The waiter brought the menu. Kevin looked at her and let her order, but she pushed it to him, “You order. I’m not familiar with this place. I don’t know what’s delicious.”
He didn’t push it and casually flipped it over, and pointed out a few specialties. Bella stared at him without turning away. Until he closed the menu and looked up abruptly to meet her gaze, she was too embarrassed and looked away.
“Say what you want to say.”
Kevin saw her desire to say something.
“I’m just a little curious. Why did you suddenly suggest coming out to eat?”
“You can eat in my kitchen but I can’t come out to eat here.”
Bella was shaking her head, “That’s not true. I just didn’t expect you to have a habit of snacking as well.”
“You couldn’t expect everything.”
Kevin pointed towards the wine cabinet, “Would you like to have a few drinks?”
“No.”
Thinking of the last drunken indiscretion, she refused without even thinking about it.
The waiter was very efficient to bring the food, which was all exquisite, and it looked appetizing. Bella had almost fainted from hunger, and picked up the chopsticks and ate.
“How is it?”
“Great.”
“Compared to instant noodles?”
“So much better.”
She smiled brightly, and Kevin, looking a little lost in thought, suddenly said, “Have a child.”
Pfft….
She almost sprayed out a mouthful of hot soup. She looked up in shock and stammered, “Who… who will have a child?”
“What do you think?” He raised his eyebrows.
“Do you mean I have a child with you?”
“Of course.”
Bella was shocked and had the feeling that the world was coming to an end. The man who treated women like cockroaches had offered to have a child, which was hard to believe and sincerely frightening.
“But you don’t love me.”
“Who says you have to be in love to have a baby?”
“Then I will be a reproductive tool.”
“So are you reluctant?”
She smiled nervously, “I just think you should think about it a little more carefully. I don’t think you’re quite sober right now.”
“What if I’m sober now and considering it carefully?”
“Then you allow me to think about it. Everyone has to be mentally prepared for it.”
Kevin nodded, “Okay, I’ll give you three days to think about it, and answer me then.”
“Three days?” She widened her eyes, “Is it too short?”
“Too short? Shall I give you thirty years then?”
“Thirty years? That’s too long, too…”
“Yeah, that’s why I don’t mind giving you a little more time to think about it, just in case you can’t give birth to a child by then.”
“Whether I can’t give birth or not is a small thing. You divorce frequently. If you change the period from three months to thirty years, you will suffer a lot.”
The first round of the verbal battle was declared over after Kevin rolled his eyes at her and said she really know him.
After filling their stomachs, they left the restaurant, and Bella looked at her watch, but it was already two o’clock in the morning.
She sighed. This was still her first time to stay up late. She had always been disciplined about how she ran her life, never knew and did not want to know what the nightlife was like after twelve o’clock. She stood in the moonlight and starlight, and suddenly felt preciously quiet.
At least this tranquility was extremely rare in the noisy city during the daytime.
“What are you looking at? Let’s go.”
Kevin had gotten into the car and saw Bella looking up overhead like a fool, and reminded her to get in the car impatiently.
“Oh, okay.”
She quickly pulled the door open and got in, looking straight ahead, “Okay, let’s go.”
“That.”
Kevin signaled with his eyes that she hadn’t tied her seat belt, and she waved languidly, “It’s fine, we’ll be home in a few minutes, and there’s no traffic cop in the middle of the night.”
“Don’t put too much faith in my driving skills. As you said, I might not be sober right now.”
He said, and suddenly leaned over and reached out to tie up the seat belt for her. His action brought back the fuzzy memory of Bella. She remembered the last time they came out to eat together, he was also so close to her. Only at that time, she could touch his features fearlessly due to her drunkenness. But this time, she held her breath and froze still.
The car drove away. Bella inexplicably felt hot, and opened the car window,. She poked her head out to enjoy the breeze caressing her face.
After a short while, it was really unable to hold back the doubts in her heart, turning back to ask a question, “Why did you propose to have a child?”
“You guess.”
Kevin gave her a meaningful glance.
She pondered for a few seconds, uncertainly guessing, “Maybe you’re in love with me and want me to be the end of your marriage.”
“My god,” Kevin was seriously shocked.
“What? No?”
“It’s out-dated.”
Bella rolled her eyes and mumbled, “Then don’t make me guess, or you don’t think it out-dated. A man proposes to have a child with a woman,. What else do you think he wants besides to grow old with that woman and form a complete family?”
“That’s what normal men think, but am I a normal man?”
Kevin retorted. She was dumbfounded. That was right. How could she analyze an abnormal man with her normal mind.
Without being on the same wavelength, they both fell silent.
When the car was about to drive to the front of the house, he suddenly spoke a nonsensical sentence, “Because you’re smart.”
“What?”
Bella was a bit confused.
“Didn’t you ask my reason for proposing a child? This is the reason. Because you’re smart enough to be qualified to conceive my offspring.”
“So, you just want a smart child and don’t care who the mother is?”
“It can be understood that way.”
Bella took a deep breath. Such a reply made her extremely unhappy. He made it clear that she was being used as a fertility tool.
“Then you’re overestimating me. I’m not as smart as you think I am. You can tell from the fact that I guessed your thoughts wrong.”
Kevin smiled disapprovingly, “No matter how smart you are, there are still times when you can’t guess what others are thinking. It’s not that the person who guesses isn’t smart, but the person who is guessed is too weird.”
“Why do you think I’m smart? Is it because of my profession as a teacher that you think I have a higher IQ than others?”
“Career is one reason, but some certain things can prove it.”
“Such as?”
“You could get your father to donate ten million to charity.”
Bella stroked her forehead and sighed, “That’s not clever, but playing tricks, and it’s a terrible thing to do.”
“It takes a clever person to play tricks.”
“It is not good parenting, and most parents want their children to be true, honest and open-minded.”
“Most people’s hope does not represent my position. As a descendant of the Jones-Sharps, from birth, he is destined to shoulder the heavy responsibility of the business empire, and rightfully so, playing tricks is indispensable wisdom.”
Bella was completely speechless. It seemed that she was not as scary as he was.
The car stopped and they got off. Kevin used to walk in front, with Bella following closely behind.
“Don’t step on my shadow.”
He suddenly turned back, coldly warning.
Bella was speechless again. Was he so picky? It was fine not to be allowed to walk side by side, not even allowed to step on shadows. She began to fantasize, if she did have a child with this man, how annoying might the child be….
“I have another question. What would I do if I did have a baby?”
Kevin was confused about what she meant, and she elaborated in a different way, “In other words, how are you going to settle me down?”
“You?” He shrugged, “You go to where you come from.”
“No, can’t you stand to leave a child without a mother?”
Bella was going to be helpless again. How freak!
“What’s wrong with being motherless? Alvin doesn’t grow up without a father or mother, and his IQ index is no lower than anyone else’s.”
“…….”When the conversation got disagreeable, to say one word more was a waste of breath
Reaching upstairs, before Bella went into the secret, she turned back and asked, “Are your previous several wives all idiots? Or are there smart ones that just won’t help you have a baby?”
“I’m not clear if they are idiots or not. Since I haven’t had much contact with them. But you’re more special.”
Bella was nervous and feigned casualness, continued, “Why am I special?”
“You don’t seem very annoying, and there’s no burden in getting along. So, we are relatively close.”
Thank goodness, he finally said something to make her feel better.
“Tell me the story of your ex-wives. I’ve actually been quite curious about them.”
Bella ran up to Kevin, relying on the fact that they were getting along well tonight, so she was bold, assuredly challenging him on his bottom line.
“Do I know you well? Are you sitting on my bed like this right now?”
“I’m the mother of your future child, so we’re familiar. Go ahead, say it.”
“Okay, don’t push your luck, go back to your house.”
Kevin resolutely drove her away, but Bella did not take it seriously, still unswervingly pestered him.
Tired of being pestered by her, he took off his clothes and laid down on the bed, patted the empty space beside him and said, “If you want to listen so much, then sleep over, we’ll talk while we do it.”