Chapter 21
The mont Aaron stepped into the east wing of the hospital, he saw her.
Katherine was standing close to the window, her arms folded tightly across her chest like she was trying to hold herself together. Her head was down, and her hair was dropped ssy like she’d run her hands through it too many tis.
Aaron gulped, feeling his heart pound anxiously. His Katherine looked so lost.
Katherine’s shoulder tensed when she heard the door creak open. She knew he was here, and her breath paused at the thought as she slowly turned to him.
And their eyes t. Russet clashed with her hollow erald.
"Katherine..." Aaron called gently. He was unsure what to say. He was being careful—he didn’t know why he was called here, but sothing must have happened for her to think of him and tell him to co.
Katherine’s lips quivered as she bit her lower lip to stifle the guttural sound that wanted to co out of her mouths . The second his voice reached her ears, sothing broke in her eyes. She was tired; she was barely hanging on, and the wall guarding her heart began to crumble.
"Aaron..." she breathed out, her voice soft. "You are here." She sounded relieved to see him.
Aaron felt his chest tighten, walked closer, but stopped when he was just a few feet away, unsure if she wanted him to be closer to her. He just wanted to pull her into a hug and reassure her that everything would be okay, that he’s here now. But he didn’t speak—he just waited.
Katherine tried to blink the running tears away, but the dam in her eyes was full and already leaking as hot tears rolled from her cheeks. She took a shaky step toward him, and her knees buckled, nearly wanting to fail her as she grabbed the nearby chair for support.
Aaron instinctively moved, his hand hovering near her elbow, yet he didn’t touch her. Not yet. Even when his hands yearned to have her in his embrace.
Katherine looked up at him, her eyes shone with glistening tears, her lips trembling. "Jasmine..." she swallowed, "our daughter—she’s in there," she choked, gesturing toward the room behind her. "She fell—swing—in school." Her words were incoherent, but Aaron could still understand what she was saying.
His eyes flickered to Katherine in shock when she said ’our daughter,’ but his chest tightened in worry and the pain the little cub would be going through right now. "How is she? Is she okay?"
"She—she lost a lot of blood," Katherine continued in a shaky voice. "They said she needs a donor. O-negative. There’s no supply at the mont. Matthew tried... he wasn’t a match. I tried... I wasn’t either."
Aaron’s throat tightened, his jaw clenching at the ntion of Matthew’s na. She had called him first before calling him.
Katherine’s trembling hand reached out, clutching the front of his hoodie. "Please," she whispered. "I know I have no right to ask you for anything... but please. I need you. I need your help. She needs your help."
Her voice cracked completely on the last word, and she fell to her knees right there in the corridor, her arms wrapped around his leg. She didn’t care about the onlookers’ gazes. All that mattered was her daughter. She had to be fine.
Aaron’s heart sank as he watched her collapse in front of him. Without thinking, he crouched down, holding her arms gently, trying to steady her. His Katherine looked so broken, "Katherine—don’t do this. Get up—" he muttered uncomfortably.
"No," she wept, her tears soaking the front of his shirt as she clung to his hoodie. "This isn’t about pride anymore. Or anger. Or the past. I’m begging you, Aaron. I can’t lose anyone close to anymore," she sniffed. "If I lose her—if anything happens to Jasmine—I can’t survive it."
Aaron’s hands cupped her face as he tried to get her to look at him. Tears were streaming down her face, her nose was red also.
"Why... why didn’t you tell sooner?" he asked. "Why hide this from ?"
Katherine pulled back a little yet didn’t release his front fabric, her eyes locking onto his. She wasn’t trying to hide it anymore.
"I was going to," she whispered. "That night. The night it all fell apart. I was going to tell you... but you never let . You walked away. You told you needed space. You left standing there in the rain." Aaron’s breath caught, guilt flashing across his face as the mory cut through him like a knife.
"And then... everything happened. Your mother—Eleanor lied. By the ti I tried to find you, you were gone. And then Grandma—I had no choice but to go." Aaron’s fingers curled into fists. He couldn’t bring himself to imagine what Katherine had gone through.
"I’m sorry," he whispered. It was his fault. "But you could have told when we t again. At the hotel—"
"I was scared!" she cried, interrupting him. "You’re a married man, you have a wife now, and I didn’t want to ruin that. I didn’t know how you’d react. And I didn’t want my children... our children... to be caught in the middle of more pain."
Aaron blinked in confusion. Our children. He thought maybe it was a slip of tongue earlier, but Katherine said it again.
Children.
He looked at her in shock, breath caught in his throat. "You just said... our daughter earlier," he said slowly.
Katherine closed her eyes like there was no more hiding, fresh tears falling down her cheek. "Yes," she answered. "Jasmine and Hanith. They’re yours."
Aaron’s breath hitched, stumbled back a step, staring at her like he was seeing her for the first ti again.
"You told they weren’t mine," he whispered.
"I lied," she admitted. "Because I was scared. I wanted to protect them. I thought if you knew, you’d take them away. And I also thought you wouldn’t want them because you are married now."
"Don’t want who?!" Aaron’s voice rose as he ran a hand through his hair, his emotions colliding all at once—he was angry at her thoughts yet hurt at the irony, then guilty for not being there throughout the journey.
"Five years," he murmured, his voice barely audible. "I had children... and never knew." He clenched his jaw, struggling to process. Blood was thicker than water. Was that why he felt such an imdiate connection to them the mont he t them?
They were his.
Katherine nodded, confirming his statent, wiping her face as she lowered her head against his chest, her body shaking.
"They are your children," she said softly. "And now your daughter needs you."
Reviews
All reviews (0)