Blanche awkwardly stared at her daughter, “You’re not married. How can you talk so rashly.”
“Hey, mom, it is not the seventies now. The primary school students are starting to fall in love. I just say something fair. Forget it. There is a generation gap.”
Lena got up, “Bella, let’s go together. Otherwise, there will be no one to save you.”
Bella smiled gently, “It’s okay, you go first. We’re not going in the same direction anyway.”
“Then I’ll go.”
“Fine.”
As soon as Lena left, Blanche sighed heavily, “You go. Don’t be late for work.”
Bella really didn’t want to see an old woman disappointed, but she was helpless, “Mom, I understand your feelings, but there’s no hurry about having a baby. I think it’s more important now is to let him get over the shadow of the past as soon as possible.”
On the way to school, Bella repeatedly thought about a question. last night she clearly warned herself that she must never let Kevin fall in love with her, but what was she doing this morning? Why did she tell him about her claustrophobia? And why did she promise to Blanche from the bottom of her heart that she would never leave?
When she said those words again, and made those decisions, did she still remember the original intention of marrying him?
The day passed quickly, and after school in the afternoon, Bella and Alice left the school side by side. She looked down and Alice beside her suddenly exclaimed, “Wow, that went well.”
“What?”
She asked nonsensically.
“Look over there.”
Looking over there, Bella suddenly opened her eyes wide and asked incredulously, “Is that Kevin?”
“Yeah, you don’t even know your own husband!”
It wasn’t that she didn’t know him, she just found it unbelievable that Kevin would appear in front of her school.
Kevin was wearing a pair of sunglasses, leaning on the car with his hands around his chest, looking handsome, attracting the attention of many girls.
Seeing them approaching, he reached out and opened one side of the car door, and Bella looked at him a few times blankly, and sat in without asking anything.
“Do you want to come along?”
Kevin asked Alice, who was shaking her head, “No, no, my house is nearby.”
She winked at Bella and walked away meaningfully.
He started the engine. Bella could not endure the dreary atmosphere, feigning casualness, “Are you passing by here?”
“Yes.”
He responded indifferently. What a proud man! Even if he had come on purpose, he didn’t want to admit it.
It was hard to break the silence, but it was deadlocked again because of his bland response.
After a while, Bella spoke again, but reminded him, “You’re not driving in the wrong direction. This doesn’t seem to be the way home.”
“We’re not going home.”
“Then where are we going?” She asked nervously.
Kevin glanced at her indifferently, and said impatiently, “What are you afraid of? You’ll not be sold.”
The wind on the midsummer night was blowing on people’s faces, like the feeling of silk slipping through, soft and warm.
Bella did not expect Kevin actually brought her to the boisterous open-air food stall. She got out of the car, she blinked blankly, “Why did you come here?”
“Nonsense, we have dinner of course.”
Kevin went forward and she followed, picking a clean seat and sitting down casually.
“What would you like to eat?”
The smiling owner with an apron came over and smoothly served up a well-worn menu.
“You order it.”
Kevin pushed the menu in front of her. It wasn’t easy to be able to still retain a gentleman’s demeanor in a place like this.
Bella simply ordered two meat dished and two vegetables and closed the menu, “Thank you, that’s all.”
“Alright, wait a moment.”
When the boss left, she suddenly giggled. Kevin frowned, “What are you laughing at?”
“I didn’t think you’d come to a place like this for dinner.”
“Is it strange? Not everything in this world comes to your mind.”
She shrugged, “It’s just unbelievable.”
“I’m afraid I’m being scolded for being stingy, but wouldn’t you feel ashamed to be brought to such a cheap place to eat by your rich husband?”
“No.”
Bella shook her head and said with a smile, “Compared to those five-star hotels, or famous restaurants, the open-air stall becomes the place where you and I go on our first date. It’s definitely unforgettable.”
“This isn’t a date. You and I aren’t close and loving to each other yet.”
“Then what is this? Why are we sitting here now?”
“It’s dinner. Don’t tell me you can’t eat together if we’re not intimate, then I’ll ask you what your relationship is with Louis.”
“Louis and I are friends, so are you going to treat me as a friend too?”
Bella asked slyly. The man was so repulsed by women that it was incredibly hard to be his friend.
“I have vowed to never be friends with a woman again in my life, so I’m going to make an exception for you today.”
Kevin extended his hand, “Congratulations, from this moment on, you become my unique friend of the opposite sex.”
“That’s exciting, unique friend. I think I should go buy a lottery ticket later. There’s a good chance I’ll win the jackpot.”
Bella smiled happily. She knew that Kevin would be friends with her, because he was grateful that she didn’t choose to leave when he was in a mess. It was a way to preserve his self-respect.
“To celebrate us becoming friends, we must enjoy drinking tonight.”
She shouted to the busy boss, “Bring us ten beers.”
“Isn’t that too much?”
Kevin glared at her, really not seeing she was a heavyweight.
“Not much, if a grown man can’t drink ten bottles of beer, he’s simply not a man.”
He smiled, “It’s the first time you’ve come to a place like this, right?”
“What do you think?”
Kevin looked her up and down for a few times. In fact, since the marriage until now, he really seldom looked at her properly.
“It should be the first time. Although your family is not a plutocrat, but it’s still considered a rich family, better off than many people.”
“If you think that the daughter of such a family wouldn’t come to such a place, then you’re wrong. I’ve been here more often than the daughter of a poor family.”
Bella’s eyes blurred, as if she saw her seven-year-old self, sweating and following her mother as she washed the never-ending greasy dishes.
“It can’t be, can it?”
Kevin looked incredulous. He didn’t believe that Bella would come to this place often. She was also a daughter of a rich family.
Realizing that she didn’t behave herself, Bella quickly adjusted herself and casually said, “What’s strange? A rich and wealthy son like you can come here. Isn’t it more normal for the daughter of a small merchant to come?”
“Don’t compare with me. I’m a man and you’re a woman. As the saying goes, a woman must be brought up blithely. It’s only natural that I come here, but it’s very abnormal for you to come here.”
Bella’s life had been abnormal from the beginning.
“Well, let’s not talk about that. Let’s eat. The food’s getting cold.”
Bella poured a large glass of beer and held it up, “Cheers.”
She gulped it down, then poured another cup and drank it all in one gulp. Kevin was shocked by her actions and asked in a deep voice, “Does Wilson often take his daughter out to socialize?”
“No, what’s wrong?”
“So why are you heavyweight?”
“It’s only two beers. I’m not that heavyweight. You’ve never seen a woman like me, have you?”
Kevin grinned, “Yeah, I never seen it.”
Time passed and they did not eat much dishes, but the wine was drunk quite a lot, mostly by Bella alone, and gradually, she was a little drunk.
“It’s late, let’s go back.”
Kevin raised his right wrist and looked at the Rolex watch on his wrist.
“Is it late?” Bella looked around, “There are quite a few people.”
“There will be people in the night stalls no matter how late it is. Are you willing to wait until everyone is gone?”
“You have a few more drinks. I’m especially happy today. It’s been a long time since I came to this place. Thank you for bringing me here and bringing back some memories that I can’t forget.”
Bella was clearly speaking drunkenly, yet she seemed to be sad.
“What memories that can’t be forgotten? Could it be… that you’ve been abandoned by men too?”
“You think everyone is as unlucky as you are.”
Kevin looked upset, and Bella sobered up, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. You pretend I didn’t say anything. You didn’t hear anything.”
“It’s fine. I’m not as fragile as you think, and besides-” He glared at her, “I wouldn’t bother with a drunken lunatic either.”
“No, you’re the drunken lunatic.”
Bella opened the last bottle of beer and squinted, pouring in the glass, swaying and spilling half of it on the table.
“Well, don’t drink it. It’s really time to go.”
Kevin stopped her, but she haphazardly pushed, “Don’t urge me. It’s all bought by money, drink up before you go.”
“Are you going to leave or not?”
He had run out of patience and finally threatened, “If you don’t leave on my count of three, don’t blame me for being heartless, you know I’ll leave you here alone.”
“No, now that we’re friends, you’ll never do that.”
She was challenging his bottom line. Kevin stood up, and really just walked away without worrying her.
Walking out of that downtown area, on the spacious road, there was his car parked. He took out a car key from his pocket and was about to open the car door, but he was hesitated. Did he really leave that woman who was already drunk here?
After a brief hesitation and struggle, he finally had compassion on her and walked back…