A day time blinked past. At dusk, the setting sun dyed red half the sky. Louis leaned on the car, waiting for Bella out of the office.
Half an hour passed since school time. Bella had been putting it off, wanting to wait until all the students were gone before going out. It was different now, since she was a married woman and every move she made could ruin her reputation.
Louis was extremely patient. He understood her concerns, so did not go in to push her. He had been waiting a long time until she came out. He immediately ridiculed, “I am waiting for you. So you also dare not stand me up.”
Bella smiled tactfully and sat in his car.
Louis then got into the car, but saw her absent-minded. He wanted to reach out to fasten the seat belt for her, but she distantly prevented, “Thank you. I’ll just do it myself.”
He was lost for a moment, but quickly adjusted, “Where are we going to eat?”
“As you like, I’m the host and you’re the guest today.”
“What a rare opportunity! I must think about it.”
In the meantime, Louis raised his sword eyebrows and looked like he was seriously thinking about it.
“Ruby Restaurant.”
Bella looked at him in surprise and whispered, “That’s what I like…
“It’s okay. I like it too.”
She stopped talking, knowing that he liked it because it was what she liked.
Ruby Restaurant was located in the downtown West Yates Road. In the restaurant, there were blue lights, cutlery, tables and chairs, making people have the illusion of being by the Aegean Sea in a trance. With a romantic and beautiful style of decoration, and European flavors of exquisite cuisine, everywhere was filled with Mediterranean style.
They found a window seat to sit down. The waiter delivered the menu, and Bella handed it to Louis, “See what you like to eat.”
Louis also did not excuse, took over and skimmed seriously. Bella was wondering that please don’t order what she liked to eat again.
As a result, he really ordered what she liked to eat. She was a little nervous, wondering, “How did you know?”
“Know what?” Louis looked up.
“My preference.”
“What do you think?” He asked with a smile.
“Did Alice tell you that?”
“Yes.”
Bella stroked the forehead and sighed. She should have thought that no one but Alice would betray her, though she wasn’t reluctant.
Looking out at the window, she unexpectedly saw a familiar car. She was nervous and asked the man across from her uncertainly, “Do you think that car is a Rolls Royce?”
Louis looked out and answered with certainty, “Yes.”
Her heart jumped. It couldn’t be such a coincidence that Kevin was around here…
No, no, absolutely not. He wasn’t the only one driving a Rolls Royce.
Bella denied over and over again. However she was so unlucky. After she saw a familiar car, she immediately look at the familiar figure. Kevin and a strange man walked towards her.
It was too late to hide. She panicked and looked down, taking a chance and praying not to be noticed by him, but it was too late. Kevin had already seen her from the moment he entered the restaurant.
Even with her head down, she could feel he looked chillingly cold. Bella wanted to die. She knew better than anyone how angry Kevin would be when he saw her with Louis.
Last night she slept in his room and was caught, but he did not overly blame her. So she was lucky. But she wouldn’t be lucky every time.
Many times she was unlucky, like, today, right now.
A person with pair of shiny shoes stopped next to where she and Louis sat. Bella knew that there was no way to hide, slowly looked up, met the indifferent eyes of Kevin. She wanted to say something, but she failed. Her throat was dry, besides, at this time what she said was a kind of sophistry.
She was prepared to suffer. Time passed extremely slowly. Kevin paused for a few seconds, and when she thought he would be furious, he silently walked past without saying a word.
His abnormality made Bella extremely uneasy. Although she married him recently, she knew him well. He couldn’t endure to be cheated.
Kevin sat in the row behind her. She stiffly turned back, and felt uneasy when looking at him.
Although he didn’t say anything, he looked more than anger. Bella lost her appetite for dinner, so she apologetically said to Louis, “Let’s change somewhere else, okay?”
Louis nodded thoughtfully, “Good.”
Of course he also saw Kevin, so even if she didn’t propose to leave, considering her situation, he would have proposed so.
Fleeing Ruby Restaurant, standing on the dark street, she had a bit of a headache. Louis drove over, and when she went up, he asked, “Do you want to go home? I’ll give you a ride.”
“But we haven’t had dinner yet.”
“That’s okay. I’m afraid you’re not in the mood to eat with me right now. Let’s put aside.”
Bella was guilty and grateful, nodding woodenly, “Thank you.”
Louis dropped her off outside the gates of the Cloud Mansion, she got out of the car and said guiltily, “I’m really sorry. Next time I’ll invite you again.”
“Good.”
“See you then.”
She waved and turned to walk forward. Under the streetlight, she looked slender and lonely.
“Bella.”
Louis suddenly called out to her, and she turned back in confusion, “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t aggravate yourself if you find it hard. You just need to know that there is someone who will always be waiting for you, no matter how long it takes.”
Bella let out a long sigh and murmured, “I can’t love you, but thank you…”
When she got home, the living room was lively, and she went straight upstairs on the pretext of being uncomfortable. She was tormented and waiting for Kevin to come back to blame her.
Although he didn’t get angry on the spot in the restaurant, she didn’t think he would take it as if it didn’t happen. Maybe it was just because of his identity.
She was absent-mindedly grading a stack of papers. She was scrupulous in separating public from private interests. But she was unable to concentrate on her work for the first time, and she couldn’t read a word of it. She wasn’t afraid of being kicked out and disrupting her plans, but there was an unexplained feeling disturbing her.
Usually if there were no special circumstances, she rested at ten o’clock. But tonight she waited for him to come back. It was eleven o’clock, she was still sitting besides the desk.
Kevin didn’t come back until 11:45. She heard a noise outside the door, and was nervous. She closed her eyes, silently waiting for him scolding.
She waited for ten minutes or so, but there was no movement at all. She got up and pulled the sliding door open a crack to take a peek outside.
Kevin tiredly lay on the couch, not trying to get even with her. Bella struggled for a moment, decided to take the initiative to go out and explain to him. It looked like he was not going to blame her for lying to him, but it was more disturbing instead.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lie to you. Two days ago, Principal Hunter did me a favor. I wanted to invite him to dinner as a token of my appreciation. I was afraid that telling you the truth would cause a misunderstanding, so I had no choice but to lie.”
Bella stood in front of Kevin and frankly told the reason why she had no choice but to lie to him.
Kevin indifferently opened his eyes, and examined her up and down for a moment. He suddenly reached out and dragged her down on the sofa, pressed her back down, and said word by word, gashing his teeth, “You didn’t tell me the truth before. It’s too late to say it now.”
“Are you going to kick me out again?”
“I won’t drive you away. I will just hate you even more than before.”
He let go of her with a sneer, and Bella stood up straight and said calmly, “If hating me can make you feel better, then hate me.”
Kevin wouldn’t know that Bella was not afraid of being hated. Because she was already used to it, since the day she entered the Burne-Browns at the age of eight.
The next day she got up a little late. The Jones-Sharps had breakfast at 7:30. She was late and not in a hurry. It was a weekend. She did not have to go to school, so she changed clothes to go next door to wash and comb cushily. Passing through the Kevin room, she saw a delicately packaged purple gift box in the trash can. She was surprised to pick up, opened it and found a valuable necklace of exquisite workmanship.
It was not likely that such a good necklace was thrown away. But if it was accidentally dropped, it would not fall into the trash. She stood by the door puzzled, and simply put it on the table for him.
When she was about to go out, she skimmed the square gift box again, and a thought crossed her mind. Could that necklace be the one Kevin originally intended to give her?
It seemed impossible, but it was possible. If it wasn’t given to her, why would he throw it away? Even if he had more money, he wouldn’t be so prodigal.
So she walked over, opened the gift box, took out the necklace and put it on her neck.
The door was knocked. She opened the door. May said respectfully, “Young lady, please come downstairs to dine. Everyone is waiting for you.”
Flattered, she asked, “Isn’t it past time for breakfast?”
“Blanche saw you didn’t come downstairs and delayed the meal.”
“Okay, I’ll be right down.”
Bella was touched. Leaving aside that man who hated her, this family really was so good to her.
She hurriedly went downstairs, walked straight to the dining table, and apologized, “Sorry, I’m up late.”
“It’s fine. Young people need to sleep more.” Blanche patted her hand amiably.
“Wow, Bella, your necklace is so beautiful.”
Lena excitedly went to her, bent down to take a closer look, and exclaimed, “Wow, it’s the same as the Luminescence Bliss, which is limited to only ten in the world, and I’ve been dreaming of getting one. Where did you get it from?”
Bella looked awkwardly at Kevin, who was staring at the necklace around her neck with a flash of surprise, and when she stared at him, he looked away coldly and ate his breakfast without mattering.
“Well, are you still short on jewellery? Hurry up and eat.”
Blanche glared at her daughter, and happened to be relieving Bella, who was struggling with how she was going to tell the story of the necklace.
It was so hard for Bella to finish breakfast. She was trying to catch her breath, but the man next to her spoke up, “Come up here with me.”