章 10: He came: her world, the rain stopped
July was hot, yet when the rain hit her body, it felt as though a layer of frost encased her, sending shivers down her spine. Zoe Bell knew her foster parents didn't love her, but she hadn't expected...
they could be so heartless!
To form an alliance through marriage with the Stone Family, they were prepared to destroy her.
She hadn't been fond of dancing initially, but Vivi Lange felt that dancing could cultivate one's temperament. Gradually, Zoe also found joy in it, and since her foster parents liked it, she had worked hard to learn, hoping to please them more.
Dancing gradually became a part of her life, and from it, she gained a lot.
She felt that she could change her life through dance.
Or perhaps in their eyes, her life...
Was insignificant.
It didn't matter at all.
So even if they destroyed it with ease, it didn't matter.
She took a deep breath, took out her cell phone to call for a cab to go and rest at the training institution, where she had an office, but at this moment, her boss sent her a message.
Telling her:
She had been dismissed, without any reason!
And to take time to gather her personal belongings.
"Zoe, I'm truly sorry, I had no choice, I'm just an ordinary person, you..." the person in charge hesitated, obviously troubled, "Are you okay?"
One could guess that the Bell Family was behind this.
"I'm fine."
"The kids all really like you, and I don't want to fire you. Don't worry, I will give you some extra compensation. Take good care of yourself, and if you run into any trouble, let me know."
Zoe Bell answered in a hollow voice as the rain fell, feeling even colder, her legs aching fiercely.
Water droplets fell on the phone screen, making the touchscreen less sensitive. Just as she found the taxi app, her phone vibrated again.
It was a call from Director Hall of the orphanage. After some pleasantries, the conversation finally got to the point, "Zoe, is there something going on with your family?"
"Why do you suddenly ask that?"
Zoe bit her lip, doing her best to keep her tone steady and normal.
President Bell's lawyer had suddenly called, stating that they would withdraw future sponsorship. If there were indeed difficulties, she could understand, as donations are voluntary. She was grateful for his support over the years...
Zoe Bell had known Director Hall since childhood, and if there weren't real difficulties, she wouldn't have made this call.
Kevin Bell understood what she cared about and easily seized her weakness.
He was forcing her.
Forcing her into a corner with nowhere to turn, no place to go!
Pressuring her into compromise.
She had already compromised for the orphanage and was trying to accept everything the Bell Family had arranged for her.
But an injury to her leg brought all her years of silent endurance and grievances to a peak—she could no longer bear it.
Anger washed away her rationality,
She just wanted an explanation!
She wanted to know why!
She feared that now, in all of Greenland, not a single hotel or inn would take her in. She either had to plead with Brandon Stone, or apologize to her foster parents and obediently return to the Bell Family to accept all their arrangements.
But she didn't understand what she had done wrong.
Why did they have to pressure her.
It was as if she was the reason for everything turning out the way it did.
Her foster parents even felt that she had stolen the life that should have belonged to Mina Bell, usurped her position...
Stolen her fiancé!
Even the fact that Mina Bell hadn't gone to university was considered her fault.
Twenty years ago, she had come with nothing,
And now, once again, she was driven out with nothing!
It was too cold; she put on the trench coat, its length wrapping around her calves.
But even with the coat, her body seemed unprotected, the wind carried the rain like arrows, like blades, piercing her body, then cruelly sweeping past.
The rainstorm blew through, and pearls of tears streaked across her face.
She took a deep breath, struggling to steady her breathing.
Zoe Bell, don't cry!
It's not worth it!
This is the affluent residential area of Greenland, where private luxury cars are the norm, and with the rain, it's very hard to hail a taxi.
Even if she did call for a taxi, Zoe Bell had no idea where to go.
Her body was already drenched by the rain, clutching her cell phone with a sense of desolation in her heart.
Her phone kept vibrating with messages from Mina Bell.
[Sis, it's pouring outside, come back quickly, just apologize to Mom and Dad and it'll be alright.]
[It was my fault last time, I shouldn't have harbored inappropriate thoughts about Brother Brandon, I apologize to you, you can hit or scold me all you like, but you should hurry back home; it's late and it's not safe for a girl to be outside alone.]
[We are all family, there's nothing we can't get past.]
...
Zoe Bell sneered, feeling a churn in her stomach and a wave of nausea rising.
How could she utter the words "family"?
Don't they feel hypocritical?
She knew very well her place and situation in the Bell Family; she never coveted anything that didn't belong to her, a fact that would remain unchanged even if Mina Bell never returned.
She was grateful to her adoptive parents for everything they had given her, which is why she had been compromising all these years.
But Mina Bell didn't think so; she probably felt that, all these years, it was she who had stolen what belonged to her.
A foster daughter dressed in beautiful gowns, adorned with luxurious jewelry, accompanying her parents to banquets.
She might seem glamorous, but as soon as she returned home, it was like Cinderella taking off her glass slipper, everything reverted to its original form.
Her foster parents were always on guard against her, even showing her through their actions:
She was not worthy!
This also caused her to have no friends in Greenland; ordinary people thought she was the daughter of a wealthy family and dared not approach, and Mr. and Mrs. Bell did not allow her to associate with ordinary people, fearing it would lower the Bell Family's status.
In the circle of wealthy heirs, life was a blur of gold and decadence, and she just didn't fit in.
Whenever Brandon Stone took her out, she rarely joined them in their revelry, so inside the circle people said she was aloof and unapproachable, and even some said she looked down on them.
Out of respect for Brandon Stone, they were relatively friendly to her, but privately they never stopped mocking her: "She's only a foster daughter, but she sure carries herself with an air."
Brandon Stone liked her, but he also looked down on her status.
He felt that she should be compliant and obedient, with no right to a temper.
That's why on such a rainy night, she couldn't find a single place to shelter from the storm.
And it was precisely because of this that Kevin Bell could push her so hard!
He understood:
She wasn't heartless; she wasn't made of stone, the orphanage was one of the few places she cared about in this world, she couldn't just watch it face problems.
So, even if she suffered many injustices, in the end, she would still give in.
She laughed bitterly to herself, was she really unable to break away from the Bell Family?
Would she have to be at their beck and call for her entire life?
——
The distant sky was shrouded with dark clouds, the horizon and the ground were a thick shade of grey, and Zoe Bell's figure stood solitary, engulfed by the rain.
Her image, amidst the world, was tiny and lonely.
Like an aggrieved ghost wandering through this gloomy world, unable to find an exit.
Vehicles passed by Zoe Bell from time to time until a car pierced through the curtain of rain and stopped in front of her, the headlights blinding. She instinctively halted, and as the lights slowly faded, someone got out of the car.
Her vision blurred by the rain, she strained to see the person in front of her.
Dressed in black, holding a black umbrella, his face came into focus, his features deep and marked by a cool, haughty air.
He took long strides, stopping in front of her in just a few steps.
As the umbrella tilted towards her in an instant...
Her world,
the rain stopped.
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