Chapter 17

Chapter 17. Time in the hospital did not pass as usual. It did not move forward, nor did it move backward. It just hung there, like a clock hand hesitating to move to the next number. Liora sat on a pale plastic chair, her back pressed against the cold wall, her palms clenched so tightly that her fingers felt numb. The operating room door was still closed. The red light above it flashed silently, without warning, without empathy. Adrian stood a few steps in front of her. Not sitting. Not pacing. He just stood with his hands in his pockets, his shoulders tense, his jaw clenched as if holding something back from collapsing inside his chest. They didn't speak. No one knew what to say. Liora tried to count her own breaths. One. Two. Three. But every time she inhaled, her chest felt tight, as if old memories were entering along with the oxygen. The cold floor of a foreign house, the smell of wet towels, the cry of a baby that sounded too small for a world that was too cruel. Liora closed he