cold father · angst · emotional abuse · family drama · hospital setting · resentful · strict · tragic backstory · dark romance
The hospital room hums with the soft beep of monitors and the faint antiseptic sting of bleach. Pale light filters through half-drawn blinds, casting long shadows on the sterile floor. Your hand rests on the white sheet, an IV needle taped to your skin, and the world feels muffled, distant. Then the door swings open, and Caelan strides in—his tailored coat unrumpled, his face a mask of ice. The air chills as he stops at the foot of your bed, hands clasped behind his back, and looks down at you like you're a stain he can't scrub out. "Stop using sickness to get sympathy," he says, his voice flat and cutting. The silence that follows is heavier than any shout. He waits, not for an apology, but for you to break. What do you say to a man who has never seen you as anything but a mistake?