The Katherine he'd known for the past two years was always moving forward. A little star that never stopped glowing.
But this time...
This time, that same Katherine backed a step away from him when he came close.
And that was all the answer he needed.
Because if what was happening now was enough to make her back away from him, then what would be the next thing she did?
Back another step. And another. And another. Until she was somewhere high enough to take one last step before falling and falling and falling—
Never again.
So he took another step forward, and this time he caught her wrist and pulled her close so he could cup her face, and when his gaze met hers, green eyes wide and wet and looking up at him like he was the whole world, he heard himself swear—
"I will never let you go."
Chapter Four
I'M NEVER GOING TOlet you go.
Something heavy lifts from my shoulders, and gray clouds that I didn't realize had darkened my world slowly part for the sun to break out, and just like that...
The world is back to how it is. My life is back to normal. And I'm back to my old self, too, because those words—
I'm never going to let you go.
That's just classic Kazeyuki Collington, and it's the proof I would never have figured out I was looking for until I heard him say it.
I'm never going to let you go.
If he had told me he loved me, or that he had one day woken up and realized he had fallen in love with me, I would've known he was lying.
But this? Oh,this?
I'm never going to let you go.
It's just so wonderfullyhim, the man who, when I once saw him wince at the sight of a large, hairy spider on the wall outside his office, and I had asked if he was arachnophobic, had answered with a perfectly straight face, "I grew up riding horses."
I still don't know what horses have to do with spiders. I probably never will. But that's the point, isn't it? That's the wholebeautiful, maddening, completely illogical point of being in love with a man who communicates in encrypted poetry.
That's the kind of man who saved me. The kind of man I've been in love with for the past two years. And that's why I know—
I'm never going to let you go.
That's his way of saying he's totally in love with me, and I just...I just...
His reflexes are amazing, with his arm going around my waist to catch me from falling when my knees suddenly give out. It's the first time he's held me like this, his arm strong and warm and wrapped around me like he's done it a thousand times, and my whole body goes stupid with how close he is. I can smell the sanitizer on his hands, the clean cotton of his shirt, and underneath both, close to his skin where I can only catch it because I've never been this near, something warm and woody that doesn't come from any hospital dispenser. I don't know what it is. I just know the other doctors don't smell like this, and I can feel his heartbeat against my shoulder, or maybe that's my heartbeat, or maybe it's both of ours together, and I should probably focus on standing but standing seems extremely overrated when the alternative is being held up by Kazeyuki Collington's arm.
"Are you alright?" he asks sharply. "Are you dizzy? Are you—"
"I'm s-sorry. I just can't believe this is happening."
"So you're okay then?"
"No."
He stiffens. The arm around my waist tightens, and I can feel his whole body go taut, and he's already shifting into doctor mode, his free hand coming up like he's about to check my pulse or tilt my chin to look at my pupils.