Twisted Ties of Love
Chapter 328

The agent secretly checked out Izabella, but with a mask on, it was hard to see her full face.

She looked quite different from her online presence - her skin was pale and smooth without makeup, and her hair wasn't dyed in a chaotic mix of colors, but was left loose, cascading down her back. Perhaps feeling a bit hot, she gathered her hair into a loose braid and slung it over one shoulder.

Her hair was fluffy, making the back of her head look perfectly round, and her cute ears peeked out, tempting you to give them a pinch.

Even from a distance, her long eyelashes were noticeable.

Izabella's eyes were the highlight of her face. Slightly upturned at the corners, when she looked at someone with full attention, they were incredibly captivating.

The agent said, "She doesn't seem quite like the Izabella I know." To be honest, he wouldn't have recognized her if he hadn't looked closely. He wondered how Casey, who usually had trouble discerning women's faces, could recognize Izabella at first sight.

"She looks great now." Casey's mouth curled into a smile as he watched her intently.

The agent twitched his mouth. This was the first time he had heard Casey praise someone so highly.

His usual compliments were along the lines of 'pretty good', 'decent', 'not bad'.

But when he heard Casey say "great", he knew Casey was serious.

Casey liked this kind of woman? Izabella might look good now, but her scandals were too numerous.

Why did Casey have to fall for a starlet with such a bad reputation?

"Do you really know Izabella? And you say she's great?"

"Do you?" Casey snapped his gaze back to the agent.

The agent cleared his throat, determined to rid Casey of his improbable thoughts.

He began to recount Izabella's online scandals to Casey, "Izabella once hooked up with a director for a role. There's still news about that. She even tweeted an acknowledgment and apology." Casey sneered, "Did you hear her say that? Did she hold a press conference? Or do you have any recordings or videos of her in bed with someone?"

"Well, no..."

"Without a shred of evidence, you're ready to crucify her for these things. That's called defamation, and it's illegal." Casey smirked, "Don't think I don't know the tricks in the entertainment industry. Some performers' Twitter accounts are controlled by their companies. They can post whatever they want. I don't believe Izabella would sleep with a director for a script."

The agent paused before saying, "But it's a fact that she likes to get involved with male stars. Nine out of ten of her search results are about her and some male star."

Casey laughed mockingly, "Why doesn't she seduce me then? She hasn't even given me a second glance."

"Maybe she didn't recognize you with your sunglasses on. Once she realizes it's you..."

Before he could finish, Casey took off his sunglasses and kept his gaze fixed on Izabella. When Izabella didn't look back at him, he started to cough deliberately, louder and louder, trying to get her attention. Seeing Casey's childish actions, the agent fell silent.

Casey was rebellious. The more the agent told him to stay away from Izabella, the closer he wanted to get.

The more Casey coughed, the less attention he got from Izabella, but he did attract the attention of a flight attendant.

"Sir, are you feeling okay?"

"My throat's itchy. Could you get me a cup of water, please?" Casey, now without sunglasses, looked even more handsome when he smiled, and the flight attendant happily went to fetch him some water. Casey smirked, "She still didn't look at me. How do you explain that, Seth?"

Seth had no idea what Izabella was thinking. She didn't even turn around despite the loud noise. Either she wasn't interested in the outside world, or she recognized Casey and purposely avoided looking at him.

Was Izabella really trying to avoid him, or was she just playing hard to get?

Seeing Casey preening like a peacock, Seth said, "Anyway, you'll meet at the variety show."

"But that's not for another two days." And with Izabella rehearsing, he had no excuse to visit her.

After a while, Izabella felt sleepy and adjusted her seat into a bed, covering herself with a thin blanket.

This made it easier for Casey to watch her. Suddenly, a blurred image flashed through his mind. He couldn't hold onto it, and it disappeared.

Just a vague figure, but it made his heart pound. He substituted Izabella into that blurry outline, and it matched perfectly.

Before meeting Izabella, Casey never believed in love, let alone love at first sight.

Marriage was just a grave that accelerated death, limiting one's freedom. And the idea of "throwing away your life because of love" was ludicrous to him.

He was always rational, believing love to be nothing more than a dopamine release.

But now, after meeting Izabella, all his beliefs had changed. He was scared of these uncontrollable feelings, but he was even more afraid of losing all future possibilities without getting to know Izabella. Upon arrival in R City, the flight attendant began the routine safety check and reminded passengers to prepare for disembarkation.

Izabella slowly turned her head. Her eyes were very bright. She rubbed her shoulders and waited quietly for the plane to land.

As the plane landed, there was a moment of weightlessness. Izabella looked out of the window. R City was still the same as before, with no changes in the past three years.

When the plane came to a halt, Izabella stood up and walked towards the special exit. She moved at a relaxed pace and turned around with her bag.

Seeing Izabella coming towards him, Casey, who was sitting by the aisle, abruptly stood up, blocking her way like a mountain.

Casey was tall, and Izabella only came up to his shoulder. She took a step back to put some distance between them, and looked up, locking eyes with him.

The strange feelings Casey had been experiencing disappeared with Izabella's gaze. He tensed up, shifting his gaze to Izabella's ear.

Her ears were tiny and her earlobes were round and cute.

"Are... are you Izabella?"

Izabella nodded, not saying much, just focused on Casey's face.

"Do you mind if I add you on WhatsApp?"

Seeing Izabella not speaking, Casey got even more nervous. Girls tended to be shy, asking for her WhatsApp suddenly didn't seem right, he should respect her.

"Sorry, I was presumptuous. I should introduce myself first. I'm Casey. I've learned about you on Twitter. I know you're participating in the show Here Comes the Superstars. Coincidentally, I'm also on it. Maybe we could get to know each other, and then cooperate..."

"I know you," Izabella said. But do you know the real me?

Casey was overjoyed, his smile widening, revealing his prominent canines.

He was expressive, just like Ryker used to be, wearing his emotions on his face.

When Ryker wasn't being silly, he would buy donuts for her. When he was, he'd give her all the snacks and cookies he had. Perhaps it was this blatant favoritism that kept him in her mind all these years. Casey took out his phone, "Should I add you or you add me? Or do you want to just give me your WhatsApp number and I add you?"

Seth, standing by, subconsciously looked around. Fortunately, no one was looking their way, but seeing Casey putting on the peacock's courtship display, he really wanted to cover his face using his hands and pretend he didn't know him.

Izabella didn't take out her phone, she just recited a string of numbers. Casey, with his good memory, remembered them after just listening for one time, and quickly typed them into the search bar.

Izabella's WhatsApp was simple, no profile picture, just a nickname "Bella", and no status.

It was pretty bland, unlike her in real life, but exactly like the image he had in his head.

"Is this it?"

Izabella nodded.

Casey quickly added her, then looked at Izabella. He wanted to see with his own eyes that she had accepted his request before he was reassured.

Izabella took out her phone from her bag, unlocked it, opened WhatsApp, and accepted the friend request.

The verification message Casey sent had his name, but with an extra 'a' in front.

aCasey, this way his name would be first on Izabella's contact list. He was giddy seeing Izabella typing the verification message into the note, his eyes sparkling. "The numbers you just said, is that your phone number?"

Izabella nodded, "Yes, it is."

"I remembered it." Casey recited the number, word for word. He thought Izabella would be pleased, but instead, her eyes looked sad after he smoothly recited it.

His heart was in a panic. In front of the person you like, you always can't help but search for your own mistakes, wanting to know what made the other person unhappy. Izabella's sadness was fleeting, almost uncatchable.

At that moment, a subconscious reminder hit her. Casey was not Ryker. He was Casey, and he was smart, able to instantly remember her quickly recited phone number and not forgetting it. These alone were enough to prove he was not Ryker.

Ryker had been silly for over ten years. Back then, the orphanage director and Presley had told her that the chances of Ryker regaining his intelligence were slim.

But how to explain their striking resemblance?

She knew too little about Ryker, only that he used to share the same last name with Brett and lived in Brett's house.

Because she didn't ask Ryker's full name back then, she went wildly off the track in those ten plus years.

Without finding the exact answers, she was already preparing to give up in her heart, fearing that she would make the same mistake again by recognizing the wrong person.

But on second thought, there were so many unrealistic things in the world. She could even reincarnate after death, what else was impossible?

She looked at the left chest of Casey, suddenly wanting to rip open his shirt to see if there was a scar there.

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