Chapter 467 The One Who Stayed

Ryan remained in a daze for a long time.

The heart he had spent years hardening, the heart that felt as though it had been worn down to nothing, was slowly being surrounded by warmth.

For the first time in years, something sweet and painfully familiar settled inside him.

His hand trembled around the phone.

Ryan slowly lifted his head and stared at the closed door.

He knew.

Rose was outside.

She hadn’t said anything, but somehow, she had said everything.

A moment later, the corners of Ryan’s pale lips lifted into the faintest smile.

He lay back against the pillow, still holding his phone as though it were something precious—something capable of reigniting a heart that had nearly given up.

She had softened after all.

She hadn’t mentioned it.

Not once.

But Ryan knew.

Rose had only been trying to coax him into holding on.

Just like she used to when they were children.

*****

Rose didn’t rest for even a moment.

She had flown from the United States to Germany specifically to get Ryan settled and prepare for the operation.

She still didn’t trust him enough to leave him unattended.

Security was stationed outside his room around the clock, and two bodyguards remained nearby whenever he was moved.

The surgical plan had to be revised again.

The loss of Ryan’s reserve clotting support had changed everything.

What had once been their last safety net was gone.

Now they had to find another way to control bleeding during surgery.

And that was anything but simple.

The following morning, a private jet landed on the helipad of the estate where the medical team had established a temporary base.

Dr. Nathan Hale and Grace arrived.

Rose had told Nathan everything about Ryan’s condition.

There was no reason to hide it from him. Nathan and Grace were both experienced medical specialists, and Rose needed people she trusted to challenge her decisions, catch anything she might have overlooked, and help close the gaps in her surgical plan.

What she hadn’t expected was to see Oliver and James arrive with them.

They all knew how serious the situation was.

Grace walked briskly toward the medical suite.

“Get Mr. Knight’s complete medical records organized. Nathan and I will go through everything again before we finalize the plan.”

Nathan nodded.

“His case is unusually complicated. We need to approach it from every angle—neurology, neurosurgery, pharmacology, anesthesia, and coagulation management. There won’t be any room for assumptions.”

Rose understood.

There was no single treatment that could solve Ryan’s problem.

The surgery itself was already dangerous. His impaired clotting function made it even more so.

They needed Robert’s assessment before making the final call.

Rose led them toward Ryan’s medical team.

Oliver and James both looked grim.

James, in particular, was struggling with complicated emotions.

He had spent years feeling irritated with Ryan, sometimes openly resentful of him.

But knowing that Ryan had been living with a brain tumor for years—and had reached the point where surgery could easily cost him his life—changed something.

After all, Ryan had been his friend for many years.

How could someone who had once seemed untouchable, someone who had made so many people his age feel inadequate simply by existing, have ended up in this state?

There were countless possible outcomes.

But the thought of Ryan dying young left an uncomfortable heaviness in James’s chest.

“Where’s Ryan?” Oliver asked. “Can we see him?”

Rose shook her head.

“He’s resting. Don’t disturb him yet. The operation is tomorrow morning. He needs as much quiet as we can give him.”

Oliver forced himself to swallow the emotions rising in his throat.

Worry clouded his face.

“Is the success rate…” He hesitated. “Is it high?”

Rose stopped for a moment.

“Not particularly.”

That was an understatement.

The risk was extraordinarily high.

Even with the revised surgical approach, complications could arise without warning. Severe hemorrhage alone could become fatal within minutes. And because of the tumor’s location and Ryan’s impaired clotting function, completely removing it without causing catastrophic neurological damage would be extremely difficult.

James’s expression darkened.

Then his gaze settled on Rose.

She looked noticeably thinner than she had the last time he’d seen her.

It hadn’t been long.

But exhaustion and constant worry had clearly taken their toll.

“Rose,” he said quietly, “do you still… have feelings for him?”

Oliver immediately looked at her.

Rose blinked against her dry, tired eyes.

She didn’t stop walking.

“That isn’t important.”

“How can it not be important?” Oliver caught up with her. “If you tell Ryan you care about him, maybe it’ll give him something to hold on to. He’s practically putting his life in your hands.”

Rose’s expression remained calm.

“I won’t see him again before the surgery.”

Oliver stared at her.

“You’re not going to see him?”

Not even once?

With the operation carrying such a high risk, wasn’t she afraid that Ryan might not make it through?

“I won’t.”

Rose continued walking without looking back.

Her voice never wavered.

She sounded almost frighteningly calm, as though Ryan’s life had nothing to do with her.

Oliver’s expression changed.

For a moment, he couldn’t understand how she could be so detached.

Ryan was about to undergo a surgery that could kill him.

Couldn’t she at least give him a few words of comfort?

James glanced at Rose’s retreating back before turning toward Oliver.

“It’s pointless to force someone to do something they don’t want to do.”

His voice was cool.

“Rose is exhausting herself to keep him alive. That’s already more than enough. What else do you want from her?”

Oliver’s chest tightened.

He knew he was biased toward Ryan.

His voice became sharper.

“I know you’re protecting her because she is your younger sister. But do you have any idea how much Ryan has sacrificed for her? Even if you put everything else aside, they were married for seven years. Can’t she at least pretend to say something heartfelt before he goes into surgery?”

James gave him a humorless smile.

“If Ryan wants to settle accounts with her, he can do it after he gets off the operating table.”

With that, he ignored Oliver’s anger and went after Grace.

*****

With Nathan and Grace’s help, the preparations progressed much more smoothly.

But the fundamental problem remained.

There were still variables they couldn’t predict.

Some decisions would have to be made during the operation itself, depending on what they found once they reached the tumor and how Ryan’s bleeding responded.

There was no perfect solution.

Without surgery, Ryan was effectively waiting for the disease to take him.

So they had to take the risk.

That evening, Oliver went to see him.

Ryan was sitting quietly in bed.

Even now, he looked composed.

As though the world could collapse around him and he would simply watch it happen.

But his eyes kept drifting toward the doorway.

He was going into the operating room first thing the next morning.

Rose hadn’t come.

She had refused to see him.

Oliver felt a mixture of sadness and frustration as he watched Ryan stare at the door.

“Ryan, maybe she’ll come later.”

Women were supposed to be soft-hearted, weren’t they?

Rose was probably just being stubborn.

Surely she couldn’t actually be that indifferent.

Surely she wasn’t completely unafraid of the possibility that Ryan might die on the operating table tomorrow—that she might never get another chance to see him.

Ryan didn’t take his eyes from the doorway.

“She won’t come.”

His voice was calm.

Rose had always been stubborn when something truly mattered.

She didn’t exaggerate.

She didn’t make promises she couldn’t keep.

Oliver clenched his fist.

“Then go find her.”

Ryan finally looked away from the door.

“Tell her everything you need to tell her. Don’t leave things unsaid.”

Ryan’s eyelids lowered slightly.

He knew she wouldn’t come.

Yet some part of him still kept waiting.

“No need.”

Oliver frowned.

He couldn’t understand them.

Why did these two keep talking around everything that actually mattered?

What could possibly be more important than life itself?

What were they still fighting about?

Ryan didn’t sleep that night.

He simply lay there in the darkness.

And sometime after midnight, he stopped looking toward the door.

Because deep down, he already knew.

Rose really wasn’t coming.

When Robert and the rest of the medical team arrived early the next morning, they told him it was time.

Ryan glanced toward the door one last time.

Then he closed his eyes.

The faintest smile touched his lips.

Robert watched him for a moment and couldn’t help sighing.

“There’s something you should know.”

Ryan opened his eyes.

Robert leaned closer.

“Rose will be in the operating room.”

Ryan froze.

“She’ll be operating the surgical platform herself—the one she developed and spent all this time refining.”

Ryan stared at him.

“In other words,” Robert continued quietly, “she’s going in there with you.”

Ryan’s expression changed.

He suddenly opened his eyes fully.

“No.”

His voice was low.

Then, with startling force—

“Get her out.”

The warmth disappeared from his face.

A cold, terrifying intensity filled his eyes.

He couldn’t let Rose be there.

The risk was too high.

If something went wrong…

If he died on that table…

And Rose had been the one operating the system when it happened—

She would carry that memory for the rest of her life.

Robert shook his head.

“Then you have to fight harder.”

Ryan tried to sit up.

The anesthesiologist was already preparing him, and the mask settled over his face.

His breathing slowed.

The medication began taking effect.

His vision blurred.

His eyelids trembled.

“Rose…”

The name came out barely above a whisper.

She’s insane.

His thoughts became increasingly sluggish.

Why would she do this?