“That’s why I’m always bullying you, because I hate it when people treat me like I’m gay.”
“It’s your behavior that makes people misunderstand. If you don’t want people to misunderstand, you should tell people loudly that I’m not gay. If you don’t want to explain many times, you can make an announcement on the TV that I am Kevin, because I hate women, so I don’t sleep with women. But I am in no way gay, and my sexual orientation is welcome to be identified by professionals.”
Bella finished ridiculing and covered her mouth and laughed. Kevin got up in frustration and grabbed her by the neck, “You get bolder. How dare you make fun of me. Shall I throw you into the sea and feed you to the fish?”
“Don’t do that. I’m just kidding.”
Bella pursed her lips but still couldn’t help but laugh. Kevin saw her laughing non-stop, and raised his eyebrows, “Do you like to laugh a lot? Well, then I’ll make you laugh!”
He tucked his two hands under her armpits and tickled her vigorously. Bella laughed non-stop, and rolled on the beach for several times, and finally raised her hands, “I surrender. I promise I won’t dare again.”
Only then did Kevin let her go, pointing at her forehead and warning, “Next time you dare to doubt my sexual orientation, I will find ten eunuchs to have fun with you.”
Bella lay on the beach breathing heavily. It was the first time she and Kevin got along so well, so happily. She unconsciously smiled, “You are malicious. Can you look for eunuchs these days, let alone ten of them?”
“I can just take you through time.”
Kevin replied lazily with his eyes closed.
“If you’re really that capable, you can take me to the Yuan Dynasty. I’m going to find Matt.”
Bella said softly.
“Find him for what?”
“I had a crush on him as a kid.”
Giggled.
Kevin explained, “Why do you have a crush on that playboy?”
“No, he’s just very popular with the girls, and the only person he’s ever loved is Kathy.”
“You’re wrong. The one he loved should have been Mathilda.”
“You’re the one who’s wrong. He didn’t love that witch at all.”
Bella turned sideways and said with her face towards him, “At the end of Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, Mathilda once asked Matt which one of Odetta, Nona, Kathy and her he truly loved. All sorts of feelings well up in Matt’s mind. He remembered asking himself the same question. But he only felt that if he could stay happy with the four girls together. However, things had changed. Odetta went to Persia to become a priest. Cousin Nona died. Mathilda went astray. Only Kathy had been accompanied by his side. Although there had been misunderstandings during the period, he loved and hated Kathy, he had bee missing her. However, Mathilda always made him waver and never be able to face up to his own feelings. Until that moment, when Kathy left without saying goodbye, he finally realized that he was unwilling to part with her and couldn’t live without her. So, he also finally found that he was always respected Mathilda, being grateful to Nona, pitying Odetta, but he loved Kathy.”
Kevin suddenly opened his eyes, meaningfully asked her, “Is it your own analysis? Or did Matt, his old man, tell you that?”
Bella couldn’t look him in the eye because looking at him made her feel panicky.
“It’s my own analysis, but it’s also the truth.”
Kevin sighed and suddenly said in a lonely manner, “Does every woman have a dream like this when she is young and marry a hero like Matt?”
“Hey, did anyone else besides me has a crush on him too?”
Kevin was silent, and after a long time, when Bella all thought if he was asleep, he said leisurely, “I once knew a woman who was also madly infatuated with Matt when she was young.”
Bella was nervous and she knew that the woman must be Freya. Because Blanche had said that Freya was the only woman her son was willing to love and be close to.
“It’s not that Matt is too good, but every girl has a dream of being a princess. Some girls like Levi, while others like Kenneth. And some like Kent. It doesn’t matter who the male lead is. The important thing is that they all appeared in the era that the young girl longed for.”
“What about now? Are you still envisioning?”
Bella curled her lip, “I stopped longing long ago.”
“Then why do you still want to see Matt?”
“I want to embarrass you. He’s just an illusory character that you wouldn’t be able to find even if you did have the ability to travel time.”
“So knowing he’s an illusory character, you don’t have a crush on him anymore, right?”
“It’s not that I no longer have a crush on him, but that I no longer go back to our childhood princess dreams.”
Bella gazed at the star-filled sky and said with realization, “Once upon a time, when we gazed at the brilliant starry river overhead, we don’t shed tears for the Cowherd and the Weaving Maid … Because we grew up, we stopped believing in fairy tales…”
Whether it was Matt or Kent, once upon a time, they were just fairy tales.
——
What Kevin said was true. Lena was still crying and fussing the first night, acting as if she could not wait to break off her relationship with her brother. The next day she was laughing and joking, not remembering anything, as if there had never been a quarrel at all.
“Bella, the day after tomorrow is my brother’s birthday.”
Bella was busy going out, nodding, “Well, I know.”
“Then you…”
“I’ll see to it.”
Richard had just called her and had brought her ID card over to get it as soon as possible. So she didn’t have time to talk too much with Lena, and rushed out the door.
“Hey, I haven’t finished talking yet. Why did you leave…”
When Bella arrived at the appointed place, Richard was already waiting there. He handed her ID card and said, “How are things being handled here?”
Bella looked down, “It’s being sorted out.”
She was secretly planning how to destroy the evidence in Richard’s hands that threatened her uncle.
It would be easy enough to simply divorce Kevin. But whether it was in the past or now, she didn’t want to divorce. In the past, she wanted to exploit him. But now it was because… she had fallen in love with him.
Richard was obviously not satisfied with her answer. His face fell, “Does divorce take so long?”
“I have my reasons for everything I do, and I think you know all my encounters.”
“Yes, but now that you’re grown up. I can’t understand.”
“Then don’t push me so hard. You at least give me to have enough time to sort it out.”
Richard sneered, “How do I know if you’re sorting it out if I give you time, or if you’re thinking of how to deal with me again.”
Bella was immediately nervous, “You think too much. I never think of dealing with you since you’re a benefactor.”
“It’s better like this.”
Richard looked at her with warning.
“I’m going to the bathroom.”
Bella was feeling a little hard. She was just a weak woman. No matter how strong she pretended, there would be times when she was vulnerable, not to mention that she was not facing only an opponent, Richard.
After washing her face, she was back to the teahouse. Richard pointed to the phone she had forgotten by the table, “You have a call just now. I answered it for you.”
She frowned and quickly read the call records. Her face instantly fell and she questioned angrily, “What did you say to him?”
“Don’t worry. I just said he made a typo. I didn’t say anything wrong.”
Richard took a leisurely sip of tea.
“How can you just answer my phone? It’s an invasion of my privacy.”
Bella was really angry.
“What’s wrong with me answering the phone for you when you’re not here? You may not angry with that I answered your call, but who called you, right?”
“What are you guessing again? Even if I’m not here, you shouldn’t have answered my phone and said it was a wrong number. How can I explain it to him? Richard, you disappoint me so much!”
Richard slammed the ceramic cup in his hand onto the table, gnashing his teeth and saying, “You know the truth yourself. Don’t think that I don’t know anything. Two days ago you guys were cuddling in the modern shopping mall in T city and took the lift back and forth dozens of times. Do you dare to say that you didn’t fall in love with him?”
Bella was shocked, and for the first time felt that the man before her was frightening. Since he knew her as well as her shadow.
They argued for a long time, and in the end, Bella left angrily.
All of this was clearly seen by Kevin in the opposite teahouse. Although he couldn’t hear what they were saying, it wasn’t hard to tell from their expressions that they were arguing.
Solomon Street was an ancient street, scattered with no less than a dozen teahouses. It was so coincidental. Kevin met Bella here, but Bella being worried did not notice him.