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A faint beep echoed through the silent hospital room as the monitor softly kept count of two heartbeats Zayn’s and the one inside him.

Zayn stirred, his eyelashes fluttering open under the pale hospital lights. The first thing he saw was Rhys sitting beside him, head lowered in worry. And just a few feet away, Adric, quiet, his posture tense, eyes glued to the floor.

Zayn blinked, disoriented, until it all came crashing back the proposal, the crowd’s laughter, Elior’s words, the collapsing pain... everything.

He sat up slowly, a dull ache radiating through his body.

“Zayn,” Rhys whispered, instantly leaning forward. “Hey, you’re awake…”

Zayn’s throat was dry, his voice barely a whisper. “I… I want to talk to him, Rhys.”

Rhys’s expression faltered. “Zayn… don’t.”

“No.” His voice trembled. “I need to apologize. I need to tell him I’m sorry. Please, Rhys, I have to talk to him. He needs to know...”

Rhys swallowed hard. He hesitated before finally speaking, “Zayn… he left.”

Zayn’s heart stopped. “What…?”

“Elior’s gone. He left the city early this morning. He’s… not here anymore.”

Zayn froze.

His hands gripped the blanket as his lips quivered.

“No…” he shook his head slowly. “No, no, you’re lying.”

Rhys’s eyes welled up. “Zayn.”

“He promised me!” Zayn screamed, voice cracking. “He told me he’d never leave me! He said he liked me… he told me.”

Rhys pulled him into a hug as Zayn’s body shook violently with sobs. “I’m so sorry, Zayn… I’m so sorry…”

“What about my child?” Zayn whispered, clutching Rhys’s shirt. “He said… he said this baby wasn’t even his. Rhys… h-he looked at me like I was nothing.”

Adric suddenly turned, wildness in his eyes. “I’m going to fucking kill that bastard!”

Rhys rushed forward instinctively, but he   grabbed adric by the shoulders. “adric, stop! Please! Think about your brother!”

Adric watched helplessly, pain pooling in his chest.

Rhys pleading to him, “Adric… please.”

Adric stepped forward, softly. “Zayn…”

Zayn jerked his head to him, eyes bloodshot. “Tell him to leave, Rhys. I don’t want him here.”

Adric stopped in his tracks, his lips parting slightly. But the rejection wasn’t new.

He nodded, brushing away a tear quickly, hiding his own heartbreak. “I’ll be outside… call me if anything happens.”

And with that, he turned around and walked out, each step heavier than the last.

---

Outside, on the hospital bench...

Adric sat on a cold, metal bench beneath the streetlamp. The night air was sharp against his skin, but it didn’t bother him. His thoughts were too loud.

He didn’t hear Rhys approaching until the boy sat beside him in silence.

For a few moments, they just sat saying nothing, only breathing.

Then, softly, Rhys asked, “You love him, don’t you?”

Adric looked at him, startled. But he didn’t answer right away.

Rhys turned his head to him, his gaze steady. “Then why didn’t you ever take a stand for him?”

Adric let out a shaky breath. “Because at first, I thought… it would all be okay.”

Rhys frowned. “You thought things would magically fix themselves?”

Adric leaned back, staring at the stars. “No. I was stupid. I thought… he’d get over the fights, the pain. That he’d grow stronger. But by the time I realized how deep the wounds were, it was too late. I left. I ran.”

“And then you came back after three years,” Rhys said quietly. “Expecting forgiveness?”

Adric’s voice cracked. “I didn’t expect anything. I just hoped. I apologized. I tried. But… you’re right. No one heals overnight. No one forgets the people who let them suffer.”

The silence between them grew heavy again.

“I didn’t just let Zayn down,” Adric whispered. “I abandoned him. When our parents turned their backs on him… I did, too. I was his brother, and I walked away. That’s a burden I’ll carry all my life.”

Rhys closed his eyes. He had his own guilt pressing against his ribs.

“Now we both carry guilt,” he said softly. “Me, for ever trusting Elior. For encouraging Zayn. For pushing him into the arms of someone who just wanted revenge.”

Adric turned to him, his voice firm. “No. You didn’t know. You were only trying to make him happy.”

“But I failed,” Rhys whispered. “Just like you.”

Adric nodded. “Yeah. We both did.”

They sat in silence, listening to the wind rustle the leaves above them.

Then Rhys said, “But now, i don’t get to give up. Not again.”

Adric looked at him.

Rhys’s eyes were red, but steady. “He has no one else. He’s broken. And he’s carrying a life inside him. I failed him before. But not this time.”

Adric nodded slowly. “This time… we protect him. No matter what.”

---

Somewhere far above the clouds, where even regret felt silent Elior sat by the window of the plane, watching as the city lights grew smaller and smaller beneath him.

The world outside looked peaceful calm, still. Nothing like the chaos that raged inside his chest.

He stared out for a long while, unblinking.

That city…

The same city where he smiled for the first time in years.

Elior blinked slowly, the reflection of city lights shimmering faintly in his eyes. Then, without a word, he reached for the tiny window shade and gently pulled it down, shutting out the view.

He leaned his head back against the seat and exhaled, but there was no comfort in the motion.

Everything inside him was tight. Heavy.

He clenched his jaw, whispering beneath his breath like a confession to no one,

He could still see Zayn kneeling before him, eyes glassy, voice shaking, baring his heart to a crowd that didn’t deserve to hear it.

"Elior Blackwood… will you be my boyfriend?"

And how did he answer?

"No."

Those three letters echoed louder in his head than they did in the air that day. They were carved into his bones now.

He remembered the disbelief in Zayn’s eyes.

The way the smile fell from Rhys’s face.

The silence of the crowd right before the whispers turned cruel.

He swallowed hard.

"Today my revenge is complete…"

Was it?

Was Aseal’s soul truly resting now?

Or had he just traded one lost soul for another?

The pilot announced, “We’ll be arriving at our destination shortly. Please remain seated and prepare for landing.”

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