The next morning, Sebastian handed me a new phone.

“Your old one got broken. I bought you a replacement. Some of your photos were backed up, so I've restored them. You can take a look.”

He said it so naturally that I suspected nothing.

“Am I allowed to use a phone now?”

I accepted it. The case was the creamy white I liked, and the lock screen showed me sleeping against his shoulder.

“When did you take this?” I asked, surprised.

Sebastian sat beside me and casually slipped an arm around my waist.

“The first day we moved in together.”

I opened the photo gallery.

In the first picture, I stood outside the hospital with breakfast in my hand, smiling brightly.

The second was a dimly lit bedside photograph.

My cheeks were flushed with drink, and I clung to Sebastian's arm. He looked down at me, his eyes darker than the night.

“Was this the night we officially got together?”

My ears grew hot.

“Yes.”

He reached out and stroked my earlobe with his thumb.

“You planned to get yourself drunk, then passed out after half a glass.”

“I didn't plan anything.”

“You booked the hotel a week in advance. How do you explain that?”

“Only because you were so hard to win over.”

I protested quietly, but my lips curved despite me.

There weren't many photographs. Each was perfectly sweet.

Sebastian had deliberately erased every argument, every lonely wait, every disappointment.

Just as the atmosphere grew warm, someone knocked.

Tessa came in with a bag of fruit and stopped at the sight of us sitting so close.

“Sophie.”

“Tess!”

My eyes brightened, and I reached for her.

“You finally came to see me.”

She hurried to the bed and hugged me tightly.

“You scared me to death.”

Her eyes were red. She wanted to scold me but couldn't bear to, so she gently pinched my cheek instead.

“Something this serious... I thought I might never see you again.”

I patted her back.

“I'm fine now.”

“Fine? With a wound that long on your head...”

She stopped halfway through, noticing the phone in my hand.

“You got a new phone?”

“The old one broke. Sebastian bought this. He restored my pictures too. Look.”

I held out the gallery.

Tessa glanced through it, her face darkening little by little.

Hadn't Sophie deleted every photograph of Sebastian before they broke up?

Where had these come from?

“Sophie, didn't you delete all these...”

“Miss Lane.”

Sebastian interrupted, placing a glass of water in my hand while his eyes warned Tessa.

“The doctor has said the remaining blood is affecting her brain. She mustn't be subjected to severe distress.”

“As her friend, you should put her health first.”

Noticing the hostility between them, I asked, “What's wrong?”

“Nothing.” Tessa managed a smile. “Just remember you don't have to believe everything people tell you.”

Sebastian's gaze turned icy.

She stared right back without yielding.

A nurse knocked at that moment.

“Visiting time is over. The patient needs her afternoon rest.”

“I've barely been here!”

“I'm sorry, Miss Lane.” The nurse was polite but firm. “These are the attending doctor's instructions.”

Helpless, Tessa picked up her bag and squeezed my hand before leaving.

“I'll come back tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Once the door closed, I looked at Sebastian in confusion.

“Tess seems really angry.”

“She's probably upset that you got hurt. She blames me for not protecting you.”

“Is that it?”

“Yes.”

That evening, Sebastian went to the nurses' station himself.

“For the time being, all visits must be booked in advance. No one without an appointment is to enter.”

“Notify me before Xavier Sutton or Tessa Lane visits. Especially those two.”