Twisted Ties of Love

The hospital TV was playing a Christmas party, bringing a touch of warmth to the chilly ward.

The nurse was looking at the man lying in the hospital bed, his hand tightly clutching a phone. He seemed to be calling his beloved, his eyes soft, his fingers trembling slightly from nervous anticipation. The call quickly connected. He opened his dry lips and managed to say, "Izabella, Merry Christmas."

He held the phone close to his ear. He was afraid of missing any detail, even not wanting to miss Izabella's breathing.

He could hear the ringing of bells from the phone, coinciding with the countdown from the TV host.

Soon, the sound of fireworks exploding came from the phone, followed by Casey's voice.

"Here's to Izabella, wishing you health, happiness, and all your dreams come true."

His chest was aching badly. Brett should've been clutching his chest, but instead, his hand moved to cover his ear.

But even with his ear covered, the call had already ended, and he hadn't even heard Izabella's voice.

"Sir?" After a while, seeing Brett still holding his phone without any reaction, the nurse tentatively called out to him.

Brett came to, but his body was stiff as he looked at the nurse standing by his bed.

"So, have you finished your call?"

"Finished." Brett released his grip, handing the phone back to her. "Thanks."

"No problem. If you need to make another call, just let me know."

Brett only shook his head in response. He wouldn't borrow her phone again, knowing that once he made that call, Izabella would block him.

His call to Izabella tonight wasn't about expecting to hear anything from her. He just wanted to wish her a Merry Christmas in the middle of the night, plain and simple.

He and Izabella had been together for so long, yet they had never spent a Christmas together. It used to be him not going home, leaving her alone. Then, Izabella became a vegetable and lived in the hospital. The subsequent Christmases, he got engaged to Kaley, leaving her alone once again.

Seeing that his IV drip was almost empty, the nurse changed the bag. She marked off a list, then fetched some medication for Brett.

"Time to take your medicine."

It was inconvenient for Brett to take his medication while on an IV drip. The nurse was about to get him some water when he threw the pills into his mouth and swallowed them without water. Chewed up pills were the bitterest. As the saying goes, after bitterness comes sweetness. But this bitterness would never end, just like Izabella would never return.

The nurse always felt the sorrow in the man's eyes was inescapable, a pain worse than death. Like stars disappearing one by one in the night, some people may have died, but still live on in people's hearts. Some people, though still alive, were already dead, trying to fade away unnoticed but remaining truly forgotten.

The nurse brought a glass of water for Brett.

"Thanks." Brett took it, draining the glass, but it did nothing for the bitterness in his mouth.

"Rest well. If you need anything, ring the bell."

"Okay."

The nurse gave him a long look before pushing her cart out of the ward.

Only Brett was left in the ward, the entire hallway eerily silent.

Everyone was celebrating Christmas, including the patients in the hospital. Everyone except Brett, alone in his ward.

He remembered a quote, "When you choose to love wholeheartedly, be prepared for heartache."

Did they know what will never let them down? Disappointment.

Christmas concerts these past few years were getting more and more boring. Brett closed his eyes, trying to sleep, but couldn't. He tried to clear his mind of all the messy thoughts, but the more he tried not to think about them, the more vivid they became, even bringing to mind things buried deep in his memory.

Seeing his low spirits, the nurse tried to comfort him.

"Mr. Windham, you need to stay positive. A day of pain and a day of joy are both a day. Why not choose to live the rest joyfully? You're only worsening your condition."

Brett wanted to be happy, but the word "happy" was becoming more and more foreign to him.

"Today is the first day of the new year."

With a first day, there might be a tomorrow. But he wasn't looking forward to his tomorrow, he was only hoping to see Izabella's tomorrow.

The ward window was tightly shut. Brett stared at the sky outside, counting the days. This was his twenty-fourth day in the hospital, since leaving "Spring Bay".

This year, it didn't snow in R City. The wintersweet outside was blooming, looking fragrant, but he couldn't smell it.

Not long after their stay in Wye, Izabella and Casey returned to R City.

The progress of "Blood Ties", featuring Izabella, and other shows, was fast, especially "Who's the Ghost", which invested most of its funds in post-production.

The trailer shocked the netizens. The unexpectedly good results, beautiful visuals, top-notch sound and special effects, and intriguing storyline were all impressive. But the most captivating were the performances by Izabella and Casey. Their outstanding acting immediately drew the audience in.

However, some people were skeptical. Many movie trailers these days were well-made but disappoint viewers in the end.

Under such circumstances, the feedback from the initial audience was crucial.

But there was no denying that the fanbase of Casey and Izabella alone was enough to guarantee substantial box office revenue. The film wouldn't make a loss, but it might affect the film's reputation. The film's trailer whetted everyone's appetite, and in the end, "Who's the Ghost" was set to premiere during the summer blockbuster season.

At the same time, another big-budget film, "Lost in Lumina", was also scheduled to premiere on the same day.

"Lost in Lumina" was a big-budget film with an investment of 30 million dollars, took longer to shoot than "Who's the Ghost", and featured many big-name actors. The director, Mr. Hackett, had even won a golden award before.

One thing worth mentioning was that Vivian, the leading lady of Lost in Lumina, played a supporting role in "Blood Ties". Her agency invested a lot of dough in her and she's not too shabby when it came to acting.

There was no beef between Izabella and Vivian. It was just that they both auditioned for the same part, the third female lead. Vivian nailed it, but Izabella got the second female lead. Even though Izabella has less screen time, her role was a notch above Vivian's.

Vivian was a bit salty about Izabella but kept it under wraps. When she saw the outcome for Kristin and Ariana, she knew Izabella was no walk in the park. Plus, Izabella was pretty popular on set, so Vivian didn't want to ruin her rep over some petty squabbles.

Instead of stirring the pot, Vivian played it cool and competed behind the scenes. In the end, her agency landed her a leading role in a big-budget sword-play drama, Lost in Lumina.

She was determined to outshine Izabella. From the moment Izabella took on the subpar movie "Who's the Ghost", Vivian vowed to never let Izabella outperform her.

Vivian admitted, in terms of acting chops or looks, she had nothing on Izabella. But in the movie biz, it's the box office that talks.

How good could a movie that was being bashed left and right be? The only people who'd probably go see it were Casey's fans.

A bunch of marketing accounts started comparing Lost in Lumina and "Who's the Ghost". Firstly, Lost in Lumina had the upper hand in terms of screen time.

In the domestic market, horror flicks

weren't a big hit. After all, they

couldn't hold a candle to foreign horror movies, and not everyone had the guts to watch them. But it was a

different story for sword-playman

dramas. The younger crowd made up, the majority of moviegoers, so the box office success lied in their hands.

Lost in Lumina was a big-budget film based on a local bestseller, which resonated with a lot of young folks. Many would watch it for nostalgia's sake, so it was likely to do pretty well at the box office. Even before the movie premiered, people started questioning the team behind "Who's the Ghost".

The disparity in screen time was staggering.

Lost in Lumina had a whopping 45% screen time, while "Who's the Ghost" only had 15%.

Lost in Lumina premiered first. People happily strolled into the theater, and walked out laughing.

So on the first day, Lost in Lumina only scored a 5, not even passing grade.

[The adaptation was way off. Couldn't make heads or tails of what the director was trying to convey. Can't they stick to the original script? We didn't ask for a botched up version.]

[I've never seen such cringe-worthy effects. It was a real eyesore. The acting was mediocre. Although there were some veterans holding the fort, Vivian's performance was a real letdown.]

[This is hands down the worst sword-play drama I've ever seen. I went in for nostalgia's sake, but the adaptation was so bad I couldn't even recognize the original.]

[The so-called high-quality visuals of Lost in Lumina were only in the trailer. Yeah, the one or two minutes of the trailer were the only exciting parts of the movie.]

[This was the first time I had such a good sleep in a theater. Not bad, I plan to record the movie next time and use it as my bedtime lullaby.] "Thank God, thank God Casey didn't take on this movie. Thank God Hackett didn't let Casey take on this movie.]

"Lost in Lumina" had a high screen time on the first day. The producers splurged on advertising. When people walked into the theater, the big screen was flooded with ads for "Lost in Lumina". Many who didn't know what to watch ended up buying tickets for "Lost in Lumina".

Riding this wave, and continuously overshadowing "Who's the Ghost", "Lost in Lumina"'s box office hit over 10 million on the second day.This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.

The producers barely had time to celebrate when the movie was flooded with one-star reviews. Even scrambling to get marketing accounts to hype it up overnight didn't help.

Initially, "Who's the Ghost" had a low screen time. Only a handful of fans came to watch, along with some people who settled for it because they couldn't get tickets for "Lost in Lumina". They planned on taking a nap in the theater, but the opening scene caught their attention.

Casey's performance was lauded by everyone. He bagged all sorts of awards, became the youngest ever box office king, and collected a truckload of accolades.

But the real surprise was Izabella. Although she had showcased her acting skills on variety shows, they didn't really count.

"Blood Ties" hadn't aired yet, and unexpectedly, the first one to premiere was the movie she spent over a month filming.

Not many had high hopes for this movie, even her fans were skeptical and nervously bought tickets.

Many planned to nap in the theater, but ended up shedding tears after the movie. The two-hour long movie was engaging and left viewers wanting more.

So what was so special about this movie? It had humor, scares, and plot twists that hit them right in the feels.

Even after two decades, this film wouldn't be outdated. It was a classic worth revisiting.

When the movie ended, the entire theater was filled with the sound of sniffling. Everyone who watched the movie was in tears, the plot twists were too overwhelming to process.

Apart from the solid script, the filming, lighting, background music, and special effects were all top-notch. It's hard to believe this was an 80 million budget production, it was leagues ahead of "Lost in Lumina". Watching "Who's the Ghost" after "Lost in Lumina" felt like a spiritual cleanse.

Besides these highlights, there was another treat. Casey showed off his upper body in the movie.

This kind of skin show was unprecedented.

The dim light illuminating his body,

broad shoulders, narrow waist,

impressive abs, protruding back muscles as if ready to take flight His muscles weren't over the top, just right. The flexing of his neck and

wrists was a mesmerizing sight, bringing tears to the viewers' eyes.

Casey was definitely a golden boy, blessed by the gods above. Each and every one of his muscles was just dripping with charm. The directors did a bang-up job together, showcasing all his strengths and turning his muscles into a total feast for the eyes.