CHAPTER 125: CHAPTER 125: THE TASTE OF LOVE

When Shannon Quinn arrived at the hospital, Catherine Yardley was anxiously waiting for her in the ward, and her unease and worry were palpable.

"Shannon... I’m really sorry to trouble you. It’s so cold, and you had to come out at night."

Shannon Quinn didn’t exchange too many pleasantries with Catherine, she just asked, "Elaine hasn’t come all day?"

"No, she said she had an exam today. She was supposed to come in the evening, but I haven’t heard from her, and I can’t reach her on the phone."

"What about Ryder?"

"That’s what worries me... Recently, she’s been having a fight with Ryder, and I’m not sure if that’s why."

"Do you have Ryder’s number?"

"Yes." Catherine rummaged through her phone for the number and handed it to Shannon Quinn. Shannon Quinn dialed it directly and called Ryder Griffin.

"Aunt?"

"Hello, I’m a friend of Elaine’s." Shannon Quinn identified herself first, then asked, "Did Elaine come to see you?"

Ryder hesitated for two seconds, and it seemed like the two were still in a Cold War, so he might not have asked about Sheila Yardley’s whereabouts. He replied, "No, what happened to her?"

"Her mother said she hasn’t been in contact all night, and she’s worried she might be in trouble."

Ryder was silent for a moment. It was clear that even if they were fighting, he was still worried about Sheila, and immediately he put down his work and said, "I’ll go out and look for her."

"Okay, I’ll go to her school to check, you can look around the places you usually frequent."

The two split up, and Shannon Quinn drove to Sheila Yardley’s dorm at her school. Since she and Ryder weren’t living together yet, Sheila still stayed at school. However, after following the administrator to inquire, Shannon found out that Sheila hadn’t returned since leaving the dorm this morning, and nobody knew where she’d gone.

Shannon Quinn called Ryder to inform him, but he hadn’t found any sign of Sheila at the places he’d looked either.

She didn’t know Sheila very well, but Sheila seemed like a pretty obedient girl who rarely lost her temper. Even if she fought with Ryder, she shouldn’t be throwing a tantrum and disappearing like this.

Maybe she went to a place related to Ryder, so it was up to Ryder to find her.

...

Ronan Rhodes drove to the parking lot, sniffed at his jacket, which reeked of a sour stench, and then checked on Erin Bishop, who was asleep in the back seat, surprisingly peacefully. He sighed softly, got out of the car, and opened the back door.

Standing by the door, he was unsure of what to do. If he woke her, dealing with her drunken antics would be troublesome; if he didn’t, he might overstep bounds since this was his brother’s woman. How inappropriate would that be?

In his hesitation, he glanced at Erin Bishop’s sleeping face. Honestly, she looked quite pretty like that.

Her cheeks were flushed, her brows slightly furrowed, and her lips pouted as if dissatisfied. It was a far cry from her usual fierce demeanor; she looked much more adorable.

Realizing he’d been momentarily lost in thought, Ronan quickly recovered and turned his gaze away. He then gently picked her up from the seat.

Though Erin was quite petite and easy to carry, Ronan felt uneasy, like his actions were crossing some boundary.

But then he thought that Erin was in this state, and his brother hadn’t shown any concern. Maybe his brother really didn’t care for this woman anymore.

Erin drank so much tonight, perhaps because of his brother.

Looking at her, Ronan even felt like playing matchmaker for them.

When he arrived at Shannon Quinn’s door, Ronan remembered he didn’t have her key since she didn’t give it to him when she left. After a moment of standing there, he turned and went to his own place, laying Erin on the sofa.

Initially, he didn’t want to be bothered with her, but the vomit on her coat was really unpleasant.

He turned on the heater in the room and set about removing the coat Erin was wearing.

Despite having undressed many women before, taking off this coat felt strangely guilty, as if he were doing something wrong.

He folded her coat neatly and placed it in the corner of the sofa, then turned around to get her a blanket, but noticed her lashes trembled slightly, and she opened her eyes.

"You’re awake?" Ronan asked.

But Erin Bishop, still drunk, was not clear-headed and just looked at Ronan in a daze before giving a silly smile and murmuring his brother’s name, "...Zane."

Ronan didn’t know why, but hearing her call his brother’s name while looking at him made him a little unhappy. He sighed deeply and was about to walk away when Erin reached out and grabbed his clothes, the smile fading from her face.

She looked a bit scared, pleading, "Please don’t go..."

Ronan halted and looked at her, feeling a mix of emotions.

Perhaps because he’d never experienced the kind of love a woman had for a man like this, he felt a strange jealousy towards his brother, but also felt sorry for the woman in front of him.

He raised his hand, hesitated in the air, then gently held her hand that was clutching his clothes, softly reassuring her, "I won’t go. Sleep."

He patted her head gently and watched as she obediently closed her eyes and fell asleep with steady breathing.

He felt a sense of satisfaction yet also confusion.

After getting a blanket for her, he went to the bathroom and, despite the winter cold, took a cold shower.

It was midnight as Shannon Quinn was heading to the police station, ready to file a missing person report, when she suddenly received a call from Ryder, but it was Elaine speaking on the other end, "Shannon."

"Elaine?"

Elaine’s voice sounded quite apologetic, seemingly having already received a scolding from Ryder, and she directly apologized, "Sorry for worrying you all, I’m okay."

"Where did you go?"

"I went to deliver some documents, and then on the way, I got robbed by a thief. My bag is gone, with money and my phone inside..."

Elaine’s voice sounded distressed—it wasn’t hard to imagine how scared a girl would be in such a situation.

Once they reunited at the hospital, Shannon Quinn learned more about what had happened.

Lynn Kendall had asked Sheila to deliver the documents, claiming they were for Shannon Quinn. However, Shannon wasn’t expecting any documents, and it wasn’t clear whether Lynn wanted Sheila to run errands for her or if she was trying to mess with her.

Anyway, after picking up the documents, Sheila took a cab by herself to the location Lynn mentioned.

The place was a little far, over an hour’s drive away. Ryder only found out because the local police station called him, after which he went to pick Sheila up.

Ryder’s expression was somewhat grim, but it was out of concern for Sheila’s safety.

He must have scolded her a lot along the way, but at the hospital, in front of Sheila’s mother, he didn’t reprimand her further.

Sheila seemed still upset about the whole incident, and her emotions hadn’t settled down enough to easily yet, standing by the hospital bed, looking pitifully as she spoke very little.