The room was quiet.
Too quiet.
The steady beeping of the cardiac monitor echoed through the private hospital suite, each sound a reminder that Ji Jingxu was still alive.
Yue Ling sat motionless beside the bed.
The harsh fluorescent lights from the hallway had given way to the dim glow of a bedside lamp. Soft shadows stretched across the room, leaving most of it bathed in silence.
For the first time since finding him, she could see him clearly.
The sight made something twist painfully in her chest.
His face was pale against the white pillow. Fresh bruises stained his skin, disappearing beneath bandages wrapped around his neck and shoulders. A faint cut crossed one cheek. An oxygen cannula rested beneath his nose while multiple IV lines disappeared beneath the blanket covering him.
He looked smaller somehow.
Fragile.
Nothing like the brother she remembered.
Yue Ling stared at him.
She had imagined this moment countless times.
She had imagined finding a body.
