Chapter 312: Memories bring back Memories 2
Kayden
As I raised my trembling hands to rub my face, I heard quiet footsteps echoing behind me. I slowly turned around to face the door, seeing Rhys making his way into the bathroom. The moment he reached my side, he didn’t say a word; he just pulled me firmly into his arms, wrapping his strong embrace completely around my shaking frame.
"Are you alright?" he asked softly, his breath brushing against my hair.
I nodded weakly against his chest, clutching the fabric of his shirt. "Do you need to rest?" Rhys murmured, his grip tightening around me as if he could shield me from the world. "If there is anything you want, Kayden, I will make it happen right now. Just say the word, because I don’t want anything bad to happen to you."
I managed to offer him a small, weary smile, shaking my head in response as I leaned into his warmth. "I am doing fine, Rhys. What about Linda? Where the hell is she?" I demanded, my voice returning to a steady whisper.
"She left. I already sent her away," Rhys answered gently, rubbing his palm up and down my spine to soothe the lingering tremors in my shoulders.
A sigh escaped my lips, but it wasn’t a sigh of total relief. I was glad that her suffocating presence was gone from our home, but at the same time, a part of me wasn’t happy about it. I realized I actually wanted to hear what else she had to say about Kelvin’s condition.
"Did she mention anything else before she left?" I asked, looking up at him.
"Does it really matter, Kayden?" Rhys asked, his brows furrowing with deep concern as he looked down at me. "I don’t want you to get upset over them anymore. We already decided to put all of that garbage in the past, so their lives should be the absolute least of your worries right now."
I shook my head, my jaw tightening. "No, I am fine with whatever is happening. I need to know, Rhys."
Rhys stayed silent for a few seconds, studying my face to see if I was truly holding together. Then, he gently guided me out of the bathroom, moving me toward the bedroom where he sat me down carefully on the edge of the mattress. He knelt in front of me, holding both of my hands in his.
"I don’t know what you want to hear, but she mentioned that Kelvin wants to see you one last time before he goes," Rhys explained quietly. "She also said she will be waiting at the hospital entrance just in case you actually decide to come, and she gave me the room number."
A heavy sigh, much heavier than the last one, escaped my lips. I rubbed my hands against each other, the skin cold to the touch. Knowing that Kelvin was finally going to die should have given me the ultimate peace and relief I had wanted for years. It should have made me feel happy, like a curse was finally being lifted from my life. But it didn’t do that at all.
Instead, all I felt was a strange, hollow pity for the pathetic man who had chosen to abuse me and torture me all my life.
"Isn’t it funny that I am actually thinking of going to meet him?" I asked Rhys, letting out a breathless, mocking sound as I raised my head to face him properly. "Doesn’t that make me sound completely pathetic? I am a fool, right? Thinking of visiting a man who did nothing but abuse me all my life, who made me feel completely worthless as an omega, a man who literally made me want to die when I was younger?"
I paused, the words catching in my throat as I felt a fresh wave of hot tears welling up in my eyes.
Rhys didn’t judge me. He just shifted onto the bed beside me, reaching out and gently pulling my head down against his solid chest. "You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, Kayden. This man made living an absolute hell for you, and it is totally okay if you don’t ever want to look at his face again."
"But I want to," I responded, my voice breaking into a sniffling sob as the tears finally rolled down my face, soaking into his shirt. "I am sorry for crying like this. I don’t know if it’s just the hormones right now, but even the simplest things have been making me burst into tears recently."
Rhys rubbed my back gently, his touch unyielding and soothing as he held me through the breakdown. "It’s alright to feel like that, Kayden. I totally understand why you’re reacting this way. After all, we are all human, and we are allowed to feel these messy emotions. If you truly want to see Kelvin one last time, I won’t do anything to stop you since it’s entirely your decision to make. But I just want to know if you have really thought about this before deciding to go along with it."
"He is dying, Rhys," I chuckled, the sound bitter and sharp against the quiet of the bedroom. "Doesn’t this mean that I won at the very end? I finally won against the enemy."
I laughed yet again, but the sound was completely mixed with the heavy tears streaming down my face, the reality of the situation crashing over me.
Rhys tightened his arms around me, pulling me closer into his lap. "Don’t cry because of that miserable man, Kayden. If you are going to go to that hospital and see him, I want you to be completely happy with your decision. Go there and show him exactly what you have become."
He paused, tilting my chin up so I had to look into his eyes. "The boy they both thought wouldn’t ever amount to anything made it this far. You survived them. If I had the chance, I would hide you away from the rest of the world, making sure no one could ever find you or hurt you again. But since I can’t do that, the only thing I can do is support you. Whatever you decide to do next is entirely up to you, Kayden. I’ll be right beside you."
I nodded slowly, but I said nothing more out loud because my mind was already completely made up at that exact moment.
I was going to go to that hospital. I was going to meet Kelvin one last time, stand over his dying frame, and smile right in his face—letting him know with absolute certainty how much I had thrived, succeeded, and won, even after he told me that I never would.