Watchmaker
Copyright© 2025 by Heel
Chapter 6: Return
The stage smelled of rosin, wood polish, and faint sweat — a familiar mix that made Elise’s chest tighten. She stepped onto it, barefoot for the first time in months, and felt the balance she had feared lost.
Her left foot, once shattered beyond repair, now obeyed her. Each weight shift, each controlled turn, reminded her of the grueling months she had endured: the pain, the crutches, the immobilizing casts, the painstaking therapy. And beneath it all, the hands that had rebuilt her — Dr. Kopp’s precise, unflinching care.
She danced lightly at first, testing, measuring, remembering. Then fully, with courage that surprised even her. Every jump, every pirouette, was not effortless, not like before, but it was hers.
Backstage, she found him waiting. His posture was rigid, arms folded, expression unreadable, but the intensity of his gaze betrayed how closely he had followed her recovery.
She took a deep breath. “Doctor,” she began, her voice barely above a whisper. He looked at her, attentive but cautious. “I ... I have to ask you something. Something important.”
He tilted his head slightly, confusion flickering across his features.
Elise swallowed, steadying herself. “I ... I want to marry you.”
The words landed in the room like a sudden, sharp note. Kopp froze. His mind, trained on bones, alignment, and the intricacies of repair, stumbled. Confusion, disbelief, and an unfamiliar warmth surged through him all at once.