Eileen’s POV
The ward door suddenly opened.
I looked up—and my expression instantly darkened.
Chris Vance and Liora Evans walked into the room together.
The moment I saw them standing side by side, my chest tightened with a cold, familiar anger.
Liora rushed forward first, her face filled with exaggerated concern.
“Eileen! Thank goodness you’re alright!”
Her voice was soft and worried, as if she truly cared about my condition.
I stared at her quietly for a moment before letting out a cold laugh.
“Alright?”
My voice was hoarse but steady.
“I was almost burned to ashes because of you two.”
The room instantly fell silent.
Liora’s expression stiffened slightly.
I continued calmly, my eyes fixed on both of them.
“You tricked me to that factory on the day of my engagement. Since the two of you have been working together for so long, the least you could do is stay away from me.”
Chris didn’t answer.
Instead, he stared at me strangely.
His gaze slowly moved across my face.
Without makeup and after a proper wash, the scars of smoke and dust were gone. My features were clearer now.
For a moment, he seemed… distracted.
Liora noticed it immediately.
Her eyes flashed with irritation.
She suddenly picked up a glass of cold water from the bedside table and walked closer.
“Eileen, don’t say things like that,” she said softly. “We’re sisters after all. Let’s not fight.”
She held the glass toward me as if offering peace.
But the moment I reached out to push it away—
“Ah!”
The water splashed across her own clothes.
Liora fell backward dramatically onto the floor.
The empty glass rolled across the tiles.
She looked up at Chris with tearful eyes.
“Chris… I just wanted to make peace with her…”
Her voice trembled pitifully.
“She pushed me.”
Chris’s expression immediately turned dark.
“You dare hurt Liora?”
Before I could react, he strode forward and raised his hand.
“Looks like you still haven’t learned your lesson!”
The slap was about to fall.
I instinctively stepped back.
But my injured body lost balance.
Just as I was about to fall—
A strong arm wrapped around my waist.
My back collided with a solid chest.
“Enough.”
A deep, cold voice cut through the room.
Adrian Vance stood behind me, one arm supporting me firmly.
In his other hand, he carried a bag of packed food.
The temperature in the ward seemed to drop several degrees.
Chris froze the moment he saw him.
“…Uncle?”
Adrian’s gaze swept across the scene—Liora on the floor, the spilled water, the redness at the corners of my eyes.
His expression grew colder with every second.
“So,” he said quietly, “this is how you treat someone who nearly died yesterday?”
Chris stiffened.
“Uncle, you misunderstand—”
“Do I?”
Adrian’s voice remained calm, but the pressure in the room was suffocating.
“I asked Zane to investigate the incident at the factory.”
Chris’s face instantly turned pale.
Adrian’s eyes were like ice.
“You abandoned your fiancée to kidnappers and ordered them to kill her.”
Every word struck like a hammer.
“Not only that,” Adrian continued coldly, “you came here today to bully her again.”
Chris clenched his fists.
“That’s not what happened!”
Liora quickly stood up and tried to intervene.
“Mr. Vance, you’ve misunderstood. Eileen was the one who pushed me—”
Her words stopped halfway.
Adrian looked at her.
Just one glance.
Cold.
Sharp.
Terrifying.
Liora’s throat tightened and she couldn’t say another word.
“Apologize,” Adrian said.
Chris blinked in disbelief.
“What?”
“I said apologize.”
His voice was calm but absolute.
The air felt suffocating.
Chris’s face turned red with humiliation.
But he didn’t dare argue with Adrian.
Finally, he forced the words out.
“…Sorry.”
Liora bit her lip before lowering her head.
“I’m sorry, Eileen.”
Their voices were filled with unwillingness.
I watched them quietly, feeling strangely calm.
“Are you satisfied now?” Chris muttered.
Adrian didn’t answer.
His cold gaze remained on them until Chris finally grabbed Liora’s arm.
“Let’s go.”
They left the ward quickly.
The door closed behind them.
Silence returned.
Only then did I suddenly realize something.
“Wait…”
I looked up at the man beside me.
“Chris called you… Uncle.”
Adrian didn’t deny it.
My mind slowly connected the pieces.
No wonder they looked somewhat alike.
The man who saved me yesterday… was my ex-fiancé’s uncle.
An awkward feeling spread through my chest.
I remembered the burns I saw on his back earlier.
He had been injured while saving me.
Guilt quietly rose inside me.
Just then, a nurse entered the room carrying a treatment tray.
Without thinking, I took it from her.
“I can handle this.”
The nurse hesitated before leaving.
I walked toward Adrian.
“You were injured because of me,” I said softly. “Let me change your dressing.”
For a moment, he studied my face.
Then he slowly nodded.
Adrian sat down on the chair beside the bed and removed his shirt.
My breath caught.
His back was covered with scars.
Burn marks.
Knife wounds.
Even the faint traces of old bullet injuries.
It was the body of someone who had survived countless battles.
Carefully, I dipped the cotton into disinfectant and began cleaning the fresh burn.
My fingers moved slowly across his skin.
His muscles tensed slightly beneath my touch.
I tried to focus only on the wound.
But as my hand moved lower, applying ointment along the edge of the injury, my fingers brushed against the firm line of his abdomen.
A low sound escaped Adrian’s throat.
I froze.
The veins on the back of his hand bulged slightly as his fingers curled.
His breathing became heavier.
Completely unaware of the change in the atmosphere, my mind drifted elsewhere.
A memory surfaced.
An abandoned cabin.
A wounded man.
Years ago, I had bandaged someone’s wounds in the same way.
Back then, everything felt simple.
Now… things were different.
My nose suddenly stung.
Before I realized it, a tear slipped down my cheek.
It fell onto Adrian’s chest.
A dark wet mark appeared on the black fabric near his waist.
My mind panicked immediately.
The wound can’t get wet.
Without thinking, I reached out to wipe it away.
My hand pressed lightly against the fabric to absorb the moisture.
The moment my fingers moved—
Adrian’s breathing became dangerously heavy.
Suddenly—
His hand shot out and grabbed my wrist.
I gasped in surprise and looked up.
His eyes were dark.
Much darker than before.
And for the first time, I realized how dangerously close we were.