Crushed Affections (Dominic and Bella)

Chapter 2 A Timeless Crush

Dominic froze at that instant. His expression appeared extremely cold under the dim lights.

"Bella, you're asking for trouble!"

Indeed, Bella knew she was asking for trouble. Back then, when her mother, Dorothy Jones, brought her to the Miller family, she called out his name for the first time.

Yet, he rejected her brutally. "You disgust me, just like your mom," he said.

The still air once filled with intimacy was replaced by hostility. Dominic was squeezing Bella's wrist so hard that she felt it might snap at any minute. Finally, he got up and left after slamming the door behind him. The world went quiet instantly. Bella lay on the bed like a soulless puppet, where the physical pain was nothing compared to the emotional pain she was going through.

Some people were buried in obscurity from the very start. It felt as if they were trapped in an endless dark tunnel, and each step was a struggle for them.

Bella took some time to get up. She walked toward the bathroom and washed all the exhaustion away.

In the year that Dorothy was terminally ill, the both of them had no choice but to turn to the Miller family for help. Dorothy could only think of her childhood friend, Richard Miller, as Bella's father had abandoned them. However, this situation eventually led to the divorce of Dominic's parents.

mother, Margaret Reed, left him when he was eight and disappeared without a

received the shocking news that Margaret had also died of illness in a foreign place. Dominic and Margaret didn't get to see each other one last time. Dominic blamed all of this on Dorothy and Bella. The Miller family was compelled to take Bella in as she was

an eye, 19 years had passed. Three years ago, Richard passed away, and Dominic left the country. Yet, everything still

ago, she had been cutting back on her expenses and seizing every opportunity to

with just another 100 thousand dollars, she'd be able to repay the

and the Miller family in any other way. She could only

Dominic.

was jolted awake by the alarm. After gathering herself, she quickly

while, Bella was the only one

in the kitchen and got the table ready in the dining room. However, Dominic didn't show

that he might be dealing with jet lag since he had just returned from abroad. The food was getting cold, so Bella gathered her courage and

knock again, and he finally responded, "Go

shrugged it off and returned to the dining table. While eating, she

the stairs. When she looked up, she saw Dominic with an irritable look on his face. He must've woken up