Chapter 1486
She spoke softly. “Will your legs ever heal?”
“No, they won’t,” Brandon answered quietly. “I’ve been through countless surgeries, and this is as far as I’ll recover. I’m able to stand and take a few steps with a cane, but it’s slow. For most things…” He hesitated. “I need the wheelchair.”
Millie gave a small nod, at a loss for words.
She couldn’t forget that Brandon’s injuries came from trying to stop Macauley and save her life.
A soft wind slipped in through the window, bathing the room in silver moonlight.
At last, she spoke, her voice gentle but clear. “It’s time to move on and open your heart to someone new.”
A trace of redness filled Brandon’s eyes as he listened.
She met his gaze without flinching.
Though she looked pale and delicate in the light, her words held firm resolve.
She had said something similar to him more than once. But Brandon had always hoped that, if he could explain away the misunderstandings, she might forgive him and come back.
Everything changed a year ago.
Millie regarded him with a quiet sorrow.
“We have both made mistakes,” she said softly. “You’ve already explained everything before, and I do understand. But Brandon, our moment passed us by.”
Brandon’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears. Words stuck in his throat, leaving him silent.
She offered a gentle smile. “Sometimes, you just have to accept that things unfold the way they’re meant to. We lost our chance, and I’ve found love with someone else. That’s all there is between us now.”
The breeze wandered through the room, and Millie felt a chill, drawing the blanket closer around her shoulders.
Brandon saw her shiver and reached to pull the blanket up over her shoulders, as though trying to protect her from the lingering chill of everything they’d been through. But before he could manage it, she turned away and held the blanket tightly on her own.
Brandon slowly let his hand fall back to his side.
“Is there truly no way to go back?” Brandon’s voice was rough and low.
Millie kept her gaze elsewhere, her silence speaking volumes.
He watched her profile and spoke softly. “Maybe, in the future, could we still see each other sometimes? Just as friends?”
Still, she refused to meet his eyes, only lowering her head, letting her lashes shield whatever she felt.
Another quiet stretch fell over the room.
After a moment, Brandon raised his head to look at her again.
“I’d like to give something to Ari,” he said, continuing before she could interrupt. “Please don’t turn this down. I have always cared about Ari. Even long ago, I thought of her as my own, no matter what you believed. That’s the truth.”