No Strings Attached

The pain was so intense that he found it hard to breathe. He immediately clutched at his chest, opened a bottle of water, and took a few sips, but the symptoms barely eased. Dawson immediately expressed his concern, "Mr. Hayes, are you feeling unwell? Should we head to the hospital?"

lan waved him off. "No, it'll pass in a bit."

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, trying to gather himself, but the symptoms didn't just fail to improve; they grew worse.

Images, dark and disturbing, began to swarm his mind. All of them featured Clara, bloodied and lying on the ground.

lan suddenly shot up from his chair, unable to help himself from shouting, "Clara!"

Dawson immediately asked, "Mr. Hayes, the plane is about to take off in five minutes. If you need to, we can call it off right now."

lan hesitated for a few seconds before saying, "I have a bad feeling. Cancel the trip. We're heading back home."

"Right away, sir."

was fine, he couldn't shake his unease. He needed to see her with his own

also felt an inexplicable

dwell on it. Instead, she continued to check

bottles, pacifiers, a bottle sterilizer, a breast pump, sanitary pads, diapers, baby towels,

item off her list. Looking at these items filled her eyes with a blissful light. She couldn't help but

if the

as painful as depicted on TV, where women scream in agony.

carrying groceries. He saw her checking the items again and chuckled, "How many times are you going to check? Everything that needs to be prepared has

look at this locket, isn't it beautiful? Katherine designed it for the baby. It might be silver, but

baby to

also smiled. He put the groceries in the kitchen, but as soon as he did, he

have tampered with Katherine's hairpin,

immediately