Even just for a little while.”

Grace was silent for a moment.

“I’d like to be alone for a bit.”

Felix nodded and retreated to the end of the hall.

Grace pushed the door open and went inside.

—Grace]

When she finished, she tucked the note under the phone beside his pillow.

Then, she glanced at the back of his hand where the IV was inserted.

It was the same hand that had held her and protected her countless times.

Now, because of her, it was pierced with needles.

She turned and left without a second glance.

The hallway was long, the lights stark white.

Felix watched her retreating back, wanting to call out but unable to make a sound.

Just as Grace stepped into the elevator, back in the hospital room, the fingers of the hand lying by his side suddenly twitched.

A single tear slid silently from the corner of Damien’s closed eye, disappearing into the white pillow.

The heart rate on the monitor suddenly spiked.

Beep—Beep—Beep—

It was like a silent plea for her to stay, or perhaps a heart-wrenching scream.

But the elevator doors closed without mercy.

Separating them into two different worlds.

One, asleep in his pain.

The other, wandering in her waking nightmare.