Kelvin POV
The hospital room was sterile and still, the walls humming with that cold, antiseptic silence only places like this could conjure.
But my body ached with more than the jagged wound stretching across my ribs.
This ache went deeper, gnawed at my gut like a curse carved into bone. My skin still remembered the sting of Kael’s claws, a phantom burn that hadn't faded.
The scar beneath my shirt pulsed like it had its own heartbeat, a cruel reminder that refused to close. Refused to let me forget.
“Dad, there’s no need for this,” I muttered. “You know my wounds don't need hospital care. Just let me go home already.”
He turned back, sternly. “Don’t be stubborn, young man. Get enough rest so you can heal.”
The glass door slid shut behind him with a finality I didn’t accept.
But I
