The thought pierced my heart like a fine needle.

I picked up my phone and opened Sebastian's contact.

My finger hovered over the call button for a long time before I backed out.

What would asking him accomplish?

He would probably say the apartment needed to stay tidy.

For two years, he had always found a perfectly reasonable explanation for rejecting every attempt I made to get closer.

I pushed the thoughts aside, ate a simple breakfast, and took my medicine.

After checking my temperature again and confirming the fever was gone, I went to the balcony to sort my perfumery notes.

Several books I used regularly, on raw materials and fragrance analysis, were missing.

I searched the living room, bedroom, and storage cabinets without finding them.

Surely Sebastian hadn't thrown away my books.

I took a deep breath and went to his study.

The door wasn't fully closed.

A folder he had left behind that morning sat on the desk. In red ink on the cover were the words: Essential Case Notes, Afternoon Consultation.

He must have forgotten it in his rush to leave.

After hesitating in the doorway, I picked up the folder and put it in my bag.

This would be the last time I went to the hospital to see him, I decided.

The cardiac surgery offices at Harbor General always smelled of disinfectant.

I had just raised my hand to knock when I heard voices inside.

“Dr. Hale, was that gorgeous woman who came looking for you yesterday your girlfriend?”

“She waited forever in the corridor, and you went straight into another emergency operation. You keep her so well hidden you don't even bring her to department parties. What is it? Afraid one of us might steal her?”

There was a brief silence.

Then Sebastian's cool, level voice answered.

“My private life isn't department gossip.”

“You could at least clear it up. We all thought you were single.”

“Work is work,” Sebastian said evenly. “Leave irrelevant people and matters out of it.”

Outside the door, my hand froze.

Irrelevant people and matters.

Under Sebastian Hale's rules, I was someone irrelevant, someone he couldn't acknowledge in public.

I swallowed the ache rising in my chest and pushed the door open.

The hinges made a soft sound. The conversation stopped instantly.

One of the male doctors saw me, and his teasing expression stiffened.

“Well, Dr. Hale. I'll leave you to talk. I've got rounds.”

He hurried out, closing the door behind him.

Sebastian sat behind his desk and looked up at me.

I was still pale, my eyes tired from the fever. The brightness they usually held had faded.

His gaze settled on me, and his voice lowered.

“Why did you come out when you've been ill? You should be resting at home.”

“You forgot this.”

I approached and placed the folder carefully in the center of his desk.

He glanced at it, tapping the desk twice with his fingertips.

“Next time, use a courier or call my assistant. Hospitals are full of germs. Don't come here.”

There it was again.

I had heard those words so often in the two years we'd been together.

Don't stand outside the operating room.

Don't get too close in front of his colleagues.

Don't wait for him at the hospital.

Don't interfere with his work.

He never wanted me to visit. Was I really that embarrassing to him?

I raised my head.

The eyes that had once shone whenever I looked at him were now as still as stagnant water.

Something in that look made Sebastian's heart sink.

“Don't worry.”

I adjusted my bag on my shoulder.

“I won't bother you here again, Sebastian.”

Without waiting for an answer, I opened the door and walked out.

He remained in his chair, his right hand settling instinctively on the folder.

The paper was cool. A faint, bittersweet fragrance still lingered on it.

His brows pulled together.

For the first time, an irritation he couldn't explain stirred in his chest.