Chapter 38 #3
When Miles fell, and it made me realize that my feelings for him are far stronger than I thought. And just like that, I was faced with the truth. Miles had carved a place into my heart, and no amount of time or distance would ever change that.
I step outside into the cool air, needing the space to breathe.
The hospital is suffocating, even if the people inside are the ones keeping me tethered to reality.
I find a quiet bench under a tree, the soft rustling of leaves surrounding me.
I sit, leaning back, letting my body relax, but my mind-my mind is running at a million miles per hour.
The breeze stirs, gently at first, then picks up a little. I can feel it cool my skin, and for a moment, I let my eyes close, breathing deeply.
I never used to believe in signs but there’s a little girl in my life who’s changed that perspective. Riley. She tells me how butterflies are a sign from her dad, Trevor, letting her know he was watching over her.
And now, sitting here in this quiet moment, I see it.
A butterfly.
A delicate, pure white butterfly lands on my thigh, its wings fluttering gently, its tiny body still. I freeze, staring at it in awe.
Tears prick at my eyes, but they’re not from sadness—they’re from the sudden, overwhelming sense of peace that washes over me.
Trevor.
There used to be times, so many times, when I would lie in bed, drowning in depression, thinking about what our life could have been. Imagining our future, our family.
It was always bittersweet, because the second the fantasy faded, the reality of him being gone would hit me like a ton of bricks.
But now, here, in this moment, I think of you differently. I can still feel you with me, but it’s not the painful, suffocating grief anymore. It’s a calm, quiet love.
And now, three months have passed. Miles has been there for me in ways I didn’t think anyone ever could. He’s helped me find a piece of myself again.
As if on cue, a gust of wind picks up, and the butterfly lifts off, soaring into the sky.
I take a deep breath, steadying myself. The weight on my chest lifts just a little, and I know, somehow, everything’s going to be okay.
I head back into the hospital, making my way to the elevator that’ll take me up to Miles’s floor. His family is in the waiting room, waiting for an update.
John looks up, his tired eyes softening when he sees me. “He’s asking for you,” he says, offering a small smile.
I nod, and without another word, I make my way down the hall. I feel a flutter in my stomach, my heart pounding with every step. I can’t believe I’m about to see him like this. After everything he’s been through, after everything I almost lost.
I push open the door and step into his room.
There he is. Miles.
He’s lying in the bed, wearing a sling, the faint scars on his skin and the tubes in his arms remind me of how close I came to losing him. But he’s here, and he’s awake.
“Hey…” I whisper softly as I sit beside him.
He turns his head toward me slowly, and despite how exhausted he looks, that warmth in his eyes—the one I’ve come to love far more than I ever meant to—still flickers there.
“Hey, Bambi,” he murmurs, voice rough but achingly gentle.
I reach for his hand and squeeze it tightly, grounding myself in the feel of him-warm, alive, here.
I swallow hard, trying to steady the tremble in my chest. “I’m sorry, Miles,” I whisper, my voice breaking apart. The tears I’ve held back all night finally spill over, hot tracks down my cheeks.
He lifts a hand and wipes one away with a touch so careful it nearly undoes me.
“Viv, please don’t cry,” he says softly, his thumb brushing tenderly over my skin.
But I can’t stop. I couldn’t if I tried.
“I thought I lost you,” I choke out, the words ripping through me. “When you fell and you weren’t moving…I thought you were gone, Miles.”
He shushes me gently and pulls me closer, steady in all the places I’m falling apart.
“I’m here,” he whispers, voice low and sure. “I’m right here.”
I take a shaky breath, trying to quiet the panic still echoing in my bones.
“Miles,” I say, softer now, stripped open. “I realized then that losing you…would’ve broken my heart all over again.”
His eyes widen—shock, emotion, something raw and unguarded flashing through them. For a moment, everything else fades. It’s only him—the way his gaze softens, the small curve of his lips, the vulnerability that flickers like a bare flame.
He says my name, and it’s almost reverent, like he’s holding it delicately on his tongue.
His hand comes up again, caressing my cheek with that same gentle certainty that always makes me feel seen. Held. Safe.
The truth wraps around me like warmth spreading through frozen limbs, and I know it’s real—I feel it in the way he touches me, in the way his presence speaks louder than any words could.
“I panicked that night,” I confess, my voice trembling but gaining strength with every breath.
“I was terrified of letting someone in again. But what happened tonight made me realize there’s something even more terrifying—and that is…
losing you. You’ve changed my life, Miles.
You’ve shown me what it feels like to be loved again.
You’ve given me what I’ve been missing.” A teary laugh slips out.
“Even with Riley…god, when I see you two together, my heart just explodes. She adores you, and I can’t blame her because I do too. ”
My voice catches, but I force myself to keep going. He needs to hear this, he deserves it.
“I’ve been holding onto so much pain for so long, not even realizing how much it was suffocating me.
I didn’t know how desperately I needed to let go…
until you came into my life.” I pause, chest tight, breath unsteady.
The air feels heavy with everything I’ve finally stopped running from.
The truth is right there, spilling over and shaking through me, and it feels like if I don’t let it out now, I’ll break apart.
“You brought me back to life,” I whisper, remembering those hollow days after he walked away, the ache of missing him settling like a bruise that never faded.
“You understood me before I even understood myself, and that’s why you deserve all of me.
The healed parts, the wounded parts, the parts still learning.
You’ve never run from any of it. You’ve only ever met me exactly where I was. ”
His expression softens even further, and I see the pain in his eyes-pain because he feels every single word I’m saying. He always has.
“I’m so sorry for pushing you away,” I breathe out, my voice trembling, raw with everything I’ve kept locked tight inside. “I’ll never do that again because…”
I look at him, really look at him—bruised, stubborn, beautiful—and let the truth finally fall free.
“Because I’ve fallen in love with you too, Miles Sanchez.”
His eyes are glossy as he watches me, then shifts in the bed, reaching for me with that quiet understanding that he’s always had. He pats the space next to him.
“Come here,” he murmurs, his voice low and soothing.
I slide into the bed beside him, curling into his embrace. He pulls me close, holding me like I’m the only thing that matters, and for a moment, I forget everything else. All the doubts, all the fears, they fade into the background, swallowed by the warmth of his arms around me.
“You never pushed me away,” he says softly, his words grounding me, his breath warm against my skin. “Not really. Not in the way you think.”
I smile then, a little broken, a little healed all at once.
My lips find his and I kiss him—not out of desperation, but out of everything I’ve been holding back.
I kiss him like I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life.
A kiss that says all the things I couldn’t say before; a kiss that unravels every wall I’ve built around myself.
When I pull away, breathless and smiling, the room feels brighter, as if everything is finally in its right place. This—us—this is where I’m meant to be. And for the first time in so long, I know that I’m finally where I’m supposed to be. And with him.
“Do you forgive me?” I ask softly, my head resting against his.
His breath warms my cheek as he whispers, “Always, Bambi.”
“Why me?” I ask, the question slipping out before I can stop it, my voice barely above a whisper. I look up at him, my heart racing with uncertainty. “Why did you choose me?”
Miles freezes for a moment, as if the weight of my question is settling on him in a way he didn’t expect. The corners of his lips twitch into a soft smirk, but it’s not teasing, this one is different, filled with sincerity.
He exhales, the breath caught somewhere deep inside him, before his eyes lock onto mine with an intensity that makes my heart skip a beat. The world around us seems to fade, and it’s just him, me, and the quiet understanding that has grown between us.
He shifts closer, his thumb grazing over my hand where it rests on his chest.
“Remember when you asked me if I believed in fate?” he begins, his voice low, almost hesitant, like he’s handing me something fragile.
I nod, my heart already pounding.
“That’s what you feel like to me,” he says.
“Fate. From the moment I saw you, it was like something in me shifted. Like I’d been walking down the wrong road my whole life and suddenly, there you were, and I just…
knew. You’re not like anyone I’ve ever met, Viv.
You are different. And being near you”—he exhales shakily—“it’s like being pulled home by a magnet I didn’t even know was there. ”
His gaze softens as he speaks, the heat of his words wrapping around me like a blanket I didn’t know I needed. My heart flutters, and without thinking, I lean closer, caught in the gravity of what he’s saying.
“It isn’t just your beauty,” he continues, his voice thick, unsteady, “or that smart mouth of yours.”
I let out a watery laugh at the jab, even as a tear escapes down my cheek.