His Destructive, Toxic Love

John had some business to take care of in Falconridge, and he did think about catching up with Eliza.

Running into her at the ball was a pleasant surprise.

The night scenery outside the car window was a blur, quietly passing by.

Eliza sat in the passenger seat, her eyes clouded with a somber expression.

She wasn't very talkative, occasionally glancing out the window, as if deep in thought or maybe trying to escape something.

Seeing her so lost, John gently shook his head, "Looks like matters of the heart are best left alone."

"What?" She snapped out of her reverie and turned to look at him.

John smiled, "I mean you and Casper."

"Me and him... now... we're just friends," she said, almost dismissively.

"If you were really just friends, you'd have moved on by now." He knew Eliza too well; she wasn't one to fall in love easily or let go easily, "Am I right?" Eliza didn't agree or disagree.

Her feelings were indeed a tangled mess.

When she saw her number saved as 'Wife' in his phone, it hit her hard.

Casper never used to save her number.

Every time she called, he'd answer with, "Who's this?"

But she had saved his number as 'Husband'.

As their relationship soured, she changed it to 'Casper', and eventually, she stopped calling him altogether.

His number just sat there, quietly, in her contacts.

Present, but not really.

She never imagined he'd save her number with such a sweet nickname one day.

But it was Casper's nickname for Valerie.

Not for Eliza.

In other words, Casper and Eliza's past no longer existed in his world.

And she, pretending to be Valerie, was still stuck in the past.

Eliza lowered her eyes sadly, "John, you know, I can forgive him for the wrongs he did to me, I can even be friends with him, but Robin... he's theAll text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

real pain in my heart. If Case's the

hadn't sent him to that mentat institution, he'd be fine now

John had heard about this.

From an outsider's perspective, he could understand Eliza's heartache.

To untangle this knot, she'd need to understand what kind of treatment Robin received while committed.

And whether it was really Casper's doing.

"I know Robin was treated horribly there, but... was it really Casper's intention?"

Eliza couldn't be entirely sure.

Given Casper's feelings for Nova at the time, he was definitely hostile towards Robin.

Even if it wasn't his direct order, it was connected to him.

"...If he hadn't sent Robin there, Robin wouldn't be like this."

John gently touched Eliza's head, feeling sorry that she was still caught up in this pain, "There's a reason for everything. Over the years, as things have come to light, you should understand that Casper was a victim too, in some ways."

He wasn't exactly defending Casper.

But as a childhood friend, he hoped she could be rational and let go of the past.

Holding onto resentment over one thing could make her miss out on a lot.

"Eliza, sometimes, you need to step out of your circle to see things clearly Giving others a chance to correct their mistakes is also giving yourself a chance to start over, don't you think?"

Eliza hadn't considered these things before.

Maybe it was because her previous love had been completely drained.