Chapter 77
When Estrella spat out the words, her stomach cramped with pain, but she refused to ny weakness in front of Jason. A woman’s vulnerability only matters to a man who cares, so she had no intention of humiliating herself.
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“You’re brutally honest, Estrella, Jason said with a pinch that drained the color from her face. She bit back her pain and mustered a defiant response, “Korey is back, and I sure as hell don’t want to waste any more time on you.”
Jason couldn’t contain himself. He Brycet down and bit Estrella’s lip hard enough to draw blood. It hurt. It really hurt, but to Estrella, it was nothing compared to her current disillusionment. He always found a reason to argue and took out his frustrations on her
whenever he was in a bad mood.
Seeing Estrella pale and trembling, Jason let go. His anger subsided. “Estrella, anything I’ve used, even if I don’t want it, is still mine. You know what I’m like.”
spent
Estrella touched her face, remembering the dog Jason had as a kid. It ran away. He a lot of effort to get it back, fed it well, and then… She never saw that dog again, but the cherry tree in the Nelson family’s backyard bloomed better each year after that.
Remembering this sent chills down her spine. Back then, she only saw Jason’s good side and forgot about his ruthless nature.
The room fell silent. Estrella’s stomach pains came in waves. She sat quietly by the bed until the discomfort subsided a little. Seeing Jason brooding by the window, she grabbed
her clothes and headed to the bathroom.
The hot water washed over her face, but Estrella’s heart felt colder than before, and her
mind was clearer. She wasn’t scared off by Jason’s words earlier; she just realized she had overestimated their relationship.
However, the Dorvold family wasn’t one to be trifled with.
Half an hour later, when Estrella emerged from the bathroom, Jason was gone. She dried her hair with a towel, feeling a sense of relief. When disappointment reaches its peak, you stop caring about right or wrong, and you just want the person to disappear.
Another wave of stomach pain hit, and Estrella put down the towel, filled a kettle with water to boil, and made some instant noodles from the desk. As she ate, she thought about the grievances and compromises she had endured over the past two years, and she couldn’t help but laugh at the irony.
He had brought up Holly that night, reminiscing about her right in front of Estrella. Now she saw him for who he truly was. His agreement to marry her was just to appease his family.
But if Jason thought he could keep treating her like a punching bag, he had another thing
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coming.
After finishing her noodles, Estrella pushed the thoughts aside and started sorting through the information she had gathered that day with her recorder. But she couldn’t concentrate, perhaps due to the argument or her stomach acting up. Eventually, she had to lie down on the bed.
She tossed and turned all night, and the pain never subsided, so her sleep was restless.
The next morning, she was awakened by a loud knocking. Reluctantly, she crawled out of bed, and, wrapped in a blanket from home, opened the door to replace Bryce standing there like a whirlwind. “Estrella, why’s your phone off? You’re not answering calls, not replying
to texts?”
Bryce’s unexpected appearance caught her off guard. Estrella, wrapped in her blanket, stared blankly for a moment before lifting her hand to her forehead. “Must’ve run out of battery, and I forgot to charge it.” After the argument with Jason, she hadn’t even looked at her phone.
“Come in,” she said weakly, moving aside for Bryce.
Bryce, carrying a bag of goodies, checked her forehead with concern. “You look awful. What’s up?”
Estrella brushed his hand away and walked back inside. “Stomach pains. I didn’t sleep
well.”
Bryce was visibly annoyed. “And you didn’t charge your phone, making yourself unreachable? Estrella, you’re just asking for trouble.”
He put down the breakfast he brought from a local deli in Ravenwood where he’d woken up the owner in the middle of the night to make it.
Estrella felt a wave of gratitude as she looked at the warm milk, bagels, and a fruit box. “You’re the only one who’s got my back,” she said with a mix of sarcasm and affection.
Bryce handed her the fork and spoon and poured the milk. “Luckily I thought to bring a thermal container, eh?”
“Bryce, thank you,” Estrella said earnestly. At that moment, she wasn’t just thankful for the breakfast; she was grateful that, when she was feeling down and unwell, he was there for
her.
Bryce brushed it off in a casual way. “We’re in this together, aren’t we?“
After breakfast, Bryce insisted on taking her to the hospital. The doctor checked her and gave her an IV drip, but she worried about missing work. Bryce reassured her, “Get your treatment. We can head back a couple of days late. I’ll stay with you.”
In the infusion room, sitting side by side, watching TV, Estrella felt almost back to normal.
Glancing sideways at Bryce, she quipped with a playful smirk, “So, my phone goes straight
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Chapter 77
to voicemail and you just hightail it over here?”
Bryce lifted a hand to lazily scratch at his tousled hair. There was a sheepish grin spreading across his face. “Well, it’s not entirely that. I mean… there’s also…”
His stammering trailed off under Estrella’s cool, penetrating gaze. With a resigned sigh, Bryce blurted out, “Alright, alright, I’ll spill the beans, okay? It’s about Jason…”
11:32
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