Broodingly, heartbreakingly gorgeous actually, even when he's lost all color—
"You were never really in love with me...were you?"
Chapter Thirteen
KAZEYUKI WAS NOT Aman who did things slowly.
Carefully, yes. And thoughtfully, as all doctors would. But he also did things efficiently because when one was in the business of saving lives, every second mattered.
Careful. Thoughtful. Efficient.
None of it was synonymous toslow,and yet that was the only way to describe how he was moving now, with how he was taking his time to close the door.
Because he knew...once he was done...
Ah, God.
The lock caught with a soft click, and the penthouse settled into its usual silence around them. There was nothing left for him to stall for time, nothing for him to use so he could delay the inevitable.
God.
A small part of him was ashamed and disgusted. It made him feel weak, with the way his whole being suddenly found it necessary to call out to God at his weakest moment. But the rest of him...didn’t care. Because that was what life hitting rock bottom did to a person. It stripped down every layer of defense and falsehood, and the only thing left was the truth.
God was real.
And right now...
He found himself calling out in quiet desperation as he slowly turned to Katherine—
Please.
Because he had a feeling what they had was about to end...when it never even had a chance to be real.
Katherine was standing by the window. Not looking out of it. Just standing near it the way people stood near exits, her back rigid, and she was hugging herself as if she was already prepared to protect herself...from him.
Their gazes met, and what Kazeyuki saw had him taste something he hadn't tasted for a long, long time.
Dread.
And it was exact same kind of dread that gutted him decades back, when he had been at the police station, and even though his father hadn't said anything to him, a part of him had already sensed that something bad was about to happen...just like he did now.
"P-Please tell me the truth."
Her voice was shaking, but it was how she was looking at him that had his fists clenching against his sides as a single word slowly destroyed him from within.
Impart.
It pounded the walls of his brain and clawed at his chest. It made his heart feel like it was about to explode because he knew—
"A girl killed herself because of me over twenty years ago."
To impart the truth was to let her know he was nothing but a liar.
"I was cruel to her. And she couldn't take it."
But Katherine...
She was already shaking her head even before he had finished speaking. "There has to be more than that."
