Chapter 290

Chapter 290

The news of Silas collapsing eventually reached Clara's ears.

Clara caught a flight over that very night.

Six in the morning.

The curtains in the hospital room weren't fully drawn, and a ray of sunlight shone straight in, landing right on Serena's face.

Her eyelashes fluttered, and she opened her eyes.

Above her was a stark white ceiling. The smell of hospital disinfectant filled her nostrils, mixed with a very faint scent of cedarwood.

Serena was dazed for two seconds before she sat up abruptly.

This was Silas's hospital bed.

She looked down at the blanket covering her, then turned to look beside her.

The chair she'd been sitting in last night was empty.

The IV stand was still by the bed, but the needle had been removed.

Silas was gone.

Serena threw off the blanket and reached for her phone on the bedside table.

The screen lit up—clean, not a single message.

She frowned, about to unlock the screen and call Silas to check on him.

The next second, the hospital room door was pushed open hastily from outside.

"Silas! How are you? I came as soon as I got the call, you scared me to death..."

Clara's voice was full of anxiety and thick with tears.

But her words stopped dead the moment she saw who was on the bed.

Clara stood in the doorway, hand still gripping the door handle, the anxiety and concern on her face instantly freezing, then cracking apart bit by bit.

Because the person sitting on the hospital bed was Serena.

Her hair was slightly messy, clearly just woken up.

The two women's eyes met across a distance of a few steps.

The corner of Clara's mouth twitched violently. She quickly scanned the room, then stepped back half a step to check the room number.

"Why is it you?" The softness in her voice vanished completely. "Did I get the wrong room?"

Serena put away her phone and got out of bed unhurriedly, smoothing out the wrinkles in her clothes.

"You didn't get it wrong." Her voice was flat, without a trace of emotion. "This is his room, it's just that Silas isn't here right now."

Serena's words, combined with the sight of her getting out of Silas's bed, were devastating.

Clara's face went deathly pale in an instant, then flushed bright red.

She stared at the rumpled bed, her mind buzzing, her rationality nearly snapping.

This woman slept here last night!

In the same room as Silas!

"Serena!"

Clara called out her name, nails digging hard into her palms, desperately trying to maintain some semblance of composure.

"What are you doing here?"

Serena bent down to straighten the blanket and fold it, not even giving her a proper look.

"He collapsed at the restaurant last night. I brought him here."

"Then why were you sleeping in his bed?!"

Clara finally lost control, her voice suddenly rising, jealousy and venom nearly spilling from her eyes.

Serena glanced at her phone screen. It was 6:40.

She ignored Clara's interrogation, picked up her jacket from the back of the chair, and walked straight toward the door.

"Stop right there!"

Clara stepped sideways, blocking the doorway.

"Serena, don't you have a boyfriend?"

Serena stopped and looked up at her.

Clara gritted her teeth, chest heaving violently, glaring at her viciously.

"Since you have Clayton, why are you still clinging to Silas? Don't you know he still has a blood clot in his brain? He can't handle you tormenting him like this!"

Serena stood still, saying nothing.

Clara thought she'd hit a nerve and pressed closer, her voice growing more aggressive.

"Who do you think you are? You two are already divorced! What are you doing in his hospital bed now?"

Serena looked at Clara's face.

So familiar.

In front of Silas, Clara had always been that fragile, understanding type.

Whenever Serena got angry, Clara would hide behind Silas with red-rimmed eyes.

Only when Silas couldn't see did Clara show this mean and vicious side.

"Do you know how much effort I put in to get close to him?" Clara lowered her voice, each word squeezed through her teeth. "You already left the country, why did you have to come back and degrade yourself!"

Serena suddenly laughed.

A cold smile curved her lips, her voice quiet but crystal clear.

"Does that effort include clearing out all his memories?"

The expression on Clara's face froze instantly.

Serena stepped closer.

Less than half a meter remained between them.

"He doesn't remember me, doesn't remember Aria, doesn't even know he was married and has a daughter." Serena stared into Clara's eyes, her tone ice-cold. "You threw away everything around him that had anything to do with me, got everyone to play along with your act, kept it all from him."

Clara's hand clenched the door frame hard, knuckles white.

"Two years." Serena spat out the words. "You lied to him for two whole years."

Clara stumbled back half a step, her back hitting the door frame hard.

Her throat felt like it was filled with sand. She opened her mouth several times before squeezing out a hoarse voice.

"So what?!"

With her lies exposed to her face, Clara stopped pretending.

Eyes red, veins bulging in her neck, she glared at Serena hysterically.

"He forgot you—that's God helping him! It means you two were never meant to be together!"

Serena watched her lose it coldly.

"The day you left, he was looking for you and crashed his car into a truck. He almost died on that overpass! He still has a blood clot in his brain that hasn't cleared!"

Clara's whole body trembled.

"I was the one who stayed with him! When he had brain surgery, when he was in the ICU fighting for his life, when he woke up not even knowing who he was—I was the one who helped him through it all, step by step!"

She lifted her chin sharply, teeth clenched, eyes full of crazed possessiveness.

"What are you? You hid abroad for two years with your baggage, and now that he's better, you want to come back and pick up the pieces?"

Serena still didn't respond, just watched her quietly.

This calmness made Clara even more frantic.

"It's no use, Serena." Clara forced out an ugly smile, voice hoarse. "Silas's memory doesn't have you in it anymore. He only has me now, and he'll only have me in the future. Don't even think about taking him away from me!"

Serena looked at her crazed state, a trace of mockery flashing in her eyes.

"Is that so?"

Just as she finished speaking.

From the corridor outside the hospital room, an extremely cold male voice suddenly rang out.

"How come I didn't know you could make decisions for me?"

Clara's whole body shook, as if struck by lightning.

She turned her head stiffly.

Silas, wearing a hospital gown, was standing three steps behind her.

His face was deathly pale, jawline tight, staring coldly at Clara.

Clara's lips trembled, her earlier arrogance instantly drained away.

"Silas..." She stammered, trying to grab his sleeve. "Let me explain, I was just so worried about you."

"I was afraid something would happen to you..."