The sharp, rhythmic beep of the machine pierced through the thick silence of the room. For a second, my chest stopped moving, my breath caught in my throat. Then one of the nurses gasped softly before calling out, her voice was trembling.
“Doctor, his vitals are stabilizing!”
Relief crashed into me like a wave. My eyes darted to Aria, and I caught the way her body gave out as she collapsed onto her knees, her hands trembling, tears streaming freely down her pale face. The sound of her sobbing clawed into me, raw and desperate, as if the very weight of the world had just been lifted and then dropped again.
I didn’t think. I rushed to her, scooping her. She clung to me instantly, her arms wrapping around me with such force that it felt as though she was trying to anchor herself to realit
