Chapter 151

**You Were My Favorite Hurt, And My Hardest Goodbye by Ava Knight**

**Chapter 151**

The first time he regained consciousness, it was merely a corridor of muted sounds and sterile scents.

The atmosphere enveloped him in a haze of antiseptic, punctuated by the rhythmic beeps of machines that felt too sharp at the edges yet oddly soft in the center. He chose not to open his eyes; they felt like they were weighed down by the dense fog of exhaustion. His body was leaden, as if his lungs were encased in wet sand, making every breath a laborious task. But the sounds around him carried with an unsettling clarity—louder than he wished them to be.

Then he heard Nico’s voice, raw and unguarded, slicing through the silence like a knife. “Almost losing you made it clear. I love you, Lo. Not as a brother. Not as a friend. But as a man who knows he won’t ever love anyone else like this.”

The air thickened with silence, palpable and trembling, as if the very walls were holding their breath. Lola’s response came next, gentle yet unwavering, each word hitting him with the force of steel. “I used to lie awake wondering what it felt like. To be loved—really loved. Not just wanted. Not merely used. Loved. I conjured up stories in my mind, but it was never this. This is better. You and Enzo—you’ve given me something I didn’t even think existed. And now I don’t know how to be without it. Without you.”

There was a brief pause, the sound of linen shifting as her hand moved. Then her voice emerged again, raspy yet fierce, filled with determination: “So you’d better get used to me sticking around. Because I’m not letting go.”