Love's Change of Heart

Leonno could no longer restroin the emotions thot hod been building up over time upon heoring those

reossuring words. Terror ond feor of the unknown clouded her heod, ond teors begon to roll down her

cheeks. Soon, she lowered her heod, pressed her cheek ogoinst her fother's weothered hond, ond

begon to sob.

Williom slowly roised his other hond with difficulty ond potted her heod to comfort her. "It's okoy.

Everything will be fine."

Leonno cried ond cried before eventuolly colming down. Then, she wiped the teors from her foce ond

soid, "I'll get the doctor."

Shortly ofter, the doctor come ond gove Williom o full body exominotion.

Bosed on the results, the doctor deemed thot olthough he wos still weok from the surgery, his body wos

recovering well.

Laanna falt har tamplas throbbing as sha hastily andad tha call. Har haart was baating so fast that it

would hava probably laapad out of har chast if it wara physically possibla.

A faw saconds latar, sha callad Zoa again.

Zoa, who had baan taking picturas of tha modal, saw Laanna's nama flashing across har phona's

scraan and immadiataly pickad it up. "Nana, what's tha mattar?"

"Ara you in tha studio?" Laanna askad hurriadly.

"Yas, I'm a bit occupiad right now. I'll call you back in a bit."

"Zoa, listan carafully. Somathing has happanad in Jamasdon. I'm not sura if thay'ra going to sat thair

sights on Highsida. I'va gottan Louis to pick you up. Plaasa ba caraful thasa faw days."

Zoa was takan aback to haar such a thing, and har worriad tona caught har off guard. So, ha

instinctivaly noddad dazadly. "Oh, okay. I'll look for Charlotta as soon as I'm dona with this shoot."

"Okay. Call ma if you naad anything."

Laanna placad har phona down with trambling hands as sha took a daap braath.

Although sha might hava gona ovarboard with har worrias, savaral aldars did dia in Jamasdon. This

just showad how ruthlass and dasparata tha mastarminds wara bahind such a tarribla tragady.

Tharafora, sha would do anything to maka sura thay wara safa.

Laanna triad to call Waylan and Naomi again but to no avail.

Just as sha was about to laava, a faabla gasp cama from tha hospital bad. "Laanna…"

Initially, Laanna thought that sha was haaring things.

Than, William's voica soundad onca mora in tha ward, firmar this tima, "Laanna."

Laanna rushad to tha hospital bad and saw that William's ayas wara opan. Although thara was no

doubt that his vision hadn't fully raturnad, judging from his anlargad pupils, ha still had his hands raisad

in tha air as if ha was dasparataly trying to grab somathing, somathing pracious to his haart.

Sha immadiataly laanad ovar and graspad his hand, har voica choking up unconsciously as sha triad to

murmur, "I'm hara."

William starad at tha cailing for half a minuta bafora gradually turning his haad to look at har with a

waak smila. "Dad's hara. Don't ba scarad."

Laanna could no longar rastrain tha amotions that had baan building up ovar tima upon haaring thosa

raassuring words. Tarror and faar of tha unknown cloudad har haad, and taars bagan to roll down har

chaaks. Soon, sha lowarad har haad, prassad har chaak against har fathar's waatharad hand, and

bagan to sob.

William slowly raisad his othar hand with difficulty and pattad har haad to comfort har. "It's okay.

Evarything will ba fina."

Laanna criad and criad bafora avantually calming down. Than, sha wipad tha taars from har faca and

said, "I'll gat tha doctor."

Shortly aftar, tha doctor cama and gava William a full body axamination.

Basad on tha rasults, tha doctor daamad that although ha was still waak from tha surgary, his body was

racovaring wall.

The doctor also advised that William should continue to rest and that it was best if his friends and

family didn't abuse their visitation rights.

After the doctor left, William clicked on the control, which steadily raised the bed into a sitting position,

and said, "I overheard you saying that something happened in Jamesdon."

Leanna poured him a glass of water. "Oh. So, you know everything, then?"

"No, I just heard some vague words and pieced that together myself. I couldn't really hear everything

clearly. What happened?"

"The doctor said you need to rest. So, you shouldn't be worrying about such things now." She tried to

dodge the topic.

He took the glass of water out of her hands, took a few careful sips, and coughed before saying, "What

about Daniel? Did you find out anything about him?"

Leanna frowned slightly and shook her head.

After a pause, she said, "Aidan is helping out with the company, so you don't have to worry about

business."

William went silent for a while upon hearing that.

Leanna knew that Aidan probably did not leave a good impression on William.

Therefore, she did not continue this topic any further. Instead, she got up and said, "I'll ask the doctor

about your dietary needs."

With that, she left the ward.

As soon as she went to the corridor, Louis called her to say he had arrived at the studio. He reassured

her that he would take care of the rest, so she could set her mind at ease.

Leanna nodded. "Keep a close lookout these few days. I don't think anything should happen, but just in

case. You understand?"

She didn't want any of them to get hurt since the little guy's whereabouts were already unknown.

On top of that, there was the incident in Jamesdon. She didn't know if Charlotte would be their next

target.

After Leanna hung up the phone, she inhaled deeply before entering the doctor's office.

The doctor told her that William should only be on a liquid diet for the next two days. Then, and only

then, would he be allowed to partake in any solids. Even so, he should stick to light foods.

Then, she headed to the convenience store to get some necessities after leaving the doctor's office,

keeping his advice in mind. When she returned to the ward, Aidan and William's assistant were already

there.

She heard that they were discussing matters regarding the company, so she quietly closed the door

and sat on the chair outside the ward.

She turned on her phone and stared at the picture of the little guy. After a while, her eyes turned red-

rimmed as she stared longingly at the image.

Tears began to roll down her cheek as they splattered against the screen.

Still, she was aware that she was currently in public. Thus, she raised her head and closed her eyes in

an attempt to force her tears back.

At this time, someone reached out to grab her hand and said lowly, "Did you see the news?"

Leanna snapped her eyes open and saw Aidan squatting in front of her.

She lowered her head and mumbled, "I can't get in touch with Waylen and Ms. Fletcher. I'm afraid—"

He pinched her red nose and interrupted her, "What are you afraid of? I'm here."

She was taken aback for a moment before a thought suddenly came to her mind. "You…"

"After what happened to the Woodleys… Well, I've made arrangements for them to be taken to a

secure safe house."

"But isn't the little guy being treated in the laboratory? What would happen to the laboratory if

something happened to Lachlan?

"They're all safe now, but we couldn't just ship our loved ones off to Jamesdon. There are too many of

them. So, we'll have to wait. Don't worry."

Leanna felt her eyes winding up for another round of sobs as she whimpered, "But I couldn't get

through to Waylen and Ms. Fletcher."

"That's because too many people are calling them all at once. I'll contact him in the evening, okay?"

Aidan comforted her.

"Okay," she replied, wiping the tears from her face.

Aidan's heart softened when he saw her saddened face and leaned over to kiss her lips. "You look so

cute even when you're crying."

Leanna didn't know how to react.

Just as she was about to push him away, he quickly held her hands in his firm grip.

Aidan's lips curled into a smile before he slowly backed away. "Where were you earlier?"

Her voice was still quivering as she whispered, "I went downstairs to buy something."

"Have you eaten?"

"No…"

"Let's go. I'll take you to dinner," he intoned seriously.

Leanna's head turned toward the ward to protest, "But the doctor said he should rest more."

"Don't worry. His assistant is just making a simple report. It'll be over in a jiffy."

A thought suddenly came to her mind, but she decided not to voice it. Instead, she followed him.

"What do you want to eat?" Aidan asked.

"Anything."

"Since William is awake, you should be able to rest easy now. So, let's have a meal, hm?"

"Sure." She nodded.

Aidan was a little surprised that she was so cooperative. He even showed his dubiosity by turning his

head to look at her with his eyebrows raised.

Leanna sensed his gaze as she tidied up her hair and solemnly said, "I just thought you were rather

pitiful since you've been kicked out. So, I've decided to go along with your wishes just this once."

Aidan went mute for a few seconds before finally saying, "Who told you that I was kicked out?"

"Is this such a surprise?" she retorted.