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Ryan.
He stood there looking so tired, his eyes a little puffy, his shirt slightly wrinkled, but still so damn handsome it made my throat dry. “Hey,” he said softly.
“Hey,” I replied awkwardly, not sure what to say. I hadn’t really spoken to him properly since that day. Everything about him made me uneasy, not in a bad way, just… complicated.
He handed me a small bag. “Here.”
“What’s this?” I asked, taking it from him.
“Your phone,” he said. “It was in the hospital drawer.”
“Oh!” My eyes lit up the moment I saw what was inside the bag. “My phone!” I gasped, reaching for it quickly. As I did, our fingers brushed, just for a second, but it was enough to send a strange spark shooting straight through me, hot and electric, crawling under my skin.
I froze for a heartbeat, the touch lingering longer than it should’ve, my pulse skipping wildly as I tried not to look at him. Ryan’s gaze didn’t help at all. He was just staring at me so intensely that it made my heart race even faster.
Desperate to break the tension, I pulled the phone out completely and hugged it to my chest, pretending that was the reason for my flushed face. “Oh my God, I’ve missed this thing so much,” I said quickly, forcing a little laugh.
Ryan’s lips curved slightly, like he knew exactly what I was doing but decided to let it go. That quiet smirk of his only made my heartbeat go even faster.
“Thank you,” I said quickly, stepping back toward my room. “You can go now.” I tried to close the door, but his foot stopped it midway.
“Ryan!” I said, eyes wide.
He said nothing, just pushed the door gently open and walked in like it was the most normal thing in the world. He looked around once, then sat down on my bed. “Sit,” he said, patting the space next to
him.
I blinked, “No. You already gave me my phone. You can go.‘
He raised an eyebrow. “Anna.”
The way he said my name, it wasn’t demanding, it wasn’t even angry, but it made my stomach flutter in a way that annoyed me. I hesitated, biting my lip, and finally gave in, sitting down beside him. My whole body went tense, God… He smelled good, too good, and I hated that my brain noticed
that.
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“Switch it on,” he said quietly.
I turned on my phone. It vibrated several times as notifications flooded in. Missed calls, messages, group chats I didn’t even recognize. “Whoa,” I murmured, scrolling. There were so many messages from unknown numbers. One caught my attention, a contact saved as Sasha
“Who’s Sasha?” I muttered to myself.
Ryan’s expression didn’t change, but I could tell he was listening. I kept scrolling. Then I froze. There it was, Ryan’s number. But the name wasn’t saved as Big Bro like it used to be.
It was saved as Ryan.
My eyes widened. “What the hell?” I whispered, quickly trying to hide the screen, but Ryan had already seen it. My cheeks burned. “I–I don’t even know how that got there. I didn’t save it like that.”
He didn’t look surprised. Just stared at me with that quiet, unreadable expression. “Maybe you did,” he said calmly. “You just don’t remember.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, frowning.
He didn’t answer. He just stood up slowly. “I’ll be back soon,” he said, heading for the door.
“Back? For what?” I asked quickly, feeling my pulse jump again.
He turned slightly, the corner of his lips lifting faintly. “With your food. You should freshen up, take a bath, change your clothes. And if you can’t, call me–I’ll do it for you.‘
My jaw dropped. “What?!” I exclaimed, feeling heat rush to my face. “You–you’ll what?!”
Ryan chuckled softly, even though he looked exhausted. “Relax. I’m joking.” His voice was low, teasing, but the look in his eyes didn’t match the joke. Then he left the room before I could even
think of a comeback.
The moment the door closed, I let out a huge breath I didn’t even realize I’d been holding. “Oh my God,” I whispered, pressing a hand to my chest. My heart was pounding like crazy.
“You need a bath Anna before you have a heart attack.” I muttered to myself.
But as I pulled off my clothes and gathered my hair up into a bun, something caught my attention in the mirror. Something that made my stomach drop instantly.
Right there, on the side of my neck, just below my ear, was a tattoo.
It wasn’t big, but it was clear enough to see. The design was small, neat, and terrifyingly familiar. Ryan’s name. Written right there on my skin.
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I stared at it, frozen, my heart stopping for a second. My reflection looked back at me, shocked, trembling. My breath hitched as realization started to sink in.
“W–what… what is this?” I whispered, my fingers brushing over it. It didn’t seem like a random
tattoo.
The dread that filled me was instant. My knees almost gave out, and before I knew it, I screamed
loudly.
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