Reclaimed By My Ex-husband-Chapter 294: A true friend

Chapter 294: A true friend
Zara’s expression shifted abruptly, and the excitement sparked by Liam’s words faded away. At that moment, she didn’t want to see Nathaniel or engage in any conversation with him.
"Where are you taking her?" Nathaniel demanded, fixing Liam with a sharp look.
"Calm down, Nate," Liam replied, attempting to ease the tension. "We are just discussing a few important meetings."
"Meetings?" Nathaniel snapped, his face darkening. "She is weak and needs rest, and you are talking about work? Have you lost your mind? Get out."
Liam’s features hardened with humiliation. He was about to stand and leave when Zara spoke up sharply.
"You don’t get to tell him to leave. He is here to see me."
Her words left Nathaniel stunned. He had expected her to side with him, not stand against him.
Liam’s smile returned. "I’m not going anywhere." He leaned back, crossing one leg over the other, and shot Nathaniel a provocative glance. "I’m here for my friend. I won’t leave just because someone orders me to."
Nathaniel’s scowl deepened. "So she is your friend now?" he growled. "And what about me? Am I no longer your friend?"
"Oh, come on, Nate," Liam said with a wry look. "Are you seriously jealous because I called her my friend?"
Nathaniel fell silent. He was jealous, though he couldn’t tell whether it was Liam’s closeness to Zara that bothered him, or the fact that Liam had openly claimed her as his friend.
"Then don’t be," Liam continued casually. "You are still my friend, too. It’s just that my bond with her has grown closer lately. Naturally, that makes her more important right now."
"You..." Nathaniel was about to fire up, but he was interrupted.
"I feel suffocated here," Zara chimed in. "I want to go out to the garden."
"I’ll take you there," Liam said, rising from the chair.
"Let me take you there," Nathaniel said almost at the same time.
Both men moved toward the bed at once, instinctively reaching out to her. Zara’s eyes shifted between them. The sudden concern felt overwhelming—she wasn’t used to being the center of such attention, and it made her uncomfortable.
"I can walk by myself," she said, sliding off the bed and heading for the door, the two of them trailing behind. She stopped, rolling her eyes.
"I’m just going out for some fresh air," she muttered. "No one needs to follow me."
She walked out anyway, but their footsteps followed. She halted and turned around. "Why are you both coming after me? If you keep this up, it’ll look like I’ve brought bodyguards for a walk in the garden. Don’t embarrass me."
She turned and continued walking, yet the sound of footsteps persisted. Stopping again, she grimaced and faced them.
"Don’t follow me," she warned. "If you do, I’ll go straight back to the room."
"I’ll go with you," Liam said firmly.
Nathaniel opened his mouth to say he wanted to come too, but Zara had already turned away and walked off. Liam followed without hesitation.
Nathaniel remained where he was, frozen in place. He desperately wanted to follow her, to keep her from being alone with Liam, yet he couldn’t bring himself to move. He was afraid of provoking her anger.
The doctor’s warning echoed in his mind: ’Her moods may fluctuate. Her emotions could be unstable. You must be patient. Don’t upset her.’
Those words had taken root in his heart. To lift her spirits, he had filled the room with daisies, hoping they would brighten her mood. Instead, she was still cold toward him. She hadn’t acknowledged his effort at all. She allowed Liam to accompany her, yet rejected his presence outright.
’Does she hate me now?’ he wondered.
He brushed the thought aside at once. "How could she hate me?" he muttered. "She loves me. She is just angry with me."
Clinging to that belief, he steadied himself. "I won’t go near her," he decided. "But I can still keep an eye on her from a distance."
He stepped outside and made his way toward the garden. From the shadows, he spotted Zara strolling along the path with Liam beside her. Her face was glowing with a wide and unrestrained smile.
Nathaniel’s chest tightened. What had Liam said to make her smile like that?
Every instinct urged him to storm over and drag Zara away from Liam. But he forced himself to stay hidden, watching in silence, anger churning inside him as he saw them talking and laughing together.
"Liam..." he growled under his breath. He longed to punch him. "You always know how to get close to women. But don’t forget who she belongs to."
Oblivious to the turmoil raging nearby, Zara and Liam continued their conversation.
"His bossy attitude is nothing new," Liam was saying. "Back in school, he was the MVP of our basketball team. The entire school admired him. The coach doted on him, and the team treated him like a hero. That went straight to his head. He started believing he really was the boss."
Zara smiled faintly. She couldn’t deny it. She still remembered how Nathaniel directed his teammates during matches as though he were the captain.
"And girls were crazy about him," Liam added casually.
"Really?" Zara raised an eyebrow, skeptical. "I thought they were all after you. I heard Nathaniel say you were a Playboy."
Liam rubbed the back of his head, smiling awkwardly. "It’s not like that. Those women were actually trying to get close to Nathaniel—they wanted his contact because he ignored them. They thought being friendly with me would help them reach him. But Nathaniel? He never paid attention to anyone except Nora."
He chuckled, but Zara’s smile faded, her expression hardening.
The mention of Nora pulled her thoughts back to what Nathaniel had confessed. After all these years, he had finally uncovered the secret she had kept hidden so long. He had claimed he had always loved the woman who saved him from drowning. Believing Nora was his savior, he had fallen for her and even married her.
Now, knowing the truth, his feelings had shifted toward her.
Zara felt a pang in her chest. She had longed for Nathaniel to realize it was she who had saved him, hoping that he would love her genuinely, from the heart. And now, finally, it seemed to be happening. But why did it leave her unsettled?
She wanted his love to come freely, not out of a sense of obligation. She had risked her own safety to pull him from the water because she loved him. What she craved was real, wholehearted love, trust, and devotion, not because of the favor she had once done.
Even now, she was willing to consider returning to him, but only if she could feel the depth of his love. Otherwise, she couldn’t risk going back, afraid of being hurt again.
Sensing she had grown silent, Liam stopped smiling. He realized he had said something he shouldn’t have. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you."
"I’m tired," she murmured. "I want to go back to my room."
Liam nodded, feeling remorseful. "Let’s go."
He guided her back to her room.