Chapter 128 A Kiss That Shouldn’t Have Happened
Chapter one hundred and twenty eight
Valenticia’s POV
The clock on the wall said it was almost midnight, but time didn’t feel real anymore. I sat beside Nona’s hospital bed, staring at her chest rising and falling slowly under the thin blanket. Every breath she took sounded weaker. Every beep from the machine made my own heart jump.
My body felt empty and my mind felt heavy. I couldn’t stop shaking.
The room felt too small. Too quiet and too cold.
“I need air,” I whispered.
Dimitri looked up immediately. He stood from the small couch in the corner. “Do you want me to come with you?”
I didn’t answer, but I didn’t tell him to stay either.
So he followed me.
We stepped out into the hallway. The lights were dim. The halls were silent and a nurse rolled a cart down the far end, her shoes tapping softly against the tiles. Everything else felt still.
I walked slowly until I reached the small balcony at the end of the hallway. I pushed the door open and stepped outside. The night air hit my face, cool and sharp. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold my body together.
Dimitri stood behind me, watching me with tired eyes.
“I feel empty,” I said quietly. “Like everything inside me is falling apart.”
He walked closer. “Val…”
“I don’t know what to do,” I whispered. “She’s all I have left. She raised me. She gave me everything. And now she’s just… slipping away.”
He didn’t say anything. He just stepped closer and put his hand on my back.
The moment he touched me, my knees felt weak. I turned around and let myself lean against him. Slowly. Carefully. Like my body didn’t trust itself.
He wrapped his arms around me, warm and steady. I pressed my face to his chest and breathed shakily.
“I can’t watch you hurt like this,” he whispered. “I still care about you… more than I should.”
My breath caught.
“Dimitri…” My voice cracked. “Please don’t.”
He didn’t move. “I’m not lying. I have cared about you since the day I lost you. That never stopped.”
Tears started falling before I even realized it. “It’s too much, Dimitri. Everything is too much. I can’t handle this alone.”
“You’re not alone,” he said. “I’m right here.”
I looked up at him, my vision was blurry from tears. His eyes held something I hadn’t seen in a long time—pain mixed with something deeper.
He reached out slowly and wiped the tears off my cheeks with his thumb. His touch was gentle. Careful. Familiar.
I swallowed hard. “Don’t be kind to me right now. I’ll break.”
“I don’t care if you break,” he whispered. “I’ll hold you through it.”
My chest tightened. I felt myself trembling under his hands.
He lifted my face a little more, his fingers warm on my jaw. We were breathing the same air. Too close. Too fragile.
He whispered softly, “Valenticia…”
My breath hitched. “Dimitri… don’t… please…”
But my voice came out weak. My body didn’t move away. My heart beat fast and it hurts inside me.
He was shaking too.
Then he leaned closer.
As if waiting for me to stop him.
But I didn’t.
Because I couldn’t.
And then his lips touched mine.
It started soft. Slow. But the moment I felt him, something inside me broke open. The pain. The fear. The years we lost. It all rushed back at once.
The kiss grew deeper.
His hands cupped my face as if he was afraid I would disappear. My fingers curled into his shirt. My knees felt weak again, but he held me steady.
The kiss wasn’t sweet.
It wasn’t calm.
It was raw. Full of old love. Old anger and old memories. Old wounds too.
I let it happen because I had nothing left to hold on to except him at that moment.
When I finally pulled back, I was breathless. My lips tingled. My chest felt tight. I looked at him with wide eyes, my breathing fast and uneven.
“Dimitri…” I whispered. “We shouldn’t have—”
He didn’t let me finish.
He placed his hands gently on my cheeks and looked straight into my eyes.
“Val…” His voice broke. “I love you.”
The words hit me like a punch.
I froze and my body went still.
My heart stopped.
I stared at him, unable to breathe. Unable to speak. And definitely unable to think.
He held my face carefully, waiting for my reaction.
“I love you,” he repeated quietly. “I never stopped.”
My hands fell away from his shirt. I took a step back, shaking hard.
“Dimitri…” I whispered again, barely able to find my voice.
“I mean it,” he said. “I know I failed you before. I know we broke up with each other. I know things are complicated now. But I need you to know the truth. I still love you.”
I blinked fast, tears spilling again. “You can’t tell me that now.”
“You needed to hear it,” he said. “And I needed to say it.”
I shook my head as my chest started to hurt. “Everything is falling apart, Dimitri. My grandmother is dying. My life is a mess. I can’t think. I can’t… I can’t breathe.”
He reached for me again. “Then let me hold you through it—”
“No,” I whispered, stepping back. “Please… don’t make this harder.”
His expression fell. His shoulders dropped slightly. But he didn’t take the words back. He just watched me with soft, painful eyes.
“I love you,” he said once more, almost in a whisper. “Even if you don’t believe it.”
My throat closed. I looked away, wiping my cheeks.
I didn’t know what scared me more. Losing Nona…
Or hearing those words from the man who had once broken my heart—