Chapter 4

**Gloria POV**

Four months had passed since the night I left the hotel before the man beside me woke up. I had tried not to think about it, but lately, forgetting had become impossible.

I sat in the hospital waiting room with my appointment card between my fingers, staring at the words without really seeing them.

*Pregnant.*

Even now, the word felt strange. I had spent so long hoping for this moment, yet when it finally came, everything surrounding it was wrong. My marriage was over, the father was a stranger, and I had no idea what kind of future I could offer a child.

My parents had noticed the changes in me before I finally told them. My mother had cried when she found out, while my father had remained quiet for a long time before asking the question I couldn't answer.

"What do you want to do?"

I didn't know. I had spent weeks going back and forth until I finally decided to come to the hospital. Today, I was supposed to end the pregnancy. At least, that was what I had told myself.

When the doctor called me into her office, I followed her inside and sat across from her. She looked through my file before raising her eyes.

"Are you certain this is what you want?"

I stared at her. "I thought I was."

"And now?"

I lowered my gaze. "I don't know."

She waited, patient in a way that made the silence feel less like pressure and more like room to breathe.

"I've been thinking about everything," I said finally. "I don't know if I'm making this decision because I truly want it, or because I'm afraid."

The doctor nodded, unhurried. "You don't have to make a decision this minute."

Something inside me loosened, a knot I hadn't realized I'd been carrying for weeks.

I looked toward the door. "Can I leave?"

"Of course."

I stood. My decision wasn't clear yet, but one thing suddenly was — I couldn't do this today. Maybe I needed more time. Maybe I needed to understand what I actually wanted before making a choice I could never undo.

I thanked the doctor and stepped out into the corridor. The hospital seemed unusually busy, nurses hurrying from one room to another while families sat waiting, their faces filled with different shades of worry. I kept walking, no longer thinking about where I was going. I simply wanted to get outside.

As I approached the entrance, someone coming from the opposite direction suddenly bumped into me.

"Oh, sorry."

"I'm sorry."

Our words came at almost the same time. I briefly looked up.

"It's okay."

Then I stepped around him and continued toward the exit, already lost again in my own thoughts before I'd even reached the door.

**Adriel**

My father's condition had taken a turn that morning. I had been at the office when the hospital called, and I left immediately, canceling everything on my calendar without a second thought.

I hated hospitals. Every time I walked through those doors, I was reminded that money couldn't protect the people I loved from everything.

I entered the main corridor, checking the message my mother had sent earlier, my mind already racing ahead to whatever I would find when I reached him. I had barely put my phone away when someone collided with me.

"Sorry."

I glanced at the woman. "It's okay."

She moved around me and continued walking, and I was about to head toward the elevator when something caught my attention. Then something made me stop entirely.

The woman was wearing a backless outfit, and as she walked away, the light from the hallway fell across her bare back. A small tattoo caught my attention. I stared at it, my brows drawing together. I had seen that tattoo before. Not here. Somewhere else.

I tried to remember. Then a fragment surfaced — a dimly lit room, a woman standing in front of me, her bare back turned toward the window, that same small tattoo just visible in the low light.

My breathing slowed.

*The hotel.*

I looked toward the entrance again, but the woman was already disappearing through the doors. Could she really be... I couldn't even complete the thought. Another memory pushed forward — her voice, the taste of whiskey, the feel of her fingers against my skin. I stood frozen, trying to piece the night together, trying to force the blurred edges of that memory into something solid.

Then suddenly, "Sir!"

I turned. Several doctors and nurses came rushing out of the emergency room, a hospital bed moving through the doors at a frightening speed. My heart stopped. I recognized the man lying on it.

My father.

"Dad?"

I rushed forward.

"What happened?"

One of the doctors blocked my path. "Sir, please step back."

"What happened to my father?"

"He suddenly deteriorated. We're taking him into emergency care."

I stared at the bed as they pushed him down the corridor.

"Dad!"

I followed them, the memory of the woman disappearing from my mind as quickly as it had come. The doctors rushed through the doors with my father, and just like that, whatever I had almost remembered was gone.