Twisted Ties of Love

Chapter 264

Izabella endured a bumpy journey of twenty-four hours from A City to reach a small town. After a simple day of rest, she continued her journey by following the route on the map, stopping and starting like a rabbit, finding one burrow after another.

Two weeks later, she arrived at a village. The place was very vague on the map, so she rented a house near a school.

There were both advantages and disadvantages to living here. The downside was that transportation was not convenient and communication could be a bit challenging since the locals spoke a dialect. But Izabella was adaptable, so she got used to it eventually.

The good sides were that the cost of living was cheap, it wasn't easy for people to find her, and she didn't need any ID to get things done or get a SIM card.

After paying the rent for the house, Izabella went back to her tiny bedroom. The bed was just a wooden plank at the moment, and she needed to buy a mattress and quilt.

The houses in the village weren't great, but the studio apartment she rented was relatively clean, and the floor wasn't damp. With a bit of cleaning up, it would become a stable home.

Izabella didn't have time to rest. That afternoon, she went out to buy kitchen utensils, a bedsheet set, and toiletries, among other things.

There were still many things that hadn't been bought. Izabella bought a mobile phone and got a SIM card. The memo was filled with things she needed to buy, including a refrigerator.

Since she lived alone, she bought small-sized appliances. She had initially planned to buy a washing machine too, but she wasn't sure how long she would stay here.

Thankfully, washing summer clothes wasn't too hard. The luxurious life with servants in the past was long gone, and now she had to do everything by herself.

After Izabella finished making the bed, her stomach growled with hunger. There were no fast food restaurants in the town, so if she wanted to eat, she either had to go to the family restaurant in the town or buy groceries and cook by herself.

She rubbed her belly and went to the town to order a plate of macaroni for lunch. Then she went to the supermarket and bought eggs, milk, bread, a jar of pickles, a bag of flour, and a bag of cereal.

She had no strength in her fingers, so she could only slip the bags onto her arms one by one. When she got back, both of her arms were completely red, with a red mark where they had been constricted. It was very noticeable.

Not only were her hands in pain, but her feet were also killing her. When she finally stopped to rest, the pain shot up from her feet.

Taking off her shoes and socks, Izabella saw that the soles of her feet were red and covered in blood blisters. The bloody pus had stuck to her socks.

Inhaling sharply, her eyes turned red with pain. She gritted her teeth as she carefully peeled the socks off her feet, tearing away the flesh.

Izabella was someone who was very afraid of pain and suffering. She limped to her backpack, took out a bottle of medicine, and sprayed iodine on her wounds. The sting from the iodine shot straight to her brain, and she almost cried from the pain.

She forced herself to endure it. If she couldn't handle this much pain, how would she manage in the future?

With red eyes and a sniffle, Izabella forced the tears back into their corners.

After rushing and escaping for two weeks, Izabella suddenly felt dizzy and overwhelmed. She quickly tidied up a bit and laid on the bed, wrapping herself in a blanket. As soon as she closed her eyes, her brain shut down instantly, and she fell into a deep sleep, as if she had slipped into a coma.

This sleep was very deep but also uneasy because she had been tense throughout the entire car ride. In her dreams, she was constantly escaping and rushing to catch a train. Her head was spinning like being on a swaying boat.

When she woke up again, Izabella instinctively curled up in her bed and reached out her hand, only to be startled awake by the cold.

She had already left Brett.

However, her body subconsciously thought she was still with him. When she woke up, she wanted to cuddle up to him for warmth and listen to his heartbeat.

Her heart felt empty, as if there was room for many things but nothing could fill it.

With a dazed look, Izabella sat up in bed, hugging her legs and resting her head on her knees.

She had secrets buried in her heart, making her uneasy, and her mind was filled with Brett's shadow.

In spite of all his deceit and exploitation, she had hopelessly fallen in love with him.

She felt disgusted with herself for falling for such a man. Who could ever love someone who wanted to abort their child?

Shaking her head, Izabella looked at her phone by the pillow. It was already ten o'clock, and she had slept for a full twelve hours.

She didn't plan on going into town for a meal. She bought some groceries yesterday and would go downstairs later to buy some vegetables to cook herself.

She had a poor stomach condition. Throughout the escape, she constantly vomited into a plastic bag she was holding. While motion sickness was bearable for her, her real discomfort came from feeling as though there was a hand continuously gripping her stomach.

Several times, she almost gave up, but ultimately, she would look at her belly and press on.

For the sake of her stomach, Izabella made some corn porridge and a plate of vegetables.

This was the first time Izabella cooked since losing her memory. The skills she had learned before had been forgotten, but her habits were ingrained in her bones. Without thinking, she whipped up a dish.

With trembling hands, Izabella filled a plate and struggled to wash the pot.

She was trembling badly, unable to hold the spoon steady. With great difficulty, the food she had scooped up fell onto the table. Izabella stared at the food on the table, recalling the scene where Brett fed her carefully.

Tears uncontrollably flowed down her face, falling into the corn porridge in front of her. She hadn't cried while tending to her wounds, but now she couldn't suppress her sadness.

Brett's shadow kept appearing in her mind, and the uncontrollable longing for him was destroying her sanity and tearing her heart apart.

Through her crying and sobbing, Izabella had the porridge, as if trying to fill her empty heart.

But no matter how much she tried, nothing could fill it. She felt like she had lost something important and was so miserable she could barely breathe.

"Slap!" Izabella put down the spoon and forcefully slapped herself. She shouted to herself,

"You're so pathetic! He wanted to abort your child, yet you're still pining for him! Disgusting! Shameless! Stop crying, you weakling!"

Slap!

One slap after another fell on her face, but Izabella hardly felt the pain. All she wanted was to banish the person in her mind.

In the silent house, only her stifled cries of near-collapse could be heard.

She didn't want to feel this miserable. She wanted to forget Brett completely. To forget someone, she must first forget every habit she had associated with them.

She had been too foolish, getting deceived by Brett time and time again. Even now, she was unable to let go of her feelings for him. If she hadn't learned her lesson, she deserved this. NôvelDrama.Org: owner of this content.

She had once fed a heartless beast with her sincere heart.

During the day, Izabella went out to buy more daily necessities and some fresh meat to store in the fridge.

The landlord who rented the house to her was a woman in her thirties with two kids. Izabella didn't interact with her much, but on the day they signed the contract, she seemed nice and friendly.

The landlord lived in the same building, which had five floors. Izabella rented a place on the third floor, and the landlord lived on the top floor.

One day, the landlord passed by Izabella's place, knocked on the door, and gave her some organic veggies.

Izabella took the veggies and quickly checked her fridge for something to give in return.

The landlord smiled and said, "No need to return the favor. These are just homegrown veggies, no big deal. By the way, do you live alone?"

After glancing around the clean and tidy room, which felt a bit empty, the landlord asked.

"Yeah, just me," Izabella replied.

Though curious, the landlord didn't pry, as it was her tenant's private matter. However, she thought she should look after Izabella more since living alone wasn't easy, and she looked a little worn out, presumably resting here due to an illness.

The landlord had seen situations like this before.

After chatting for a while, the landlord left. Before she left, she told Izabella, "If you need anything, feel free to reach out. You have my phone number and WhatsApp. You can also come over if you're bored. Although this is a rural area, people around here are very warm and hospitable. After dinner, people dance in the square downstairs. If you're interested, I can take you."

Izabella nodded. She didn't dance, but having someone to help her make friends was a good thing.

Not long after the landlord left, Izabella received an invitation to join a group chat on WhatsApp.

After accepting, she saw there were 36 members, making her the 37th.

As soon as she joined, she received a warm welcome and many eye-catching memes.

It was said that pregnant women were prone to feeling hungry, but Izabella didn't experience that. In the evening, she ate the leftover corn porridge from lunch and followed the landlord downstairs for a walk, where she met many people.

When everyone found out Izabella was seeking a job, they all kept an eye out for her.

Finding a job in the countryside was already difficult, let alone the fact that Izabella's hand was injured and she couldn't even hold a fork steadily, not to mention doing heavy physical work.

So, even after searching for a while, they couldn't find a suitable job for her.

That night, Izabella joined the landlord to buy some baguettes, rolls, and toast from a bakery for the next day's breakfast.

With a small appetite, Izabella just bought a potato bun and saw a yogurt promotion in a supermarket, so she got a small box to store in her fridge.

The next morning, eating her bun and yogurt, Izabella nearly threw up halfway. Touching her belly, she murmured, "I'm sorry, baby. You have to suffer with your mother."

In the blink of an eye, two months passed, and her three-month-old baby started to show pregnancy symptoms.

A three-month-old fetus only began to take shape slowly. Izabella was too thin, and her belly remained flat, with only slight bumps visible when undressed.

The baby didn't move yet. Izabella gently stroked her belly, showing a warm smile on her face.

Living alone with nobody to talk to, Izabella developed the habit of talking to herself, sharing her thoughts with the baby in her belly.

Prenatal education was essential. Besides talking, Izabella played music on her phone, read books, and filled her day with activities to keep her mind off Brett.

Recently, the landlord introduced her to a job as a cleaner, sweeping the streets, with men taking care of the heavy tasks.

Though the job didn't pay much and was unstable, it was perfect for Izabella since it also paid daily wages.