Chapter 238.

The private hospital occupied the top three floors of one the Belmont Medical Centre, a glass-and-marble building tucked away from the noise of the city.

It didn’t look like a hospital.

There were no crowded waiting rooms, no long queues, and no hurried announcements echoing through corridors. Everything was quiet, immaculate, and carefully designed to make people forget they were somewhere illness came to steal things from them.

Emilia wasn’t sure whether that made it better or worse.

She sat beside Adrian in the back of his car, watching the building grow larger through the window.

"Are you nervous?" he asked.

She glanced at him. "Is it that obvious?"

"You’ve been twisting the same ring for the last ten minutes."

Emilia looked down at her fingers.

She was, in fact, twisting the ring.

She stopped immediately.

Adrian caught her hand before she could find something else to fidget with. His thumb brushed over her knuckles.

"This isn’t my last visit. The doctors said she’s improving."

"Improving." Emilia turned toward him. "When I first met her, it was brief. She was polite, I was polite, and neither of us had to worry about making a good impression because we didn’t know this would happen."

"What would happen?"

"Me coming to visit your mother in a private hospital while she’s undergoing treatment for leukemia."

His expression softened. "She’s going to like you."

"That’s not what I’m talking about. It’s the cancer."

"I know."

"Adrian."

"Emilia."

She narrowed her eyes.

He lifted their joined hands and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. "You worry too much."

"And you are annoyingly confident."

"I’ve been told."

"By whom?"

"My sister. Repeatedly."

That earned him a small smile.

The car slowed as they approached the entrance.

Before Adrian could release her hand, Emilia squeezed his fingers. "How is she really?"

The question changed something in his face. He looked toward the building for a moment before answering.

"She’s tired. The last treatment was harder on her than she expected, and the doctors have been monitoring her closely." He paused. "They’re trying a new drug regimen. It’s still early, so we don’t know how well she’ll respond."

Emilia’s smile faded. "You told me she’s improving."

"She is." Adrian looked at her again, and pointed at his head. "Up here, she is."

He turned their hands over, rubbing his thumb across her palm.

"She’s been fighting this for a while. Some days, she’s optimistic. Other days, she gets angry at everyone and everything. Then she apologizes for being angry, which is the part that annoys me most."

Emilia dugged her fingers into her hair, rubbing his scalp tenderly. She let out a soft breath. "If she’s optimistjc, we should be too."

He smiled, and lifted her hand to his mouth once more.

"Come on. Before Rowan calls to ask whether I’ve abandoned her."

She laughed as he opened the door.

Adrian stepped out and offered her his hand.

She took it, and together, they walked inside.

...

The private ward was on the twenty-third floor.

An older nurse greeted Adrian by name and directed them down a quiet corridor lined with framed paintings and soft lighting. Through the glass walls of one room, Emilia glimpsed a patient reading beneath a blanket. Another room stood empty, its curtains drawn against the afternoon sun.

Everything smelled faintly of antiseptic and fresh flowers.

Adrian walked with one hand resting at Emilia’s back.

He didn’t seem nervous, but she noticed the way his eyes moved toward every passing nurse, the way he slowed when they approached Sophia’s room, and the brief tension that entered his shoulders when he saw the closed door.

He was afraid. Of what he might find on the other side of that door.

Emilia slipped her fingers between his.

He looked down at their joined hands. She squeezed his hand once, and Adrian exhaled.

He knocked twice.

"Come in," a woman’s voice called.

He opened the door.

Sophia sat propped against several pillows, dressed in a soft botton down blouse over her hospital clothes. A light blanket covered her legs, and a tablet rested on the bed beside her. Her hair had been cut shorter since Emilia last saw her, and there was a tiredness around her eyes that makeup couldn’t entirely disguise.

Yet, her gaze was alert. And when she saw Adrian, her face brightened.

"Finally." She smiled. "I wws getting tired of the phone calls."

Adrian stopped in the doorway. "Hello to you, too."

Sophia laughed. It was a quiet laugh, weakened by fatigue but genuine enough to soften the entire room.

Then her gaze shifted to Emilia.

"Oh."

Emilia straightened slightly.

Sophia smiled at her. "Emilia."

"Good afternoon, Sophia."

"Please, don’t look so sad. I’m not going to examine you."

Emilia chuckled softly. "That’s reassuring."

"Unless you give me a reason to."

Emilia laughed, and some of the tension left her shoulders.

Sophia held out her hand. "Come here, darling."

Emilia glanced at Adrian before approaching the bed. She took Sophia’s hand gently, mindful of the cannula taped to the back of it.

"It’s lovely to see you again."

"And you." Sophia studied her face with open warmth. "I remember you from our first meeting. You were very quiet."

"I was nervous."

She raised a tender brow. "Because of Adrian?"

"Mother."

Sophia waved him off. "Don’t interrupt. I’m learning something."

Emilia smiled.

"A little because of him," she admitted. "But mostly because I wasn’t sure what you thought of me."

Sophia’s expression softened. "Well, that’s a very honest answer." She glanced at Adrian, then her gaze returned to Emilia. "Darling, if I judged everyone by their first impression, I would have disowned this one years ago."

"Mother."

"Look at him. Still complaining."

Emilia laughed properly this time.

Sophia’s fingers gave hers a gentle squeeze. "I’m glad you’ve come."

There was no interrogation. No attempt to determine whether Emilia was suitable for her son. No careful questions about her family, her education, or the circumstances that had brought her into Adrian’s life.