SSS-Ranked Surgeon In Another World: The Healer Is Actually OP! - Chapter 413: Don’t Die

Sophie’s legs shook violently as she came harder than she had all night.

The sight and feel of her pushed Bruce over the edge right after. With a deep, throaty groan he buried himself to the hilt and came, flooding her with hot pulses that mixed with the water cascading over them. His hips stuttered, grinding deep as he rode it out, one arm banded around her waist to hold her up.

They stayed like that for long moments, him still inside her, forehead pressed to her shoulder, water pouring over them like a private waterfall. Sophie’s breathing slowly evened out, her ahegao expression softening into a dazed, blissful smile.

Bruce kissed the back of her neck, gentle now, whispering against her skin, “You’re incredible… I don’t know what I’d do without you taking care of me like this.”

She turned her head just enough to catch his lips in a slow, lazy kiss, water still streaming between them. “Then don’t ever stop letting me,” she murmured, voice soft and full of love. “We’re in this together. Stress, sky, and everything in between.”

The room went into silence.

Velmora’s evening had fully settled outside, the kind of dark that came with genuine stillness, no dungeon alarms, no distant combat, just the natural sounds of a world breathing at rest.

A lamp burned low on the side table. The curtains moved slightly where the window hadn’t been fully latched.

Bruce lay on his back looking at the ceiling. Sophie was beside him, close enough that he could feel the warmth of her, her breathing even and unhurried. Neither of them was asleep. Neither of them was trying to be.

He reached for his smart bracelet and searched for Lily’s smart ID.

Sophie watched him from the corner of her eye but said nothing.

The call connected after two rings and then Lily’s face filled the small holographic display that bloomed above the device, bright and immediate the way Lily always was, like she had been ready and waiting regardless of what time it was.

She saw Bruce first. Then she saw Sophie.

Her expression shifted. Not dramatically. Lily was seven and had not yet learned to fully hide what she felt, which meant the slight pout that appeared happened before she could decide not to let it.

“You left Lily,” she said, “to spend time with Aunty Sophie.”

It was not a question. It was a verdict delivered by someone who had considered the evidence and reached a conclusion.

Bruce kept his face neutral with some effort. “Lily.”

“Yes Big Brother Bruce.”

“I called to let you know I won’t be back today.”

The pout deepened by a fraction. Then Lily seemed to make a decision, the kind of decision that seven year olds make when they are trying very hard to be mature about something they are not mature about at all.

“Okay,” she said. Very evenly. Very reasonably. “That is okay. Big Brother can have fun without Lily.”

She paused.

“Lily can also have fun without Big Brother.”

Sophie pressed her lips together beside him, trying to hold a laugh… Bruce felt it without looking at her.

He looked at Lily on the screen and his face did something complicated entirely on its own. The statement had been delivered with perfect innocence and perfect calculation in equal measure, and the combination was deeply effective. He knew exactly what she was doing.

She knew exactly what she was doing. They both knew the other one knew.

He exhaled slowly.

“Lily, what I’m about to do is important. And it’s dangerous.”

The performance of maturity stopped.

Something moved across Lily’s face that was much younger and much more honest. Her eyes dropped briefly and Bruce knew what she was remembering without having to ask. She had seen him bleed before. Not recently, not since he had come back changed in ways she didn’t fully understand, but the memory of it was still in her. A child didn’t forget something like that easily. The image of someone they loved being hurt had a way of staying.

She was quiet for a moment.

Then, in a voice that was smaller than her usual one, she said, “I’m sorry Big Brother. Stay safe okay.”

She looked back up at him. Her eyes were very serious.

“If you die, Lily will be sad. Lily will be sad for a long time.”

Bruce looked at her face on the screen for a moment without speaking.

“Okay Lily,” he said. His voice came out quieter than he intended. “I’ll try my best not to die.”

She nodded once. Solemn. Like they had made an agreement that she intended to hold him to.

“Goodbye Big Brother.”

“Goodbye Lily.”

The call didn’t end immediately. Lily turned away from the screen first, already moving, already running, the way she transitioned between emotional registers with the speed that only children managed. He heard her voice carrying as she went.

“Mum! Big Brother Bruce said he might not come back today!”

And then, fainter, Lucy’s voice, warm and steady the way it always was. “It’s okay Lily. Your brother is strong. He can take care of himself.”

The call cut.

Bruce set the smart ID down on the side table and looked at the ceiling again.

Sophie was quiet for a moment beside him. Then she propped herself up on one elbow and looked at him with an expression that was trying to be reasonable and mostly succeeding.

“You can’t just cuddle with me tonight and continue tomorrow?”

Bruce turned his head and looked at her.

Then he laughed. A real one, low and genuine, the kind that came from somewhere relaxed. He reached up and pulled her in and kissed her properly, not quickly, and she made a small sound of surprise that turned into something else entirely before she pressed her hand against his chest and leaned back enough to look at him.

“I love you Sophie,” he said. “But this can’t wait. I’ve already delayed longer than I should have.”