Twisted Ties of Love

Nathaniel could only see Izabella's lips moving. He could hear her voice, but it was as if her words didn't fully sink in.

Not until Izabella's lips stopped moving did he realize that it was like thunder had drowned out everything else, leaving him deaf.

Nathaniel, when would he accept that Bell was not coming back?

He kept asking himself this until his eyes stung, his nose felt raw, his throat was dry, and his chest ached.

Bell once put all her hope in Nathaniel. She thought it was Nathaniel who saved her. The spark of hope in her heart was lit by Nathaniel, but it was also he who extinguished it.

Most people know that they find it hard to make decisions when they get involved in emotional disputes. Nathaniel could see clearly when it involved others, but when it was his own emotional issues, he was blind to the truth.

Nathaniel's current confusion wasn't due to drunkenness but the fact that Izabella had drugged his soup. The ring Toby gave her, which she wore on her index finger, had a small switch that contained powdered drugs, enough to make anyone powerless to resist.

Now Nathaniel was confused, and Izabella found it odd that he hadn't passed out yet.

Nathaniel often studied drugs so that he might have built some resistance.

Now he was in a dream, weak all over, unable to even stand.

Listening to Izabella's voice, his eyes filled with more and more tears. He tried to hold back the tears but couldn't.

He never thought that the weak Bell would choose suicide.

She swallowed a whole bottle of sleeping pills and ended her life in a gas-filled room. How scared must she have been of continuing to live to choose two ways to end her life?

He never wanted her to die. He used Bell as a substitute for Izabella just to make Brett suffer. He sent her away because he was scared, scared that he would fall in love with Bell, depend on Bell, and end up like Brett.

He never thought Bell would die, but his indifference and disregard became the biggest cause of Bell's death.

Nathaniel hung his head, staring numbly at the floor, feeling a chill in his heart. The cold spread throughout his body with his blood, but the tears flowing from his eyes were as hot as fire.

After his mother died, he never begged anyone again, but now he was kneeling on the ground, crying like a child who lost his favorite toy.

"I wanted Bell, I wanted her to like me. You were not her. Gave her back to me. Why did you occupy her body? Let Bell came back, please, let her came back. I wanted to apologize to her, I wanted to treat her well, and I will never use her as your substitute again."

It turned out that not all apologies got responses, not all longing got answered, and not all mistakes had the chance to be redeemed. When he understood this, there was no longer a person named "Bell" in this world.

Flowers always had a day to bloom again, but youth never returned.

Everything had an outcome, and this was the predicament he found himself in.

Izabella felt as if her heart was pierced by a sharp needle, and the pain was unbearable. She covered her chest with her hand, telling herself everything would be okay. Look, Nathaniel got what he deserved. Izabella took a deep breath, crouched down, and looked straight at Nathaniel, "Nathaniel, what's the use of you being upset here? Wasn't it you who made her my substitute? Bell gave her life to bring me back and now it's too late for you to want her back."

Nathaniel struggled to lift his head. For a moment, he felt as if he was stuck in a quagmire, struggling in the mud, while Bell just stood in the dark watching coldly.

Looking at the woman before him, his mind was filled with memories from a year ago.

Back then, Bell hadn't changed her name yet. He brought her here like keeping a pet, and Bell mistakenly thought she had found a home.

She was careful and kind to him, smiled gently at him, and shyly told him she liked him.

The day Bell left, she said that what's given away can't be taken back.

He didn't take it to heart because he clearly remembered that Bell whispered in his ear when he was drunk.

"Nathaniel, I used all my strength to love you. I really liked you. I was so stupid. I was clearly a substitute, yet I still liked you so much."

See, he always bullied her, threatened her, verbally humiliated her, and she still liked him so much. How come what's given away can't be taken back?

Nathaniel was so confident, thinking

that Bell was just temporarily emotionally unstable. Once she had enough of the world's indifference, she would come back at his beck and call.

But he never expected that when Bell left, she wouldn't look back. She just disappeared from his world.

Izabella stood up. She was not Bell,

although she still carried Bell's emotions. But seeing Nathaniel in such a pitiful state, her emotions

didn't waver. She even wanted to laugh.

She raised her foot and stomped hard on Nathaniel's head. With a loud bang, Nathaniel fell flat on the floor, his face against the ground.

Izabella picked up the cup of unfinished red wine on the table and poured it on Nathaniel's face.

"I have to congratulate Bell, and she no longer revolves around you, and she finally gained her freedom." Nathaniel and Brett were the same kind of jerks, playing double-dutch with two women simultaneously.

They loved the comfort of home but also craved the freshness of women out there.

Nathaniel did have feelings for both Izabella and Bell. In a nutshell, he's into Izabella's looks, but he fell for Bell's soul. He's all about himself, expecting the world to revolve around him.

What a turn-off.

Nathaniel always thought Bell was weak, but the weak one had always been him. He can't even face his own feelings. Nathaniel was stomped by Izabella, his face drenched in wine, looking absolutely pitiful, like a beached fish gasping for life. His consciousness got blurry, and he eventually plunged into darkness.

Seeing no reaction from the guy under her foot, Izabella gave him a couple more kicks. He looked like a lifeless fish. Izabella wandered around the room and found a chair in one room and a rope in some junk room.

Nathaniel was a big guy, and moving

him wasn't exactly a piece of cake, but Izabella's been working out lately. Her arms were getting muscular, so she managed to sit the unconscious Nathaniel on the chair and tied him up tight with the rope. Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Izabella glanced at the sky outside, and it's time for her to head home. It would be dark soon if she didn't.

The only way down was the elevator, but there was no button for going down.