Chapter 468 The First Breath After

Chapter 468: Chapter 468 The First Breath After

The surgical lights were blinding.

Everything around Ryan had begun to blur—the ceiling, the figures moving around him, the steady beeping of the monitors.

His consciousness was slipping away.

Then, in those final seconds before the anesthesia took hold, he felt something warm against his hand.

Someone gently squeezed his fingers.

Just once.

Ryan’s heart seemed to stop.

It felt like a hallucination.

The warmth disappeared almost immediately.

But before his eyes closed completely, Ryan’s lips moved soundlessly.

Rose.

*****

Outside the operating room, Robert’s team was fully prepared.

They were among the most experienced neurosurgical and neuro-oncology specialists in the country, and because of the complexity of Ryan’s case, nearly the entire surgical team had been assembled specifically for him.

The operating room had been taken over by their personnel.

Everyone else could only wait.

Grace and Nathan sat together with the latest scans and medical records spread across the table.

Neither of them was idle.

Ryan’s condition was extraordinarily complicated. There were too many variables, too many things that couldn’t be predicted until the surgeons actually reached the tumor.

Even after decades in medicine, neither Grace nor Nathan had encountered many cases this difficult.

They continued reviewing the records, discussing possible complications and contingency plans.

But no matter how clinical the conversation became, the weight in the room never disappeared.

A life was on the line.

And for Rose, this wasn’t simply another patient.

It was the man she had once loved.

The man who had spent years hiding his illness from her.

Rose had chosen to enter the operating room herself.

She wasn’t performing the tumor resection—Robert was leading the surgery—but she would personally operate the surgical platform she had developed, using its real-time imaging and precision instruments to assist him.

She would also use a specialized microsurgical instrument designed for delicate work around critical vessels and tissue.

That meant Rose would see everything.

Every sudden drop in blood pressure.

Every unexpected bleed.

Every moment when Ryan’s life hung by a thread.

And if her emotions overwhelmed her even once, it could affect her judgment.

But Rose knew the system better than anyone.

She had designed it.

She had tested it.

And if she was going to be in the operating room, this was the place where she could contribute most effectively.

"How long do you think the surgery will take?" Charlotte asked.

She had come to wait with everyone else, and despite trying to hide it, her worry was obvious.

Grace looked at the clock.

"At least ten hours."

She paused.

"Possibly longer."

A deep brain tumor surrounded by major blood vessels and critical neurological structures could not simply be removed quickly.

Every millimetre mattered.

And with Ryan’s impaired clotting function, the team couldn’t afford to rush.

Oliver’s expression grew even more troubled.

"Rose is unbelievable. She said she wouldn’t see him, and she really didn’t."

He shook his head.

"Even when Ryan was being anesthetized, she didn’t say a word to him."

His voice carried a hint of frustration.

"If something happens to Ryan, won’t she regret that later?"

"If Ryan doesn’t make it through, saying too much beforehand won’t change the outcome."

James’s voice was cold.

"And if she turned it into some emotional goodbye, she’d only make the situation harder for both of them."

Oliver looked at him.

James didn’t even blink.

"Rose knows what she’s doing. She’s been working on this case day and night. She has her own plan."

Oliver fell silent.

James added, "You don’t get to decide what she should say to him."

Oliver pressed his lips together.

"But people aren’t machines."

His voice softened.

"Ryan may have told her not to come, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t want her there."

The patient was lying in an operating room fighting for his life.

Why make him feel abandoned on top of everything else?

Charlotte folded her arms.

"Your Ryan understands Rose better than you do."

Oliver looked at her.

Charlotte continued bluntly, "That’s why he didn’t go looking for her himself. He knew she meant what she said."

"If he really wanted to see her, nothing was stopping him from asking someone to bring her."

Oliver opened his mouth.

Then closed it again.

He couldn’t win against both of them.

What was going on with these people?

Even Charlotte was defending Rose now.

He had once assumed the proud, sharp-tongued Charlotte would be the last person to stand on Rose’s side.

Apparently, he’d been wrong.

The younger generation continued arguing quietly.

Grace and Nathan didn’t join in.

But Grace’s gaze remained fixed on the operating-room doors.

"No wonder Ryan never tried to win her back."

Her voice was low.

"He’s been holding himself back from the beginning."

If he couldn’t promise her a future, how could he allow himself to give her hope?

He had probably decided that it was better for Rose to hate him than to spend years watching him slowly disappear.

Nathan stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"He’s been sick for years."

He sighed.

"Perhaps he decided a long time ago that his death was inevitable. He didn’t want Rose tied to him."

Grace’s expression tightened.

"That would explain a lot."

Ryan had been told years ago that surgery was too dangerous.

Since then, all he’d been able to do was manage the disease and buy himself more time.

He knew the clock was running down.

So instead of giving Rose something to hope for, he had given her reasons to hate him.

If she hated him enough, perhaps his death wouldn’t destroy her.

Nathan’s brows drew together.

"Still..."

He shook his head.

"That’s a brutal way to protect someone."

He had carried all the pain himself.

He had deliberately done things that went against his own feelings, watching the woman he loved slowly turn her love into resentment.

Every year he had added another layer between them.

Every cruel word.

Every rejection.

Every deliberate wound.

It had all been aimed in the same direction.

Away from him.

And toward a life where Rose would eventually be able to live without him.

Nathan sighed.

"He’s been torturing himself for years."

The surgery continued.

No one left their seats.

Charlotte checked the clock again and again.

She couldn’t help silently praying that everything would go smoothly.

Ryan had always seemed like someone who would live forever.

Seeing him reduced to this was difficult to accept.

And Rose was in there with him.

The thought of her former lover dying on an operating table while she stood beside him was enough to make Charlotte’s stomach twist.

Seven hours passed.

Then nine.

Then eleven.

The lights outside the operating room never changed.

Thirteen hours.

Outside, the sky had gone from darkness to morning and begun moving toward afternoon.

No one spoke anymore.

The longer the surgery lasted, the heavier the silence became.

Then—

Click.

The operating-room doors opened.

Robert stepped out.

He looked exhausted.

The moment everyone saw him, they stood.

Grace was the first to approach.

"How is he?"

James and Oliver followed immediately.

Robert pulled down his surgical mask.

His hair was damp with sweat.

"There were three significant bleeding episodes during the procedure."

Everyone’s heart tightened.

"But..."

Robert’s tired eyes suddenly lit up.

"Rose Bennett is a genius."

He shook his head in disbelief.

"That system she developed changed the entire operation."

The excitement in his voice was impossible to hide.

"Her real-time imaging allowed us to identify and track the vessels around the tumor far more precisely than we could with conventional guidance alone. When we encountered unexpected bleeding, we were able to localize the source quickly and control it before it became catastrophic."

He looked toward the operating room.

"With me performing the resection and Rose operating the system, we were able to get through the most dangerous part."

Oliver stared at him.

"You mean..."

Robert nodded.

"The tumor was removed."

For a moment, nobody moved.

"Then..."

Oliver’s voice trembled.

"Does that mean it was successful?"

Robert’s expression became serious again.

"Partially."

The relief in the room immediately disappeared.

"Ryan’s clotting disorder means that even bleeding that would normally be manageable can become dangerous. And because the tumor was large and located so deeply, the surgical field was extensive."

He took a breath.

"We controlled the bleeding during the operation, but he is not out of danger."

"Why?"

"The first forty-eight hours are critical."

Robert looked at each of them.

"Postoperative bleeding is still a major risk. A hemorrhage in the brain after surgery could cause catastrophic damage before we have time to intervene."

Everyone fell silent.

"The surgery was one hurdle," Robert continued. "Now we have another."

In other words—

Ryan had survived the operation.

But no one could yet say that he had survived the crisis.

Anything could still happen.

That was precisely why they had been so reluctant to operate in the first place.

Even with the best specialists, the most advanced imaging, a carefully revised surgical plan, and Rose’s system assisting the procedure, they had only managed to bring Ryan through the operation.

Without Rose’s technology, the margin for error would have been considerably smaller.

Oliver swallowed hard.

"Then..."

He looked toward the operating room.

"How could anyone say Rose isn’t the one who saved him?"

It felt as though everything had led them here.

Nathan suddenly looked toward Robert.

"Where’s Rose?"

Grace turned as well.

Robert glanced behind him.

"She’ll be out with Ryan."

"They’re transferring him directly to the ICU."

As he spoke, the doors at the rear of the surgical suite opened completely.

A medical team wheeled Ryan out.

Rose walked beside the bed.

His body was surrounded by lines, drains, monitors, and IV tubing.

An oxygen mask covered his face.

His head was heavily bandaged, and his face looked almost frighteningly pale beneath the harsh hospital lights.

Rose removed her surgical mask.

Deep red pressure marks ran across her fair skin.

Her eyes were exhausted.

"Rose."

"Rose!"

She didn’t respond.

Her gaze remained fixed on Ryan.

He was still critically ill.

Still unconscious.

Still not completely safe.

Rose reached down.

Her fingers found his hand.

Then she gently hooked her little finger around his.

The instant their fingers touched—

Rose’s face went white.

Her knees gave way.

She collapsed.