Chapter 222 Elara’s Silence

Chapter 222 Elara’s Silence
MIA

“Uncle, I’m okay. Stop treating me like I’m going to break,” I said, my voice low but steady as I shifted slightly against the hospital pillows.

He didn’t answer.

He was still there, too close, like distance itself had become dangerous. His hand stayed locked around mine, firm in a way that didn’t feel like control, but fear he was trying to hide. His eyes didn’t leave my face, scanning me again and again as if I might fade out between blinks.

“You are not a kid,” he said at last, voice roughened by something he didn’t fully let out. His gaze stayed sharp, restless. “But you keep doing things that make me forget that.”

A quiet breath left me, but it didn’t settle anything between us.

“Uncle…”

He cut me off with a small shake of his head. Then he leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, still holding on like letting go would confirm something he wasn’t ready to accept.

“What am I supposed to tell your father?” His voice dropped lower, tighter. “If something had gone wrong… if you didn’t wake up…”

He stopped.

Not because he was done speaking, but because the rest of it didn’t fit inside his throat anymore.

My fingers tightened around his hand instead. “I’m here. I’m alive. That’s what you tell him.”

For a moment, he didn’t move. Just looked at me like he was still counting breaths, still checking for signs that I was real. Then something in his shoulders eased, just slightly, like he had been holding himself up for too long.

“I was scared,” he said quietly. “Don’t put me through that again.” Before I could answer, the door opened and Elara stepped in.

She didn’t come in calmly. It was fast, almost unsteady, like she had been holding herself together right up until that moment and then lost it at the threshold. Her eyes found me instantly.

And just like that, her face broke, and she barely managed to say, “Mia…,” before rushing forward.

She hit me with a force that stole my breath, arms wrapping around me so tightly it almost hurt. But she didn’t loosen her grip. If anything, it got tighter, like she was afraid I’d slip away the moment she stopped holding on. I felt her shaking before I even fully processed her in my arms.

My uncle stiffened beside us. I saw it in the way his hand tightened again, the way his jaw set as he looked at her. For a moment, it felt like something might be said, something sharp, something that would cut through the room.

But then he exhaled slowly, controlled himself, stood up without a word, and stepped away to walk out, closing the door behind him. The silence he left behind wasn’t empty; it pressed into the room heavier than before, while Elara was still holding me too tightly, like she was trying to prove I was real.

“I’m sorry,” she said suddenly, her voice breaking mid-sentence. “I’m so sorry, Mia. This shouldn’t have happened. It’s my fault. All of it.”

Her words came out uneven, rushing like she had been holding them in for too long and they finally broke free. Her chest rose and fell too fast, her fingers tightening on my arms as if letting go would make everything collapse.

I shifted slightly, ignoring the dull ache in my body, and rested my hand against her back. “I’m okay,” I said quietly.

She didn’t seem to hear me at first.

Her grip stayed.

Then she pulled back just enough to look at me, but not enough to let go. Her hands were still locked around my arms, holding on too tightly, like she was afraid I might slip out of reach if she blinked wrong.

Her eyes were red. Wet lashes clung together. Her face looked strained, like she hadn’t slept properly in days.

“What if you hadn’t woken up?” she whispered. Her voice cracked on the last word. “What if I lost you? I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

I shook my head faintly. “I’m right here.”

But her breathing didn’t slow.

She kept staring at me, eyes moving over my face again and again, like she was counting proof. Like she needed something stronger than my voice to believe I was real.

“Elara,” I said again, softer this time.

Her lashes flickered. She blinked once, slow.

My throat tightened before I spoke. The question came out before I could stop it. “Did you love Alessandro?”

Everything in the room changed.

It wasn’t loud.

It was in the way her hands stopped moving.

The way her fingers went still on my arms, like something inside her had locked.

For a second, she didn’t even breathe properly. Just stared at me, unmoving, like she hadn’t fully processed what she heard.

Then I saw it, a small shift in her eyes that was enough to change everything, her breath catching like the name had pulled something up from a place she had buried deep, and she didn’t answer, not even a shake of her head, just silence that said too much.