Shattered Longings

Chapter 40 Without Reason

Bella stiffened, feeling the urge to cry. If only there had been a justifiable reason, she would’ve followed Dominic without a second thought, even if it meant never having a rightful place beside him. But there wasn’t a reason–not a single one.

Bella took a deep breath and smiled at him. “No, I won’t.”

was.

Dominic frowned and looked at her for a moment before leaving. At that moment, she was overwhelmed with the urge to chase after him, but she fought it down, her vision blurring with tears.

She didn’t find the strength to go outside until his car was long gone, a profound sense of loss flooding her heart.

She couldn’t wrap her head around why he would ask her to come with him. After all, he had clearly loathed her for so many years.

Why was he giving her false hope? She was too afraid to take another step forward, fearing she would fall back into the same endless pit of despair.

When she arrived at the hospital, her mind was elsewhere, the scene of Dominic asking her to leave with him replaying over and over in her head. The more she dwelled on it, the more unsettled she became.

figure peering in from the doorway. “Are you here to see a

door nodded timidly but didn’t enter. Bella sighed. “If you’re here

room, accompanied by an indescribable odor–a combination of sweat, body odor, and a foul

nose and silently put on a mask. As she did so, she noticed the man take

a moment to size the man up. He appeared to be in his 20s. His clothes were so worn out and faded that their original color was almost impossible to make out,

long and unkempt, and the skin that was visible was grimy, as if he

open wound on his barefoot, oozing pus and blood; it

over and motioned for him to sit down. “How’d you hurt your foot?” she asked with a frown. The man’s eyes darted around nervously, like a child who didn’t know what to

of a

merely a superficial injury, not a skin disease. After cleaning it up and bandaging it, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Alright, you’re good to go. Go pay the bill and

sat there, his eyes glued to her, watching her surreptitiously. It didn’t take long for Bella to realize that he

pay for you. Now,

Chapter 40 Without Reason

to wash her hands, using

the man had already left. A moment