After Luke leaves, Kate becomes more depressed. Although she tries to cover it up, Claire, her good friend, sees it. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire wants to comfort her, but she’s upset now. She has to let Kate go home first. Claire is going to talk about her and Luke one day. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Kate leaves, but Luke still doesn’t get any news, which makes Claire more uneasy. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire decides she has to take the initiative. She wants Bryce’s help. Luke is also investigating at the same time so it might be a little smoother. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire says to Conan, “can you stay at home by yourself, Conan? Mommy is going to see an important person.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Conan immediately guesses Claire’s idea. Although he knows Bryce isn’t a bad guy, he doesn’t want Mommy to have too much contact with that man. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Can’t you not go?” Conan asks tentatively. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“I have to go, Conan.” Claire touches his little face and whispers, “because that man can help us find Daddy.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Conan seems to have to agree. He thinks it is not a bad thing. If everyone leaves, he will be able to compete with the hacker again. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Conan nods and kisses Claire on the cheek. He pretends to be helpless and says, “Mommy, be careful. Don’t get caught by Godfather.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Don’t worry.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire agrees. She kisses Conan and goes out. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire calls Bryce. Bryce is surprised. The two meet at a coffee shop. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire is the first to arrive. She has half the coffee, but Bryce hasn’t arrived. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
What happened? <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire is at the coffee table and a little tired. Bryce is always on time. Why doesn’t he come today? Doesn’t he want to see her? <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“I’m sorry, Claire. Something happened, so I am late.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A faint smell of perfume appears with the owner of the voice. Then Claire sees that Bryce has been seated with a smile. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He seems a little different today. His dark black suit sets the collar white. His face is white and handsome. His clean jaw and clavicle make him particularly handsome. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Although Bryce used to be very handsome, today he seems to be dressing up deliberately. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Bryce, did you make up?” Claire covers her mouth and chuckles. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bryce is fascinated by Claire’s smile. After a long time he says awkwardly, “you’re still smart.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Then he explains, “because I’ve been very busy lately. Many things have to be decided by myself. I haven’t had a good rest for days and nights. I looked in the mirror when I went out and found that I was like an old man. I can’t come to see you like that.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Oh, I’m sorry, Bryce. You’re so busy, but I told you to come out.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bryce shakes his head and interrupts her, “you’ve become too polite since you came back from France. I’ve always wanted to see you.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“But I’m afraid I’ll make trouble for you, so I held back.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire says, “no, Bryce, you’ve been taking care of me.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Maybe both of them recall the past. They are embarrassed and a little nostalgic. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bryce says, “I wanted to disappear in Leo’s eyes that year, because I realized that I would only make your situation more difficult. I’m sorry…” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire smiles and says, “no, I’m happy when I know you’re still alive. Why didn’t you tell me that year?” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“I had been looking for you but I hadn’t heard from you. I learned a long time later that you had gone abroad. I’ve been missing you for six years…” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bryce’s eyes are gentle, but Claire’s heart is full of guilt. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
She doesn’t want to talk to him but asks him for help. Bryce’s affectionate eyes overwhelm her and prevent her from making a request. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It’s really unfair to Bryce. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bryce thinks Claire is embarrassed by his enthusiasm, so he changes the subject, “how are you doing these six years? How is your child?” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire speaks briefly about her experience. Both of them can not help sighing when they hear about each other’s experience. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“So how are you doing? Are you involved with Leo again? You don’t come to me simply to reminisce about the past. You seem to have a lot to worry about.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire breathes a sigh of relief. They finally get to the subject. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In spite of her guilt, she tells the truth. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Actually, I want to ask you for help.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bryce just nods. So far, he hasn’t refused Claire’s request. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“I want you to help me find Leo.” Claire looks at Bryce seriously. With that, she relaxes a lot. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It’s almost an unreasonable request. Everyone knows that Bryce is deeply in love with Claire. He doesn’t want to be her brother. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bryce’s expression changes slightly, but he soon recovers. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Isn’t he seriously ill in hospital?” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“How do you know?” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“After all, he’s my competitor. I mean, business. So I know about it. Why are you looking for him?” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Tracy’s around Leo and I think it’s too dangerous. And Conan wants to see Daddy.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire says what she thinks in Bryce’s surprise. It’s the same thing she said to Kate. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bryce lights the cigarette and asks, “Claire, even if he’s missing, it’s none of your business. Why are you in charge of it?” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bryce looks miserable. He is restraining and his hand with the cigarette is shaking. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Didn’t I stress that? Bryce, I just forgive him and don’t want to keep fighting.” Claire says, “It’s impossible for me to have anything to do with him.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bryce frowns and asks Claire, “are you still in love with that man?” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Then he smiles bitterly and Claire is heartbroken. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire doesn’t know how to answer. She thinks of Leo’s coma, and her heart is burning with anxiety. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Is Bryce telling the truth? <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire bites her lips and is silent. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bryce shakes her head and looks at Claire with complicated eyes. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
When Claire thinks Bryce is going to refuse her request, Bryce takes a deep breath. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“I can’t refuse any of your requests.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u0003\u0003\u0003<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After Luke leaves, Kate becomes more depressed. Although she tries to cover it up, Claire, her good friend, sees it. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Claire wants to comfort her, but she’s upset now. She has to let Kate go home first. Claire is going to talk about her and Luke one day. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Kate lea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20],"tags":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}