CEO loves me with all his soul.-Chapter 138. Meeting again.

The corridor leading to Room 407 was too quiet.

Isaac’s boots echoed across the waxed floor like gunshots, each step unnervingly loud in the stillness. The fluorescent lights flickered just once, the kind of imperfection that wouldn’t have bothered him any other day. But now, it made everything feel a little less real. Like a dream. Like a lie.

The number 407 loomed just ahead.

He stopped.

His hand reached out halfway and hovered in the air, trembling. The cool metal of the door handle waited. Silent. Unmoving.

What if this isn’t real?What if Diana was wrong? What if I open that door and it’s not him—just an empty bed or a stranger or another cruel trick?What if I’m not ready to face him?

He lowered his hand, clenched his jaw.

Lucas.The name echoed inside him like a wound reopening.

A month ago, he had watched Lucas fall—blood soaking into white tile, his golden eyes going dull, his heartbeat lost beneath screaming sirens. That vision had haunted his sleep. His waking hours. Every breath he took.

He had buried him in his heart.

But now...

Now, there was a heartbeat again. A breath. A second chance.

Isaac clenched his fists, trying to control the way they trembled. "Get a grip," he whispered. "He’s alive. You’re here. You don’t get to run away."

He drew a sharp breath, reached for the handle—

—and opened the door.

Light spilled into the room.

It was like stepping into a dream. Sheer white curtains danced softly with the wind from the open window. The breeze brought in the scent of rain and the faintest sound of birdsong. It could’ve been a scene from a movie, one of those surreal, fragile moments where time seemed to slow.

There, half-reclining against the elevated headboard of the hospital bed, was Lucas.

His skin was pale but not ghostly, warm-toned under the morning light. His blonde hair was a little longer than Isaac remembered, soft and ruffled like he had just woken from a long sleep. A thin IV line trailed from the back of his hand, his body still recovering, but he was awake.

Alive.

Real.

Lucas turned his head, slowly, almost as if unsure of his own strength. His golden eyes blinked open and caught the light.

Then he saw Isaac.

For a second, both of them just stared.

Neither moved. Neither breathed.

And then Lucas smiled. A slow, soft, tired smile—like the kind someone might give after a war had ended and they were finally home.

He raised his arms. Barely. Weakly. As if asking for a hug that he wasn’t sure he deserved.

That tiny gesture shattered Isaac.

He took one stumbling step forward, then another, and then the tears came—hot, heavy, unstoppable.

In seconds, he crossed the room and dropped to his knees at the bedside, arms wrapping tightly around Lucas’s waist and torso, burying his face in the hospital gown.

He clung to him like a drowning man clinging to a raft.

Lucas let out a quiet, shaky breath and folded his arms gently around Isaac’s shoulders.

Neither said a word for a long time.

The only sound in the room was Isaac’s breath catching between quiet sobs. His tears soaked into the thin fabric of Lucas’s shirt.

Lucas, weak but present, let one hand glide gently through Isaac’s hair, brushing the back of his neck, the way he always used to when Isaac would crash in his clinic pretending to nap.

"I’m here," Lucas whispered, voice hoarse but tender. "I’m here now."

Isaac gripped him tighter. "I thought—I thought I lost you. I thought you were gone."

"I almost was," Lucas said softly. "But I couldn’t go. Not without seeing you again. Not like that." fгeewёbnoѵel_cσm

Isaac pulled back enough to look up, his eyes red, tears still falling freely. "You died, Lucas. You died in my arms. And then I was expected to keep breathing like it meant nothing."

"I’m so sorry," Lucas said, reaching up to brush his fingers under Isaac’s eyes. "It wasn’t supposed to happen that way. I planned to fake it, to disappear quietly. But the attack happened too fast. I thought—if I let them think I was dead, I could go underground. Keep helping the investigation. But I never wanted to hurt you."

"You broke me," Isaac whispered, his voice cracking. "You left me in the dark with no light, no reason to keep moving. Every damn day, I kept seeing your face. And every night, I begged—begged—for just one more second. One more smile. One more stupid lecture about eating vegetables."

Lucas gave a soft, tearful laugh. "You never listened to those anyway."

"I would’ve this time," Isaac said, placing a shaking hand on Lucas’s cheek. "I would’ve listened to every damn word."

Lucas leaned into the touch, eyes shimmering. "You shouldn’t have had to go through that. I did it for the mission, but... I underestimated how much it would break you. I’m sorry, Isaac. I truly am."

Isaac leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together. "No more lies. No more missions alone. I don’t care if the world’s burning. I’m not letting you walk into hell without me again."

Lucas nodded against him. "Okay. Together. From now on."

They sat like that, pressed close in the silence of the morning.

The window curtains swayed, letting in more golden light.

Lucas closed his eyes, the tears falling now from his own lashes.

"I’ve always had no one," he said, voice barely audible. "No parents. No siblings. No home. I thought I could live with that. But then... I met you. And suddenly, you were the only person that made it all mean something."

Isaac’s breath hitched again.

"I thought if I could protect you—if I could keep you safe by staying away—it would be worth the pain. But seeing you now, like this..."

He opened his eyes and met Isaac’s.

"You’re thinner. You haven’t slept. You look like you’ve aged ten years in one month. And all because of me."

"Don’t say that," Isaac muttered.

"It’s true."

Isaac took his hand and pressed it firmly over his heart. "Then stay. Don’t leave again. If I’m broken, you’re the only one who can fix me."

Lucas nodded, voice trembling. "I will. I promise. I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me."

"I’ll have you forever," Isaac said simply.

They embraced again, slower this time, more secure.

Time slowed.

There was no war here. No scientists or serums or nations on the brink.

There was only a man who thought he had lost the love of his life...

...and the man who defied death just to hold him again.

And in that fragile space between two heartbeats, a broken world began to heal.

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