Kneeling for a Second Chance Novel

---- Chapter 312 Sebastian looked at Valeria. Even in the darkness , with her features blurred, he could make out her silhouette. He reached out and carefully brushed a strand of hair from her cheek, then twined it slowly around his finger. He couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. He didn't want to wake her up either, so he just toyed with that strand of hair. By the time he let go, the long lock had curled slightly after being coiled for so long. In the end, he failed to suppress a cough. Turning his body away instinctively, he tried to muffle it. Valeria had always been a light sleeper.

Her mind was a bit foggy as she opened her eyes, hearing Sebastian's restrained cough. "Are you feeling unwell?" She stood up to fetch him another pillow, hoping that it might make him more comfortable. Sebastian suddenly pulled her into his arms, though. Her first instinct was to push him away, but his body burned hot against her. His chest trembled with every cough. A faint stir of pity rose from deep within Valeria, rooting her inplace. Sebastian held her, burying his cheek against her shoulder.

His voice was hoarse as he whispered that he was in pain and ---- that he felt wretched all over. Valeria said she would swing by the nurse's station for painkillers. "Just let me hold you for a while, and it'll stop hurting." Sebastian's voice was soft, and his breathing scalded her shoulder. In this world, Valeria was his most effective painkiller. Their shadows were stretched across the room by the moonlight. As he continued to hold her, Sebastian's eyes stung and grew damp. The woman he loved was too soft-hearted. She couldn't bear to hear him say he was in pain or watch him die either.

"All these years, I've thought of you every moment." Sebastian's voice was already hoarse, making his words slurred from the overflow of emotions. "Not for me," came Valeria's reply. Sebastian replied, "I couldn't stop. When I was shot and collapsed, my thoughts were scattered. In that split second, I thought I would never be able to wish you Happy New Year. He continued , "I knew you probably didn't want me sending them. But other than during those few holidays, I never knew what else I could say.

I was afraid that you'd get annoyed and block me if I spammed you with messages." ---- With a trembling voice, he explained, "I'd planned to keep my distance, but if I stayed in the country, it was only a day's flight interstate . Shagos is located thousands of miles away, yet I still returned a few times." Sebastian couldn't help it. He had to see her, even from the shadows. He felt like some deviant, feeding a voyeuristic obsession. Valeria had felt someone trailing her a few times to the point of warning Margaret to keep the doors locked. So she hadn't been mistaken.

When she turned and found no one behind her, she thought she was being paranoid. "I didn't even feel any pain when that bullet struck me," Sebastian said. "I even felt relieved that I would finally be free of the torment of a one-sided love. I figured it would be better if I died then. "That way, you'd remember me for the rest of your life if I died." Valeria listened in silence for a few minutes. "When I arrived," she began, breaking the silence.

"I found a coin by the sea, and I flipped it." She shut her eyes, and her voice trembled as she continued, "I told myself that if it landed on tails, I'd cut you off once you've fully recovered." ---- Even after waiting for ages, Sebastian didn't hear what the result of the flip was. And so, he guessed the result-it was tails. He tightened his embrace around Valeria, terrified she would leave.