Chapter 52 Alexander's pov

Chapter 52 Alexander's pov


A day after I woke up, my dearest father decided to visit me at the hospital.
He sat down on one of the chairs beside me, head bowed as if he were weighing whether he deserved to be here at all. His shoulders looked heavier than I remembered, his hair more silver than black. For a moment, neither of us spoke. The silence pressed in, thick with years of things left unsaid.
Ethan lingered by the door, his presence grounding, solid. Then, without a word, he gave a small nod and stepped outside, quietly closing the door behind him and leaving the room to me and my father.
I watched my father inhale deeply .
"I'm glad you're alright," finally said, raising his gaze to meet mine. "I'm so sorry Alexander, this is all my fault." His voice cracked a bit.
"Yes it is." I replied simply.
The words surprised even me, but I didn’t take them back. I wouldn’t soften the truth for his comfort anymore.
"I'm sorry about everything. About my brother, about me shaping you to be like me." He paused for a second, swallowing hard, then continued. "I am truly sorry."
He sounded sincere. Painfully so. But something was missing.
"You forgot to add the part where you hate my being gay." I scoffed.

"Yes I'm sorry about that too."
"You can't even say the word 'gay', dad."
He inhaled, then exhaled slowly, as though bracing himself.
"I'm sorry for not accepting your sexuality, you being... being gay."
"Was that so hard?" I questioned, my voice a mix of pain and sarcasm .
His lips trembled faintly.
"Why do you hate me being gay so much dad? Make me understand." My voice broke as tears threatened to spill.
"I don't hate you, or your sexuality. It's a long story."
"We have all day."
He nodded, eyes drifting to the window as if the past lived somewhere beyond the glass.
"Ok. Your uncle Benjamin is like you. He had a male lover."
"Wait, what!"
The words hit me like a physical blow. My chest tightened as I stared at him, disbelief flooding my veins. But my father continued, his voice eerily calm.
"Our father caught him with a man when he was younger. He beat the living daylight out of him. Benjamin tried to stay away from guys as much as possible but ended up falling for a guy after many years of moving around in secret."
He sighed deeply.
"Joseph and I knew about it but looked away, saying it was his life. The last time you saw him, pictures and videos of him having intimate moments with his lover were leaked. We suspected it was his lover but Benjamin said no. The whole thing escalated."
He looked me directly in the eyes now.
"Our father disowned Benjamin. The internet went crazy, because our father portrayed us as perfect to the world. It went on for weeks. Until one day, Benjamin disappeared."
"Christ, that's fu... messed up."
I hadn’t realized I was crying until my vision blurred and my voice cracked.
I sniffed, and he passed me the box of tissues, his hand lingering awkwardly in midair before retreating.
"I didn't want you to go through any of what my brother went through. I might not have felt his pain, but it was written all over his face. He was devastated."
He reached out and held my hand, his grip tentative, unsure if I’d pull away.
"I don't want you to go through that. I don't want you to disappear like he did."
"I won't disappear dad, I won't. All I ask is for you to trust me and let me be who I want. I can handle whatever the world throws at me, you made sure of that."
"I'm soo sorry."
"Does this mean I can love in peace now?" I asked, no longer crying.
He chuckled softly. "Yes, yes you can."
"Then I accept your apologies."
He smiled.
My father fucking smiled at me.
After almost twenty years of making me feel like I didn’t matter, like I was a disappointment he couldn’t name, he smiled. The tension in my chest loosened, something old and painful finally easing.
I felt terrible for Uncle Benjamin. He must have been hurting so badly, alone with no one to lean on. My thoughts drifted to Ethan. Ethan, who was risking his life for mine without hesitation.
I didn’t deserve him.
Why was Joe different? Why did cruelty come so easily to him?
I saved that question for another day.
We talked for a while longer, about nothing and everything. He apologized again and again until it almost became absurd. When he finally left, the room felt lighter.
I made up my mind right then.
I was done running from hard conversations.
After a while, Ethan came back in.
"Hey," his voice low.
"Hey yourself." I smiled like I hadn’t been crying five minutes earlier.
"How are you feeling?"
"Shitty but good. I talked things out with my father."
"That's a good thing right?" he asked.
"Yeah I guess it is."
He sat where my father had been earlier, his posture cautious, like he wasn’t sure how close he was allowed to be.
"I owe you an apology," he started. "I'm sorry for not telling you about the shares. I thought it didn't matter, but it did to you. And because it matters to you it matter to me too."
I stared at him, stunned.
Was it a confessional day or something?
His voice was steady, sincere, unguarded in a way I rarely saw. The weight of his words settled deep in my chest.
"Is there anything els I should know about?"
"Except for the fact I was in the army, there is nothing else."
I smiled widely now, something warm blooming in my chest.
"You're forgiven." I held out my hand to him. "So my soldier was actually a soldier?"
"Yes. And thank you." He leaned in and kissed my forehead.
The simple tenderness of it almost undid me.
He didn’t pull away immediately. Instead, he reached into his pocket, fingers brushing mine as he did. My heart stuttered.
"There’s something else," he said quietly.
I looked up at him.
"I don’t want us living in maybes anymore," he continued. "I don’t want secrets. I don’t want half-steps."
My breath caught as he dropped to one knee beside the bed.
"I want you. Officially."
He opened his palm.
A ring sat there,simple, elegant, devastatingly perfect.
"I want you to be my boyfriend."
For a second, I forgot how to breathe.
"Yes," I said, voice breaking. "Yes."
He slipped the ring onto my finger, his hands shaking just a little. Then he kissed me—slow, deep, full of everything we’d survived. My hands fisted in his shirt as I kissed him back, the world narrowing to just us.
The kiss deepened, turned heated, reckless, alive.

Suddenly the door burst open.

"OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE."
Aiden’s voice echoed through the room.
We broke apart instantly.
"I swear to God," Aiden continued, hands flailing, "I leave you two alone for five minutes and suddenly it’s a Nicholas Sparks movie with sexual tension."
Ethan groaned.
I laughed, breathless, pressing my forehead to Ethan’s chest.

Somehow, despite everything, we were going to be okay.
We just needed to deal with my uncle.