Lahat ng Kabanata ng Claimed By My Ex’s Rival: Kabanata 71 - Kabanata 80

ELYRAI must have called him five times.No, six.By the seventh attempt, my hand was already shaking.“Come on, Radiel…” I muttered under my breath, pressing the phone harder to my ear as if that would somehow force the call to connect.But it didn’t.Instead, the same cold, lifeless response greeted me again.“The number you are trying to reach is currently unreachable.”I pulled the phone away slowly, staring at the screen like it had personally offended me.“Unreachable?” I repeated quietly.That wasn’t like him.Radiel always picked up. Even when he was busy, even when he couldn’t talk, he would at least send a message or call back.But now, I got nothing.I tried again, and I got the same result.A tight feeling settled in my chest.“Where did you go?” I whispered.I paced around my room, barefoot against the cool floor, my mind racing faster than my steps. Everything that had been happening over the past few days already felt like too much. The car incident, the tension, the pr

ELYRABy the time I got to the hospital, my hands were already trembling, and no matter how hard I tried to steady them, they refused to stay still, as though my body had already accepted something terrible before my mind could even begin to understand it.The moment I stepped out of the car, and before I could even gather my thoughts properly, I noticed the chaos unfolding right in front of me.Doctors and nurses were rushing in different directions, their footsteps quick and uneven against the polished floor, their voices overlapping as instructions were called out in a tone that made my chest tighten instantly. I saw a group of them running straight toward the emergency room, and my heart dropped.For a second, I just stood there, frozen in place, unsure of where to go or who to even ask, because everything felt like it was moving too fast, and yet I felt completely stuck.“Ms. Elyra!”The sound of my name snapped me out of it.I turned quickly, my eyes searching until they landed

ELYRA.The moment Nick picked up the call, I expected him to speak immediately, maybe with that usual smug tone of his that always made my skin crawl, but instead there was silence, and it stretched long enough to make my grip on the phone tighten as my heartbeat slowly picked up.Then he finally spoke.“Why are you calling me?”His voice sounded calm, almost bored, like I was nothing more than an inconvenience in the middle of his day, and that alone was enough to make something sharp rise inside my chest.I let out a slow breath, trying to steady myself, but it did nothing to calm the anger simmering beneath my skin.“Cut the act, Nick,” I said, my voice low but tight. “You know exactly why I’m calling.”There was a faint pause on his end, and I could already imagine the look on his face, that slight tilt of his head, that irritating expression of fake innocence he always wore when he wanted to deny something.“I don’t,” he replied simply.I clenched my jaw, my fingers curling tight

ELYRAAfter signing the fifth stack of paperwork that Radiel’s secretary had placed in front of me with the words ‘urgent attention needed’, I finally dropped the pen onto the desk and leaned back in the chair.A long sigh escaped me before I could stop it.My neck ached, my fingers felt stiff, and my eyes burned from staring at documents all day. I tilted my head back and closed my eyes for a moment, hoping the silence in the office would somehow give me strength.It did not.It had been nearly three days since I made the decision to fill in for Radiel after the accident.Three days of endless files. Three days of meetings I never asked for. Three days of trying to look like I knew exactly what I was doing.And three days of pretending I was not slowly losing my mind.I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling.“How does he live like this?” I muttered.The desk in front of me was still covered in folders, printed reports, unopened envelopes, and two pens that no longer worked. My lap

ELYRAI sat beside Radiel’s bed with my fingers locked tightly around his hand, though I could not tell if I was trying to comfort him or myself.The doctor stood near the foot of the bed with a file tucked under one arm. He wore the same calm expression he always seemed to carry, the kind that looked practiced rather than natural. His glasses rested low on his nose, and every few seconds he adjusted them as he spoke.“There is another option,” he said carefully, glancing between both of us. “It is not part of the standard treatment plan, but it may offer faster results in your case.”I felt myself tense immediately.Another option.Those words should have sounded hopeful, but instead they filled me with unease.The doctor opened the file and continued speaking in that measured tone of his.“It is a new treatment method. It is still in the second phase of clinical testing, but the preliminary trials were successful. The current success rate is close to eighty percent.”He paused as if