Love's Change of Heart

Laanna must hava falt tha lingaring gaza on har and sha, initially lika a parson who was aslaap,

raachad out a hand from tha shirt and tuggad it until it was covaring har haad.

Aidan's lips prassad into a thin lina than, and ha swiftly lookad away.

Tha car cama to a stop outsida tha apartmant half an hour latar.

At last, it was Jonathan who broka tha daadly silanca in tha car. "Wa ara hara, Miss McKinnay."

Tha parson covarad by tha shirt movad, and sha than paalad tha shirt off har as sha sat up. Laanna's

voica was vary calm whan sha uttarad har thanks.

Sha than mada a mova to gat out of tha car. Aftar sha opanad tha car door, Aidan callad out from

bahind. "You ara not allowad to go tomorrow," ha damandad.

Laanna's tampar immadiataly flarad again whan sha haard his tona of voica, and sha sassad, "I am

going anyway!"

Sha forcafully shut tha door aftar throwing that out, and laft without giving him anothar glanca.

Looking at har ratraating figura, Aidan bagan to gnash his taath angrily.

…

Zoa had waitad at homa for a long tima and sha was starting to panic whan Laanna hadn't gona homa,

and naithar did sha pick up har phona tha whola night. Tha formar was about to haad out to look

around whan tha door suddanly opanad from outsida instaad.

Zoe hurried over and when she saw it was Leanna, she asked, "Where were you, Nana? Where are

your shoes?"

"They weren't comfortable." Leanna shook her head and said, "I threw them away."

"And you walked all the way back like this? It is almost snowing outside. You—"

"I'm alright. I only walked up like this. I came back by car. I am going to take a shower first, Zoe."

Zoe quickly nodded in reply. "Sure, sure. Off you go. I will make some hot soup for you."

She was in the middle of boiling the soup when she heard a knock on the door. After she turned the fire

down, she went to open the door, whereby she saw Daniel standing there.

She was caught off-guard at first, but she soon leaned against the door and greeted him. "Bonsoir! So

we meet again."

Nodding in acknowledgement, he asked, "I heard from Elijah that you are a friend of his?"

"Uh-huh. Our relationship is pretty good." She then added, "How did you and him get to know each

other?"

"Europe."

She took some time to realize that Daniel must have met Elijah back when Elijah used to be a student

in Europe.

Her smile stayed plastered on her face when she put down her hand as something hit her. "Do you…

want to come in and have a seat?"

"It's alright." Daniel's eyes swept across the room. He spoke again after a short pause. "You said that

you lived with a friend, yeah?"

"Yup. Didn't Elijah mention my friend?"

"He did." And that is why I came to see her. It doesn't look like she is home, though.

Daniel looked away then, and was about to leave when he caught sight of a woman toweling her hair

dry walking into the living room.

"Zoe, who are you—"

Leanna looked over mid-sentence, only to see Daniel at the door.

Zoe then began to introduce them. "Nana, this is Elijah's friend. He is also our neighbor. You and him

should have met before."

"Hello," Leanna politely greeted.

Daniel, in turn, gave a small smile and nodded before he said, "It is getting late. I wouldn't want to

continue disturbing your night. I will be leaving now."

"Hey… Should we have a meal together tomorrow?" Zoe asked.

He thought about it for a brief moment, and eventually nodded. "Sure."

After Daniel went back to his place, he took a seat on the couch and started lightly tapping his phone

on his knee.

So that's Aidan Pearson's ex-wife.

She is gorgeous, just like the rumors say.

But isn't it a little too crazy for Aidan to break off his engagement with the Crossleys just because of a

woman like her?

It doesn't seem like something he would do.

Daniel's ringtone went off after a while.

He accepted the call when he saw that it was from Elijah. "Georgina Crossley's birthday party is next

Wednesday. Everything has been arranged," Elijah informed.

"Got it." Daniel then asked, "Is Aidan Pearson's ex-wife the reason you forced me back here to do

that?"

Elijah only hissed, "She has a name."

"Ça va, my bad. I forgot to ask earlier." Daniel only continued after a moment. "I am sure he will not be

happy if he knew that you have gotten close with Aidan's ex-wife."

"I will tell him someday."

"Whatever floats your boat. It doesn't matter to me anyway. He will be back soon if things go as

planned."

…

After closing the door, Zoe said excitedly, "Nana, I asked him out for a bite tomorrow and he agreed!

Are you coming?"

Leanna smiled and went to the kitchen to turn down the stove. "You can go ahead. I told Elijah I will eat

with him."

Upon hearing this, Zoe immediately dashed toward Leanna and stuck to her like glue. She then sighed.

"Oh my, he has finally gotten wiser. The things I told him when we were in the car must have worked!"

"What did you tell him?" Leanna turned to look at her.

"Huh?" Zoe laughed awkwardly as she tried to move the conversation along. "What could I have told

him? It was just a casual chat. Um… I am going to take a bath too. You should go to bed early after

drinking the soup. The weather is freaking cold. Catch some beauty sleep so that you will be in good

shape tomorrow!"

Zoe then scurried away after that.

Smilingly, Leanna only looked away from Zoe as she took some soup from the pot into a bowl.

She couldn't seem to fall asleep the whole night she was in bed. All that came to mind was the words

Aidan had told her earlier on.

It didn't make any sense to her how he had suddenly made a 180-degree change. She couldn't get rid

of him no matter how she went off at him.

It was like he had turned into a completely different person.

Aidan wouldn't have allowed her to provoke his pride and test his limits if he still had his foul temper

from the past.

Furthermore, it didn't seem like he would give up no matter what.

The confusing part was that Leanna had no idea what his intentions were.

The more she thought about it, the more annoyed and wider awake she became. She eventually got

out of bed and sat in front of the table, where she flipped open her scribbling pad.

Her mood only further dampened when she flipped to the torn-out page and saw the uneven marks left

behind.