Chapter 6
When I woke, the first thing I smelled was antiseptic.
I blinked, finding myself in a hospital bed. Someone with fluffy dark hair was slumped asleep
beside my bed.
I shifted slightly, and the movement stirred him awake. Adrian’s eyes–clear, bright, beautiful—
met mine. He stared for a long moment before slowly lifting a hand to brush against the bandages on my forehead.
“…Sophia. Does it hurt?”
The words were hoarse, rusty, as if unused for years.
I froze.
Adrian had spoken.
Not just to anyone but to me.
The door opened suddenly. Mrs. Smith stepped inside, only to stop dead in her tracks. For the first time since I had met her, her mask of icy composure cracked.
“Adrian… did you just speak?”
Her voice shook with emotion. She stepped closer, her eyes glistening. “Please, Adrian…say something else. Talk to me.”
But Adrian only glanced at her once before turning his gaze back to me. He remained silent, his gaze still fixed on me.
Awkwardness pricked at me. I opened my mouth to explain, but Mrs. Smith shook her head, her eyes reddening.
“It’s all right. He’ll need time…”
She trailed off, unable to continue.
Just then, Maria entered with a lunch box.
During the meal, she told me the alley incident had already been investigated. The attackers were nothing more than a group of lowlifes who had targeted Adrian because of the Smiths‘ wealth. One of them had even been a student at our school.
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The
grow–ups were sent to jail, and the student got kicked out of school.
I nodded absently, my gaze fixed on Adrian as he ate in silence.
No one could have known how deeply that incident had scarred him in my previous life. A single
moment of cruelty had dragged such a beautiful soul into darkness.
But this time, he was safe.
When he noticed I wasn’t eating, he paused, frowning faintly. “…Eat.‘
“}
Startled, I nodded and placed some vegetables onto his plate. “You too,
He accepted without a word.
Adrian.”
After the meal, a nurse appeared and scolded Adrian for sneaking out of his ward. He was whisked
away before I could protest.
Just before he left, he ruffled my hair with a hand surprisingly gentle for someone so quiet. “Get better soon, Sophia.”
Mrs. Smith stood watching, her eyes suspiciously damp.
When the door closed behind him, she sank into a chair beside my bed. Without her usual
immaculate makeup, she looked softer, almost fragile.
“Adrian wasn’t always like this,” she whispered. “He used to be steady, thoughtful… a true prodigy. Everyone praised him. No one called him a mute. No one thought he was broken.”
Her eyes glazed over, filled with memory. “Four years ago, everything changed. He… lost his
sister.”
I stiffened.
Her voice grew hushed, almost reverent.
“She wasn’t my daughter by birth. She was Adrian’s cousin, orphaned young. I raised her as my
own. Her name was Susannah.”
Her breath caught. “One night, the children were taken by kidnappers. Adrian was beaten in front of her. She tried to protect him–bit one of the men. They beat her with an iron rod. She was only six years old.”
Mrs. Smith’s hand trembled against the windowpane as tears finally slid down her cheeks.
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“Adrian watched it all. Afterward… he never spoke again.”
Silence stretched heavy between us.
Finally, she drew a breath and turned to me. “You weren’t the first child I brought home, Sophia. I tried before… but Adrian never accepted anyone. Not like he has with you.”
Her eyes softened, a rare warmth breaking through. “He likes you. More than you realize.”
