Ch. Ch 31 Don’t come back Ch 31

I hurried to the hospital. 

Over the years, Axel had also devoted himself to medical research, giving it his all. 

Both as a mentor and a researcher. 

Now, not yet fifty, his body was already riddled with ailments. 

I entered the hospital room and sat beside him. 

Suddenly, I remembered my daughter’s birthday party yesterday. 

He had come to see me in his wheelchair, forcing himself to make what must have been a final farewell. 

Ryker sat across from me, his expression grief–stricken. 

This man approaching fifty covered his face, weeping uncontrollably. 

I looked at Axel with tubes inserted throughout his body, monitoring equipment beeping steadily. 

An oxygen mask covered his mouth and nose. He struggled to speak, but I couldn’t hear his voice. 

After decades as siblings, I could easily read his lips. 

He was calling me, repeatedly, urgently but weakly. 

“Ember, Ember…” 

I remembered that heavy snowfall again, remembered that not–yet–twenty–year–old Axel holding me tightly. 

“As long as your brother is here, Ember will always have a home.” 

Years of memories, looking back, seemed like a long dream. 

His face was ashen, his breathing increasingly labored. 

When he tried to reach out and touch me, he seemed to use the last of his strength. 

I finally extended my hand, gently grasping his. 

I spoke softly: “Hey, when you get to the other side, make sure to rest properly, okay?” 

I saw tears suddenly slide from the corner of his eye. 

As if he had a thousand words to say, but in the end, he only repeated those two words countless times. 

“Ember, Ember…”