Sweet Hatred
Chapter 158: Waiting

Chapter 158: Waiting

ARIA

He wasn’t there when I woke up.

But his fingerprints were everywhere.

The blanket wrapped around me in the night. The tray of food I hadn’t ordered. The second pillow placed just beside mine.

He was always gone by the time I noticed.

I heard it in whispers. A nurse mentioning he paid for a private room. A janitor saying "he stood by the door for hours before leaving."

He never asked for recognition. He never even left a note.

He just... disappeared again.

It should’ve hurt. It did hurt. But not as much as watching my mother’s chest rise and fall slower with each passing day. The beeping machines were cruel in their consistency, like ticking clocks counting down to something I couldn’t stop.

The days bled Into each other.

I didn’t sleep. Not really.

I dozed with one hand wrapped around Mom’s, counting the heartbeats in the monitor like they were grains of sand slipping through a cracked hourglass.

Sarah stayed with me most nights. Her presence was a thread stitching me together. She’d hold my hand when I shook. She’d braid my hair when I forgot to care for myself. She never asked me to talk, just stayed. Like a lighthouse in a storm.

Olivia came with Kaleb and Lily a few days later. Mom’s eyes lit up when she saw them. Kaleb hugged her tight, chattering about his school and showing her a card he drew with crayon hearts.

Lily just clung to Olivia’s neck, shy and sleepy. Their laughter felt like a sharp contrast in the sterile hospital room, like we were trying to borrow joy from the past. It was warm yet awful.

We took a photo—Olivia insisted. She made us all squeeze in next to Mom’s bed and smile. I didn’t want to. But I did. Because maybe it would be the last time.

And more days passed. The fear grew louder and heavier every day just like the rain. Each breath Mom took felt thinner. Each smile was dimmer. I watched her inch closer to the end and felt powerless. Just a daughter with nothing but love left to give.

And somewhere in the ache, I kept wondering where he was. Kael. Was he okay? Was he sleeping? Was he... thinking about me too?

I only knew Kael had been around everyday from whispers—nurses mentioning a soft blanket folded neatly outside the door. He was helping. Quietly. Invisibly. And somehow, that hurt worse.

I missed him.

And I never stopped wondering. Even as mom’s hands grew colder and her voice became weaker while the nights stretched longer, I kept glancing at the door hoping he’d show himself like he always did, still... no Kael.

But I felt him.

One night, while Sarah stepped out for a call, I felt it. Like a pull on a forgotten string tied around my heart, I sensed it—the shift in the air, like my heart had suddenly started reaching for something it couldn’t name.

I stood. Walked to the door like something tugged at my spine. And there he was.

A shadow down the hall. Turning to leave.

"Kael."

He stopped.

My voice hadn’t even been loud, but he stopped like I’d screamed.

He turned around slowly. And the sight of him made my throat close.

His hair was soaked. His collar creased. Dark circles painted his face like bruises, and his eyes looked... hollow.

"Hey," he said, giving me a soft, weak smile. "How have you been?"

I blinked. "Really? That’s what you’re going with?"

He frowned.

"If you wanted to know, why didn’t you come inside and ask me?"

"I didn’t want to disturb anything," he murmured.

I stepped closer. "Since when did talking to me become a disturbance?"

He didn’t answer. Of course he didn’t. He never answered when it mattered.

I looked him over again. "You look worse than I do," I muttered. "Have you been drowning in work again? Or is it alcohol this time?"

Still, no answer.

Just that damn smile again. "You’re still yourself," he said. "That’s good."

I wanted to cry and scream and kiss him all at once.

But instead, I looked away and whispered, "You probably have too much on your plate already. Me being clingy won’t help."

I turned around, biting the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood.

"Don’t go dying on me, Kael," I said softly.

And I walked away.

Half of me begged he’d chase after me. Spin me around. Whisper something selfish and sweet. But the hallway stayed quiet. And I felt... hollow.

Later that night, Sarah had left. The room was dim except for the soft light by the bedside.

I was alone with her again.

Her breaths were shallow now. The rise and fall of her chest barely moving the blanket.

I reached for her hand. "Mom?" I whispered, even though her eyes were still closed. "I’m here, okay?"

Then, she stirred.

Her lids fluttered open, her gaze glassy but still so gentle. "Aria..." she rasped.

I moved in closer instantly. "I’m here. Do you need water? The nurse?"

She smiled, just barely. "I’m sorry..."

"Stop it," I whispered quickly. "Don’t say that."

"I’m sorry for making you sad like this," she said weakly. "I... never wanted to my life to end like this."

I shook my head, my fingers tightening around hers. "No. You don’t apologize. Not for this. Not for anything."

She looked up at the ceiling, voice cracking, "You and Olivia... you’re the best things I’ve done. I wouldn’t trade a second of you. I just... I regret not being there more when you were little. I was always behind my desk. I missed so much... and I made you grow up too fast..."

"You did your best," I choked out. "You tried. It wasn’t your fault. None of this was."

She turned her eyes to me, barely open now. "Promise me... promise you’ll hold on to the people around you. Even Kael."

I froze.

"I’ve seen the way he looks at you, baby. That’s love."

My lips parted, but no words came. Just a brittle, painful silence.

I didn’t know how to tell her that Kael and I were built on a contract and ashes. That he didn’t love me, not the way she thought.

So I just nodded. And smiled through it.

Then... something changed.

Her breath caught. Like her lungs hit a wall. A rattling, sharp sound escaped her lips—a death rattle, they called it in the pamphlet I refused to read.

"M-Mom?" My voice broke.

Her mouth opened slightly. Her chest gave one last heave. And then—

Stillness.

No rise. No fall. No sound.

"Mom?" I whispered again. "Please... don’t—"

I stood, stumbling toward the hallway. "Nurse—!"

My knees hit the floor before I even reached the button and I turned back to her.

Her face looked peaceful. But too peaceful.

Empty.

Gone.

I crawled to her bedside, buried my face into her chest, and whispered, "Please wake up. I’m still here."

But the room stayed quiet.

Too quiet.

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