Ivy POV
Day one wasn't so bad, all things considered. Mostly I slept, exhausted from the pain, waking every couple of hours to Alex hovering nearby with water, with soup, with a version of patience I hadn't expected from him. I caught glimpses of him through the haze, reading in the corner, scrolling through his phone, sometimes just watching me like he was making sure I didn’t vanish if he blinked.
"You don't have to keep checking on me," I mumbled around hour six, voice thick with sleep.
"I do, actually," he said, settled on the edge of a chair he'd dragged in from somewhere, far enough away to be respectful, close enough to reach me if I needed him. "It's kind of the whole point of this."
"Bossy," I muttered, and fell back asleep before I could catch his reaction. Not that I needed
