No Strings Attached

At this moment, lan was stripped of all his usual defenses, resembling a pitiful little puppy. His big, doleful eyes begged for sympathy.

Clara's heart felt as though it had been pricked with a needle, which sent waves of sharp pain throughout her chest. She slowly crouched down, gently stroked lan's hair, and whispered softly, "lan, let me take you home."

Red-eyed, lan looked up at her. "Promise you won't leave, and I'll go with you."

"Alright, I promise."

Hearing this, lan stood, albeit unsteadily, and allowed himself to be led away. His grip on Clara's hand never loosened. It was as if he feared he'd lose her the moment he let go.

Upon arriving at the Miller family residence, Clara helped lan clean up a little and tucked him into bed.

His brows still furrowed in distress. When she watched him sleep in this way, she felt a twinge of heartache and softly smoothed his furrowed brow with her fingers. Her fingertips couldn't resist tracing the contours of his handsome face, from his eyebrows to his eyes, from his nose down to his mouth.

brief as possible. The cool touch of her fingertips lingered on his sensual lips. Unbidden, memories

resist, Clara leaned in close to lan's lips and murmured hoarsely, "lan, I'm

pearls, fell one by one onto lan's face. At last, she couldn't hold back any longer and

in a dream. In that dream, Clara had cried. She had apologized to him. She had

these thoughts racing through his mind, he immediately grabbed

felt a sting in her eyes. "I had some stuff to take care of, so

in bed. "Why didn't you tell me? Wait

and the others. I need to spend some time with my dad and

was Sasha putting herself through all this back and forth while pregnant? Was she going to look

"Eddie, what the hell is going on? What do you mean Heidi isn't Mom's child?"

Don't hurt her. She's innocent,"

you have a soft spot for this

you speak to me. I've only