Isabella had no idea that York and Natalie were teaming up against her. Still, as the party carried on, she couldn’t shake this sudden, uneasy feeling in her chest.
“What’s wrong?” Harold was right beside her and picked up on her mood right away.
“Are you feeling okay?”
She shook her head, her voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t know what it is. My heart just started racing out of nowhere.”
Harold glanced around, checking for anything unusual, but everything seemed normal. He leaned in, reassuring. “Don’t worry. If you want, I can take you home now. We don’t have to stay.”
Isabella honestly didn’t want to stick around either. “Let’s just tell Lucas and the others we’re heading out.”
She hesitated, trying to put her feeling into words. “It’s like… being here is making it hard to breathe, like something’s pressing on my chest and I can’t get enough air. I just feel… off.”
“If it doesn’t feel right, let’s go,” Harold said quietly. “Sometimes your gut just knows.”
“Yeah. Let’s go tell Lucas.”
She didn’t argue. They found Lucas and quickly explained that something had come up and they had to leave. Lucas just nodded, not pushing them to stay.
Isabella then found Laura and Linda. She told them she wasn’t feeling well and needed to rest at home. Both friends fussed over her, but Isabella couldn’t really describe what was wrong. Seeing how pale she looked, they told her to see a doctor if it didn’t get better.
The moment they stepped outside, the cool night air made it a little easier to breathe. The tension inside her chest loosened just a bit.
“Isabella.”
She heard her name and turned to see Ethan coming up behind her.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: After I Stopped Loving Him