Crushed Affections

Bella felt a bit embarrassed by his intimate gesture, especially with so many people around. "Don't do that. It's embarrassing." He feigned displeasure. "What's so embarrassing about it? Am I not good-looking enough?"

Bella genuinely had no way to refute his statement. Carefully, she took a bite of her steak, managing to avoid his fork.

This jerk... He had the audacity to act as if he had her completely under his thumb. When he was fierce, it felt as if he could take her life. However, he refused to let her go entirely, choosing instead to win her over with gentleness. After dinner, Dominic didn't insist on going to her house. After saying their goodbyes, he drove off.

As she watched his car disappear into the darkness at the end of the road, an inexplicable sense of emptiness washed over her.

The invisible thread that connected them seemed to tighten. It felt as if he could easily pull it and control her with just a gentle tug. This wasn't good for her, but somehow, it didn't feel entirely bad either.

...

The next day, when Bella arrived at the hospital, she found breakfast waiting for her on her desk, along with a note from Lana. It was an apology for what had happened before, expressing a genuine hope that Bella could truly forgive her.

She felt slightly troubled, so she took the breakfast and found Lana to return it. "No one's going to bother you anymore, so you don't need to do this. We might not be able to be friends, but we can still be colleagues. Let's just keep our distance and focus on our work." Lana looked at her in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

Bella nodded. "Why wouldn't I be? Do

you think I'm the type to hold a grudge and seek revenge? If you really believed that, you wouldn't have dared to provoke me in the first place. Also, I have nothing to do with Ethan. He just doesn't like you, and it's not my fault."

Lana didn't reply. Deep down, she knew that was true. She had just sought solace through bullying Bella.

For the following week, Dominic didn't contact Bella, and she didn't reach out to him either. Occasionally, she would catch glimpses of his recent activities in the news.

He and Victor had teamed up again to develop a large-scale resort, pouring in a significant amount of investment. They were probably too busy for anything else, and he wasn't even in Joville.

On her off day, Bella invited Lia to go shopping. It had been a while since they hung out together, and Bella generously covered all the expenses even though she was broke.

Lia knew Bella was struggling

Qu

financially. After spending half the day, they had only bought a cup of mint tea. Bella couldn't help but complain, "I already said I'd pay so let's not be so stingy. What do you want to eat for lunch?"

Lia thought for a moment. "Let's go somewhere nice, like a fancy restaurant. I'll pay. I might be a small business owner, but since you're no longer with Dominic and are now broke, I feel bad about letting you pay for everything."Belongs © to NôvelDrama.Org.

Bella didn't know whether to cry or laugh. "As if I used to be rich! That was only because I was with him. Let's not worry about who's paying... Let's just fill our stomachs first. I'm exhausted and starving right now."

When they arrived at the restaurant, Bella realized that Felix was already there. Lia had made plans with him in advance, and Bella hadn't known.

After exchanging greetings and sitting down, Felix handed them the menu. "So, I'm just here to hold the table? Lia, you're really good at timing. If you guys had followed your original schedule, you wouldn't have found a spot." Lia chuckled. "You're always punctual, so we trust you to save us a seat. Thanks for that."

While they were ordering, Bella

noticed a group of people entering through the restaurant's front door Leading the way were Leonard and Dominic, followed closely by Daniel and Diane, along with the three brothers from the Sawyer family and several bodyguards.