Chapter 259
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
Killian didn’t answer. He just squeezed the bridge of his nose with the hand holding his cigarette, eyes tightly shut as if his head was pounding.
At this point, I didn’t even feel sorry for him. If he had a headache, it was from drinking too much.
‘I can’t take it anymore.’
Suddenly, anger boiled up in me. Honestly, after putting up with him sulking for a whole day, I had every right to be mad.
I stomped over to stand right under his chin. Only then did he open his eyes in surprise and look at me, but I snatched the cigarette from his hand and crushed it out in the ashtray. Then I poured what was left in his glass over the ashes.
“…”
Killian watched my abrupt outburst, taking in my mood, but still didn’t say a word. He stared at me for a while as I stood there fuming, then reached out, running his fingers along the sleeve of my shirt, almost absentmindedly.
After a long moment, his hand started to slip under my sleeve, reaching for my arm, but I roughly brushed him off and collapsed into the armchair. I wanted to cry, but my chest felt so tight, even the tears wouldn’t come.
I just stared out the window with dry eyes. Our room looked out on a wooded hill, the ground below covered with forget-me-nots like a blue carpet. The view was beautiful, but it only made me angrier.
Outside, it was a bright, cheerful summer’s day, while I felt more bleak and gray than any winter.
Killian was leaning against the window frame, watching me with that same blank, uncertain expression. But honestly, I was the one who felt lost.
‘How did the man who seemed so dependable just yesterday morning become someone I can’t trust overnight?’
Just like on our wedding day.
During that wedding, even with fighter planes overhead, I somehow believed I wouldn’t die—because of the priest who was there with us, not my own husband.
Our regiment’s priest was famous for his courage and selflessness. He’d go right to the trenches to comfort the soldiers, and he never seemed afraid. Even in the thick of battle, when he’d join the medics to rescue the wounded.
Yet, not once was he ever injured. It got to the point where people joked that even bullets made way for him. Some said he was an angel sent by God, incapable of dying.
Soldiers thrive on superstition. I remembered whole companies lining up outside the church for his blessing before heading to the front lines.
And I, too, must have believed that with the ‘immortal priest’ on our side, I wouldn’t die that day…
‘Wait. Immortal…’
“So it’s true, Sir, you’re said to be immortal.”
Hadn’t Lieutenant O’Brien said something like that—to Killian?
‘Gasp…’
A strange premonition left me dazed, and I didn’t even notice Killian coming over. Suddenly, he dropped to his knees at my feet, wrapped his arms around my thighs, and rested his head against my stomach.
“Dana, I did it because I love you. Please, forgive me.”
“Forgive you for what?”
He just pressed his face to my stomach, breathing heavily, saying nothing. After a while, he abruptly let go and moved away.
“I guess love isn’t a free pass for everything.”
There was real defeat in his voice as he slumped down by the window, eyes blank and unfocused again.
My anger flared again. It wasn’t just that he wouldn’t answer any of my questions—it was the way he’d suddenly hold me, then just as suddenly push me away. It has been like this for two days now.
I finally snapped and said what I shouldn’t.
“If you’re going to keep acting like this, then I’m leaving.”
“You’re going to leave me anyway.”
“Ha….”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. While I was still speechless, Killian started mumbling.
“At the very least, I should be the one to take you back…”
He actually started to get up, swaying unsteadily.
Smack!
I finally lost it and slapped him—a line I shouldn’t have crossed.
“Snap out of it…”
He was the one who got hit, but in that moment, I was the one who came to my senses. He didn’t even seem to care that I’d struck him. He just took my trembling hand and gently rubbed it, worrying that I’d hurt myself.
“…Hic.”
That finally broke the dam, and I started to cry.
“I’m sorry I hit you…”
I rubbed the spot where I had hit him.
“Don’t apologize.”
Killian turned away, pressing kisses into my palm.
“Even if you killed me with these hands, I’d gladly die by them.”
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.