Days after the incident at the restaurant, Belle received a call from the De Clarion Villa. According to John, Frederick wanted to see her.
Belle agreed to visit the old man. As soon as she was done with work, she headed for the villa to see the old De Clarion.
When she got in, he found the old man in the living room, staring at the screen of his laptop. “Hi Grandpa, how are you?” Belle asked cheerfully.
Frederick extended both hands as he stood up. Belle lovingly hugged him and they both sat down. “I’m doing well, my health’s improving every day. You? I heard about the incident with Joyce,” he frowned.
Belle frowned too, as she was again reminded of that dreadful night. “I’m okay so far,” she smiled half-heartedly.
Before they could continue with their conversation, Frederick asked John for tea, but Belle volunteered to do it. “You sit down John, you look really tired.”
The middle-aged butler smiled at her, thankful for her consideration as he sat in the single-seater next to Frederick. When Belle came back, she brought a tray with three cups of tea and a jar of sugar.
“I’m not sure if you add sugar to your tea, John. So I brought the jar, just in case,” she grinned.
While mixing Frederick’s tea, John’s eyes landed on her wrist, the one with the birthmark. All of a sudden, she remembered something.
“That birthmark,” he pointed, not taking his eyes off of it. “Didn’t you say it was bright red when you were young?”
Belle nodded, her forehead creased. Her eyes moved back and forth between John and Frederick. “What about it?” she asked when not one of them talked.
“Didn’t you say you’re a Williams? You’re Lawrence Williams’ daughter?” John asked again and Belle, for the second time, nodded. “Wow!” the butler exclaimed, he even covered his mouth as if something unbelievable had happened right before his eyes.
“What is it, John?” Frederick asked. This time, he, too, was curious.
John held his hand up and pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’ll explain to you later,” he told his old friend. Then he called his son to ask him to bring Tristan over. He said it was something important.
While waiting for Tristan and Jacob, both men started talking about what Joyce did to her. “Unfortunately, Tristan doesn’t want you to file a lawsuit against that spiteful woman. He said he’d beg if he has to,” Frederick snorted.
What he said made Belle frown. She knew such a thing would happen. That’s why she decided not to sue Joyce either.
She was aware that suing Joyce would hurt Tristan. She can’t do that to him. Despite everything, she can’t hurt him.
After a few more minutes of waiting, both the assistant and boss finally arrived. They sat down next to each other on the couch right in front of where Frederick and Belle were seated.
John cleared his throat and all attention turned to him. “I saw Belle’s birthmark last time, but I can’t recall where or when I’d seen it. However, when I saw it again today, I finally figured it out. It’s the same birthmark the child who saved Tristan has.”
Everyone’s eyes then turned to Belle, whose lips were now pouting. She looked into each one of them before looking at her birthmark as if it would know the answer to the question she had in mind.
“Are you sure Dad?” Jacob asked of his father.
“I’m actually thinking about it,” he replied to his son. “That day, the family hosted a Thanksgiving party, as Tristan was finally released from the hospital. Philip Williams was invited at that time and he brought his granddaughter. Remember?” he then turned to Frederick for confirmation, and the old man nodded.
“My grandfather?” Belle asked.
“Yes, if you are really a Williams like you said, then you are indeed Philip Williams’ granddaughter,” Frederick explained.
Jacob leaned closer to his father, “But Dad, how did you know it was Belle who saved Tristan?”
“That day, all the kids were asked to play outside, while the adults stayed there. Then we heard the kids shouting until a couple of them came to call us. They told us Tristan was drowning, so almost all the adults ran out. I was the first one out of everyone. I saw the little girl extending a long stick to Tristan so he could hold on to it. The little girl’s red mark on her wrist caught my attention. And now, seeing Belle with this birthmark adds up to everything.”
“Could that be why the pond looked so familiar to me the first time I saw it? Was it because I’ve been here before and I forgot?” she asked no one in particular.
Jacob nodded at her, “That could be the case. It’s because you saw the very same pond before when you were younger.”
“To add more to that, you said Vernice came to the Williams family after your mother passed away. However, you also said that Philip passed away the year you disappeared. That means it wasn’t her that was with Philip that day, it was no one else but you.” Frederick poured out more information for them to finalize the puzzle.
“So, I was the one who saved him?” she asked, pointing a finger at Tristan without looking at him.
Both Frederick and John nodded at her. Before she could ask again, Tristan spoke, “Then why did Joyce become my savior?”
“Ah that,” John immediately responded. “When we got you out of the pond, Joyce followed us to your room. She stood outside until I noticed her and saw her crying. When I asked her if she wanted to see you, she said yes, then she wouldn’t leave until you woke up.”
“I remember that,” Frederick butted in. “She said you have to see her when you wake up and that she won’t leave your side.”
Tristan clenched his jaw. At the age of seven, it’s impossible for her as a child not to remember what she did, except if she lost her memories. Just like what happened to Belle.
But even back then, whenever the pond incident was brought up and Tristan would thank her, Joyce never cleared things up. She won’t tell him that it wasn’t her who saved him from drowning.
That means Joyce has been lying to her for years now. Tristan punched the coffee table and everyone was startled. All four people can easily tell he’s furious.
‘All along, it should have been Belle. She was my savior. She was the one I was supposed to marry. Everything was Belle from the very beginning.’