All Chapters of BORROWED LOVE ON ICE : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

MELISSA’S POVI woke up oblivious to what time of the day it was, though the weight of my sleep still clung to me like an old blanket. For a moment, I just lay there, blinking at the ceiling, trying to orient myself. My body felt heavy, as if I had wrestled through storms in my dreams. It had been so long since I had slept this deeply, so long since I had surrendered to the kind of sleep that leaves you disoriented when you wake, unsure of whether it’s morning, afternoon, or the beginning of a new week.I rubbed my eyes and sat up slowly. My limbs resisted at first, but then something in me surged—a burst of energy I couldn’t explain, like the way an athlete bursts from the starting line after crouching for too long. I dragged myself off the bed and shuffled to the bathroom. My reflection in the mirror looked almost unrecognizable: tangled hair, tired eyes, lips pale from the hours of dryness. I forced a small smile, brushing my teeth with rhythmic determination, almost as if the fami

KATRINA’S POV“Mel, come here, it’s okay.” My voice cracked, but I forced myself to sound steady. “I’m here now. I had to leave work to get here, so calm down, alright?”Melissa was on the hospital floor, before i lifted her up, her face pale, her hands trembling, tears streaming down uncontrollably. I crouched down and touched her shoulder gently, though inside, confusion and frustration twisted in me. She wasn’t Xavier’s girlfriend. I was. Yet here she was, breaking down as if the world had ended.“You can’t be on a hospital floor like that,” I whispered, guiding her up. “It’s not healthy, baby. Come on.” I helped her sit on one of the waiting chairs. She clung to me for a second, and I tried to be patient, but my mind was a storm. Why is she crying this hard? Why does it look like her pain is worse than mine?I straightened up quickly, pressing my palm against my chest as though it would hold my breaking heart together. Xavier was my boyfriend, my everything, yet I had to keep my e

MELISSA’S POV I had fallen asleep earlier, exhaustion dragging me under after hours of crying and pacing, but the stiffness in my neck woke me. The hospital’s fluorescent lights weren’t forgiving; they made everything look paler, colder—especially Xavier.My eyes fluttered open, and for a moment, disorientation swept through me. Then it all came crashing back: the accident, the doctors, the awful words I’d thrown at him just yesterday. Shame sank into me like a stone in water.I rubbed my eyes and forced myself to sit up. The nurse at the desk outside his ward was flipping through some charts, and something inside me pushed me to try. My voice was hoarse from crying, but I gathered what little courage I had left.“Excuse me,” I whispered, my hands nervously clutching each other, “can I… can I see him now?”The nurse gave me a sympathetic look. She hesitated only briefly before nodding. “Just for a little while. He needs rest, but I think it will be good for him to have you by his sid

MELISSA‘S POVI sat beside his bed, my pulse drumming against my ribs as two doctors entered the room. Their voices were calm, professional, but my ears caught only fragments as I stared at him—Xavier—awake.The relief that hit me was so overwhelming it almost hurt.“He… he remembered me, doctor,” I blurted out, my voice trembling. “He remembered my name. You said… you said there was a chance he might not remember anything, that he might forget people, places—everything—but he remembered me.”The doctor glanced up from the monitor he was checking, a faint smile pulling at his lips. “Sometimes,” he said while jotting something down on his chart, “the brain holds on to one person, one memory, above all else. Maybe you’re that for him.”His words made my throat tighten. I swallowed hard, unable to respond.As the doctor examined Xavier, checking his vitals, the door opened and his father walked in. Lucas Kesh. The man’s face was lined with worry, his usual stern composure stripped away

MARCO'S POVWhen the call came in about Xavier’s accident, I was shocked beyond words. The words barely registered at first—“severe accident,” “hospitalized,” “unconscious.” I just sat there at my desk, phone pressed against my ear, trying to make sense of it. Xavier? The Xavier I spoke to less than twenty-four hours ago? The guy who always laughed as he teased me about always being “too serious” during meetings?It didn’t seem real.Two days ago, after that tense meeting with Melissa about withdrawing the contract, I had this nagging feeling about him. Something in the way he’d been quiet, distracted—eyes lingering on Melissa when she wasn’t looking. I’ve known Xavier long enough to read him better than most. He has this… front he puts up—carefree, charming, like nothing gets to him. But yesterday, that mask cracked just a little.And now? Now he was lying in a hospital bed because of a car crash that could’ve killed him.I tried to work the rest of the day, I really did. Deadlines d