Bella’s eyelashes quivered, “What about you? And will you feel sad that I’m leaving?”
“If I say yes, will you stay?”
“No.”
Bella answered him very firmly, and was disappointed, “When every time I longed for you to ask me to stay, I’m disappointed when you didn’t do that. You had a saying that was right, ‘You don’t have much self-respect, so you’ll have to save it.’ From now on, I’m going to save my self-respect and stop wishing for something that doesn’t belong to me.”
Kevin watched as Bella left, obviously wanting to say something, but he didn’t.
Bella did not go back to the Burne-Brown family. Now that they all knew her purpose of replacing for her sister to marry without hesitation, they would not treat her well even more.
She muddled in the street. The city was very big, but there was no place where she could feel at ease to settle down. Louis made two phone calls to her, but she hung up. Now she did not want to see anyone and say anything. She only wanted to be alone quietly, and to clear all the matters.
It was getting late and there were fewer pedestrians on the road, and homeless women like her were rarer than dinosaurs.
Occasionally a few passersby passed her, all looking her up and down with extremely surprised eyes, like measuring the state protected animals that escaped from the zoo. In their eyes, beautiful women never worry about being alone, but except Bella.
In the end, she still couldn’t endure being peeped at like a national treasure, and came to Alice’s house. Alice opened the door and questioned, “Do you take me here as a shelter?”
“If you don’t take me in, I will have nowhere to go.”
She snatched up Bella’s luggage, mumbling as she walked inside, “I really haven’t seen you like this. You have in-laws and your own family, and you’re still staying into my place. You’re irritating me.”
“Your home is better than theirs. I can feel at ease when staying here.”
“What is it again tonight? Let me guess.”
Alice sat down beside her and put her hands to her chin, and guessed wildly, “It must have been that Kevin was furious when he heard that you were going to Paris to further your studies, and he wouldn’t let you go. And then you broke out into an unprecedented quarrel. At the end, he pointed at the door and said, ‘Well, if you want to go, go now. I don’t ever want to see you!’ You really leave with your luggage finally …”
“Don’t you think your imagination is a little too vivid?”
“No, but I do think my imagination has always been pretty close to the truth.”
“Then I’m sorry to tell you that your guesses don’t match up.”
Alice got in the mood, “So what’s the truth? You quickly tell me.”
“The truth is just the opposite. When Kevin found out that I was going to further my studies, instead of being unhappy, he also showed me great support and wanted me to never come back.”
“No way…”
Alice couldn’t accept it, “Is this guy so cold-blooded? Then wouldn’t your heart be broken?”
“It doesn’t matter. My heart has been broken for a long time.”
Louis called again, and she resolutely hung up, but the attentive Alice curled her lip, “Why didn’t you answer? Of course it’s good that I don’t exist.”
“It’s not because of you that I refuse to answer his calls, but because I know very well that I don’t love him.”
Alice smiled to herself, “What a drama! You chase Kevin, while Louis chases you, and that Kevin loves someone else. Love is really chilling, always hurting everyone who desires it.”
“Why don’t you say that you chase Louis?”
“What’s the point of mentioning me? I’m insignificant to him.”
“That’s because you’ve never let him know that you’re always behind him.”
“So what if he knows? Will he look back at me?”
“It’s his business to turn to you or not, but it’s your business to say it or not. If you don’t want to live your life with regrets, then be brave and say it. Even if you’re rejected, it’s okay. At least, no more regrets.”
“Is that why you confessed to Kevin?”
“Yes.”
Alice sighed, “It’s a pity I’m not as brave as you are. These past few years, I’ve clearly watched how Louis is devoted to you. His deep love for you has long since worn out all my courage.”
Bella was gloomy. She knew very well how Alice loved Louis, and how Louis loved her. She knew very well how she loved Kevin either.
Kevin didn’t sleep for the whole night because of her leaving. And when he closed his eyes, it was as if he saw Bella’s condemning gaze, condemning his ruthlessness, and heartlessness.
In the blink of an eye, it was time to leave.
In the meantime, Kevin hadn’t called her and she hadn’t called him. Her uncle had taken her aunt to W City. Richard still called occasionally to urge her. Lena and Blanche had asked her to meet them a few times, but they had all been turned down by her.
Because here were the people you can’t forget, just like Anni said, “If you love a city, because the city lives in the people you like.”
The night before her departure, Bella walked almost half of B City by herself until she was exhausted. She sat in a small milk tea shop and unexpectedly, received a call from Kevin.
“Is it convenient? Come out and meet me.”
Kevin asked her.
She struggled for a long time, obviously wanting to refuse, but she agreed, “Okay, where are we going to meet?”
It turned out that in the deepest recesses of her heart, she still wanted to see the cold-blooded man at the last moment of her departure.
“The Snow Mountain Park. I’m nearby.”
Bella was surprised, because she was also near the Snow Mountain Park. How could it be such a coincidence that Kevin had chosen the location here?
Hanging up the phone, she left the milk tea shop and walked 200 meters forward to the gate of the Snow Mountain Park.
She looked left and right, but she didn’t see Kevin, and was about to call him, when her shoulder was tapped by someone.
Not looking back, and knowing who was behind her, Bella felt touched, and suddenly, had the urge to cry.
“What are you doing here?”
She sniffed and asked faintly.
“I drive by here by accident and see someone I know, so I stop.”
“Where is the person you see?”
Bella hadn’t realized that the person Kevin was referring to was her.
“She’s here.”
She was startled and looked down, “I haven’t seen you for a few days. You’ve got a lot of humor.”
“You’ve gotten a lot sillier.”
They walked side by side to the park, their feet on fist-sized cobblestones. Bella was the first to break the silence, “Say what you want to say.” She sat down on a chair by the side of the road.
Kevin also sat down and asked her leisurely, “How have you been the past two days?”
“Good.”
“You’re leaving tomorrow, right? Do you want me to give you a ride?”
“No.”
“Do you have everything for the trip?”
“Yes.”
“Remember to take care of yourself when you’re abroad, and call me if you have any problems.”
“Okay.”
“If you want to come back, we’re always here for you.”
“Thanks.”
Bella looked down, holding back the sadness in her heart.
Kevin seemed to have finished what he wanted to say, and for a moment, they all fell silent. After a while, Bella was about to get up and leave, but he spoke again, “Everyone will miss you, my father, my mother, my sister… and me.”
Turning her head slightly sideways, Bella quickly wiped away her tears.
“I’ll miss all the people who miss me.”
Kevin took out his wallet from his suit and pulled out a golden card, “Take this. There is no limit to the amount of money in it. Treat yourself well in foreign countries,. You can buy whatever you like.”
“No, I don’t need money.”
“Take it.”
He shoved it into her hand, and said meaningfully, “I’m sorry.” And then he couldn’t say anything else.
“Okay, I’ll take it. You can go back.”
Bella wanted to cry very much, but didn’t want to cry in front of Kevin. She couldn’t let him to see her helplessness once.
“I’ll walk you.”
“No, I’ll go back by myself.”
Kevin knew that she wanted to be alone to calm down, so it was not good to force her. He squatted down and patted her head, “You’re kind, take care.” Suddenly, he embraced her into his arms, giving her a parting hug that she would never forget.
“Take care.”
Bella tightly bit her lip, looking tearful. Kevin was still gone finally. Looking at his distant back, she shed tears finally.
Love really couldn’t be forced to come.
Returning home, Kevin was incomparably lost, as if he had lost something important, making him become wooden and wandering.
Late at night, he couldn’t sleep, and came to Bella’s room, turned on the light of her bedside lamp, looked at the bed she had slept in, the quilt she had covered, the books she had turned over, and the bread she had eaten half without finishing. These all made him sad. He first began to seriously ponder if Matt liked Mathilda, the first woman he met, or Kathy, the woman later appeared in his life and never left him alone.