"What do you mean he might die?"
Raya's voice trembled despite her desperate effort to stay composed. The words came out shaky, almost pleading, as if saying them louder would make the nightmare less real.
Derek looked at her, his expression grim and exhausted, dark circles shadowing his eyes after the intense emergency treatment. "Exactly what you heard," he replied quietly, the exhaustion heavy in his tone. There was no sugar-coating, no false hop, just the brutal truth from a man who had seen too many critical cases.
Silence fell again, heavier than before. It pressed down on everyone in the hallway like a physical force, thick and suffocating, broken only by the faint, steady beeps of medical monitors leaking from behind the closed door.
