No Strings Attached

Chapter 180

Just as she was about to speak, Clam heard the unmistakable ringtone of lan’s cell phone cutting through the air.

A glimpse of the caller ID showed Edwin. lan’s expression soured as he reluctantly hit the answer button, prepared to declare catastrophe If it wasn’t crucial. Yet it was Heidi’s piercing walls that erupted from the other side, so shrill that Clara, standing beside him, could hear every note of distress.

Clara’s fingers, hanging limply at her side, involuntarily curled into a fist. This wasn’t the first time Clara had heard Heidi cry over the phone like this. Back before Clam and lan had called it quits, it was a common occurrence.

lan used to dash off to Heidi’s side no matter how late or what he was in the middle of doing. Even if Clara herself had been the one calling for help, he never seemed to be able to make time for her.

The bitterness of those dark days crept onto Clara’s lips as she forced a wry smile and quickened her pace, wheeling her luggage away.

Upon hearing Heidi’s voice, lan immediately thought to hang up, but then he heard Heidi say, “lan, Mrs. Leonora got hit by a car, while she was trying to save Grandma Rose. They’re both in the emergency room now. Hurry up and come over”

lan’s voice changed upon hearing this. “How is Grandma Rose?”

Without so much as a goodbye to Clara, lan’s figure disappeared into the bustling crowd of the airport terminal, his urgency palpable.

For a moment, Clara’s gaze froze on his retreating back. She had thought lan had changed, and he wouldn’t fall back into Heidi’s orbit as he had so adamantly voiced. But it wasn’t him who had changed. She had simply been naïve.

Heidi had been right. Even without the bonds of an engagement, the longstanding friendship between their families remained, as did the life debt that bound lan to her. With those ties, lan could never fully let Heidi go.

A self–deprecating chuckle escaped Clara’s lips as she turned to Anders. “Ryker’s here to pick us up, let’s go, she said, dismissing the scene behind her.

lan arrived at the hospital to find Grandma Rose already out of danger, suffering nothing more than a broken leg. But Leonora was another story–unconscious with a severe head injury post–surgery, leaving lan with a nagging suspicion that there was more to this accident.

His father had just dropped the divorce bomb on his mother, and he was planning to ask about Helena when, at this pivotal moment, his mother ended up injured while saving Grandma Rose. The timing seemed too convenient, too coincidental

Once he managed the situation at hand, he decided to make a personal visit to the police station to find out more. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Heidi waited for lan to leave before daring to approach Leonora’s bedside. As Heidi slipped out of the hospital room, she couldn’t resist draping lan’s forgotten blazer over her shoulders, blushing as she inhaled his unique scent. Imagining his arms around her, she felt a rush of longing

With a shy smile, Heidi opened the door only to see Clara approaching. Seizing the moment, Heidi greeted her, “Attorney Clara, are you looking for lan? He just stepped out to get something for me. Should I call him back for you?” She tugged at lan’s blazer conspicuously. making sure Clara recognized it.

Clara offered a faint smile and walked away without a word. It wasn’t long before she saw lan returning, with a bag of items in hand.