Chapter 105: Women Corrupted by Love

Bella forced a smile. "You should go. You're probably busy since you get up so early."

Dominic said nothing, closed the car window, and drove away.

After washing up, Bella was about to change clothes when her eyes fell on the calendar beside her bed. It was Sunday. Her movements froze, and a thought flashed through her mind: Did Dominic come over so early because he was worried she wouldn't have anything to wear to work? Though he usually went out on Sundays, he wasn't usually this busy—that much she knew about his routine.

Bella lightly slapped her face a few times to clear her head of such ridiculous thoughts, but the sound woke Lia.

Still half asleep, Lia grumbled, "Why are you slapping yourself so hard? Are you worried your 25-year-old skin won't absorb the essence of your skincare products? Take it easy!"

Bella smiled. "You're only two months younger than me. Stop bringing up age! I'm off to work. I'll take the bus, so you can go back to sleep."

Lia sat up, rubbing her eyes. "I'm done sleeping. It's already this late. Who's got time for more sleep? I'm a hard-working woman. If I don't hustle, I'll starve!"

Noticing the paper bag on the bedside table, she asked curiously, "Who brought you the underwear? Dominic? That guy actually does this kind of thing?"

Bella nodded but didn't want to explain further. She hadn't expected it herself.

Lia clicked her tongue. "Don't tell me your heart skipped a beat because of this? If he really cared about you, he wouldn't have brought Amber back to live with him. Who knows how often they've been intimate since you've been gone this past month? Rebounding on someone you like is incredibly hard, but listen to me: it's better to rip the band-aid off quickly than suffer in the long run. Don't let the tiny bits of attention he throws your way make you forget the wounds he has already caused."

Bella sighed helplessly. "I get it, Lia. Now, can you get up?"

Lia shot her a side-eye. "You're a woman corrupted by love. You're beyond help."

With that, she grabbed her phone and walked into the bathroom. But moments later, there was a scream from inside.

Bella rushed in. "What happened?"

Lia, her mouth full of toothpaste foam, wailed, "That scumbag! I've been working on this order for nearly two months, and he's canceling it now! What's going on? His assistant handled everything from the beginning, and that bastard never even bothered to see me once!"

Bella frowned. "Is this the order you mentioned that was supposed to last three months? Why would they cancel it? Won't they have to pay a cancellation fee?"

Lia stomped her foot in frustration. "How should I know why? Yeah, there's a penalty, but in this business, the cancellation fee is peanuts. It won't even cover the cost of the materials already bought, let alone the labor from the past two months! No way, I'm going to confront him. I need to see who this person thinks he is!"

Seeing how fired up Lia was, Bella felt a bit uneasy. "Lia, don't be so impulsive. What if there's still room for negotiation? Talk it out calmly and politely, okay?"

Lia patted her chest, taking deep breaths to calm herself. "Don't worry. I'll start nice. But if that guy is stubborn, I'll ensure his grandmother hears about him when I'm done with him!"

Bella still wasn't convinced. "How about I go with you? I can swap shifts with a colleague." She knew how much Lia had complained about the complexity of this order, and to have it canceled after two months of hard work—the loss of potential income was significant and devastating.

(The promotional sentence at the end has been removed as it is unrelated to the story itself.)