She was sitting for a long time. Suddenly Patrick came back, walked to her and asked, “What stunned it? Didn’t you see I come home and make me a cup of tea?”
She came back to herself and nodded repeatedly, “Oh, Dad’s back.”
“Go make some tea.”
“Oh okay.”
She got up, went to the kitchen to make a cup of water and handed it to Patrick. He took a sip and quickly spat it out, “Do you want to scald me?”
She apologized guiltily, “Sorry sorry sorry, I’ll make you a new one.”
“No.”
He glared at Lena with great displeasure and went to the door and called out to May, “May, come in and make me a cup of tea.”
Returning to the sofa, he saw Lena staring at the CD on the table and reached over, “What is this? You have been staring at it for a while.”
“It’s nothing.”
Lena was shocked and hurriedly took it back. Patrick became more confused, “What exactly is it? Show it to me.”
Seeing Patrick about to come over, she panicked and without hesitation folded the disc in two, “It’s broken. Don’t try to look at it.”
“You…”
Patrick was so angry and stomped his foot, said, “Half of this month’s allowance will be deducted.”
In the evening after everyone came back, the family sat at the dining table to eat dinner. Lena looked at Bella strangely. Bella had always spoken little, and Kevin was also the same. Lena was the most talkative. But she also did not speak tonight. Blanche could not help but wonder, “How does everyone become mute today?”
They shifted their attention to Lena. She glared, “Why are you all looking at me? There are times when I don’t want to talk, okay?”
“Well, it’s really strange.”
Patrick raised his eyebrows and said casually, “But what exactly was the CD you broke this afternoon? Why do you look so scared and frightened?”
Bella was nervous as if the question was directed at her, and she looked nervously across at Lena, waiting apprehensively for her answer.
“It’s nothing. It’s so annoying that you keep asking me.”
She put the bowl in her hand on the table and went upstairs thoughtfully.
After dinner, Bella knocked on the door of Kevin’s study, and when he said yes, she went in, grabbed his left hand and gently asked, “Is the injury better?”
Kevin smiled gently, “I’ve told you it’s fine. Why aren’t you worried?”
She kissed the back of his hand, “How can I rest assured. I love you with my heart. You’re more important than myself. I don’t want you to get a little hurt.”
Kevin’s fingers trembled lightly. He took her into his lap and sat down, leaned down and kissed her fiercely. Bella did not know if it was an illusion, but felt that it was punitive.
“Kevin, let’s go back to the room, okay…”
Her hands were on his neck. She leaned at him, and whispered.
Kevin turned a deaf ear to her, but ended up biting her so hard that Bella let out a squeal and asked, “Kevin, why are you so hard?”
“Sorry, did you hurt?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought you’d feel no pain, so I let it go a little.”
She looked at him strangely, always feeling something wrong with his statement, but couldn’t figure out what exactly was wrong with it.
“Well, I’ve got to work, so why don’t you go to your room?”
“Are you still going to make it late tonight?”
Kevin focused on the computer display, “Let’s see what happens. You don’t have to wait for me, go to sleep.”
“Alright then.”
Bella nodded glumly, turned to want to leave, walked away and suddenly turned back. She took the initiative to kiss Kevin on his cheek, and said firmly, “The thing I want to do most every day, is to tell you that I love you.”
Love? Kevin sneered in his heart. If he ever believed in love again, he was the dumbest idiot.
It had been three days since Gillian finished sending the delivery, but there was no response at all. She couldn’t help but feel puzzled. It was unreasonable that Kevin should not be indifferent after watching that video.
She thought there was only one possibility that the video was intercepted by Bella after she found out. She grunted angrily and resolutely came to the Cloud Mansion.
She had plenty of backups anyway, and she didn’t believe that it wouldn’t work.
The guards inside the Cloud Mansion recognized her as the young lady’s sister, so they let her in, and she held her head high and walked into the living room, skimming a glance at Blanche sitting on the sofa.
“Auntie, hello.”
Blanche suddenly heard a voice behind her, turned back surprised, saw that the visitor was Gillian, she was briefly stunned, revealing a decent smile, “Oh, so it’s Bella’s sister, please sit down.”
Gillian sat across from her, and made a long story short: “Auntie, I came this time to show you something.”
“What kind of thing?”
She took out a CD from her bag, “Just this. After you watch this, you’ll get to know her more.”
She slipped the disc into the DVD and the picture of Bella was shown. Blanche looked surprised, but she quickly calmed down and quietly saw the video to the end.
“How is it, Auntie? Is it a surprise?”
Blanche didn’t say anything, but got up and pulled out the CD and asked back with a grimace, “Where’s the Data CD?”
“Well? What Data CD?”
“Original Data CD. You order a price. I’ll buy it for any amount.”
Gillian was simply a little unacceptable, “You’re not mistaken, right? Your daughter-in-law is a liar. She lied to your son, and you’re not angry and help her destroy the evidence.”
“That’s a matter for our family not for you to meddle in. Now tell me how much you want?”
“Do you think I’m here to blackmail you? I don’t want money. I want you to punish that liar!”
“If you don’t want money then get the hell out of here, and remember, if you dare to spread this video, there’s trouble for you!”
Gillian was furious. She stood up and her disguised ladylike image was gone, “I’ve never seen a weird old lady like you before!”
She angrily left the Cloud Mansion and unrelentingly drove to the Jones-Sharp Group again. She didn’t believe that no one would care about the content of the video.
When Kevin saw her again, his attitude was very bad, “What are you doing here again?”
“Kevin, I’ll show you something.”
She took out her phone, inside was the original backup. Kevin gloomily looked askance over, and soon heard the conversation between Bella and Alice.
Gillian waited patiently for him to get angry, and he did, but shouted at her, “Have you tossed enough? What do you really want when you deliberately deal with your sister?”
“I just don’t want to see you kept in the dark.”
“It’s my business whether I’m kept in the dark or not. Why do you meddle in?”
Gillian was a little aggrieved, “Even if you’re cheated, is it okay? You’ve clearly seen that my sister only using you to avenge her mother’s death, and you shouldn’t forgive her.”
“Enough!”
Kevin slammed her phone to the ground, and the intact phone fell apart, “Now get out of my sight, right now!”
Gillian was shocked by his furious attitude. She was angry and annoyed, grabbed the bad phone on the floor, crying and ran out of the office.
Kevin clenched his fists, and the wrapped wound ruptured again. Blood seeped out. He covered his chest, and was sad to discover that three years later, he was still hurt for a woman.
This night, he didn’t go home. Bella waited for him all night, and his cell phone couldn’t be reached. Until dawn, he called her back, “I drank too much last night and slept in Alvin’s house.”
She answered faintly. There was no argument, no questioning. She said in a very calm tone. She suddenly felt that she lost the qualification to be sad.
When she came downstairs, Blanche asked her as kindly as usual, “Are you free today?”
“Yes, mom.”
“Well then, go with mom to the mountain and burn incense. It’s been a long time since we’ve visited the Bodhisattva.”
She nodded and followed Blanche to King Hills.
The temple on the mountain was ringing heavy bells. They smelled the strong scent of sandalwood. Blanche was generous, and brought many precious gifts every time. The holy monks in the temple were naturally polite to her. She knelt in front of the Buddha statue, kowtowed three times in respect, and folded her hands in sincere prayer, “Thank the gods, for giving me a good daughter-in-law. She saved my son, on the Equivalent to saving our Jones-Sharp family. I swear to the gods that I will treat my daughter-in-law well in this life.”
Bella was listening to Blanche’s words and felt guilty, always feeling that she had failed to live up to her affection.
“Bella, will you stay by Kevin’s side forever?”
“Yes.”
“And you won’t hurt him, right?”
“… Yes.”
“Good, now then, kneel and swear to the gods that you will not leave your husband, nor will you let him suffer any harm.”
Bella was surprised. She didn’t understand what Blanche was trying to do, but she knelt and narrated as Blanche had said.
Out of the hall of Buddha statues, they went to the back garden. Blanche walked in front, and she followed behind, “You have already made a vow in front of the gods, so I hope that you will do what you said. You promise you will never leave my son in this life, nor will you let him suffer a little harm no matter why you married him in the first place. ”
Bella stopped pacing, and her face turned pale, “Mom…”
Blanche turned around, “No matter what your reason is, I can forgive you. I just hope that in the future you will live well with my son and not think about things that you shouldn’t.”
Her tears instantly fell, “I’m sorry to disappoint you, mom.”
“I’m not disappointed. The only thing I’m worried about is you giving up on my son. Everyone makes mistakes, and I also believe there must be a reason you made that choice in the first place. The past is the past. Now, all you have to do is keep your promise at this moment. Never, ever, let my son know your secret.”
“Mother, do even you think I should keep it a secret?” Bella tearfully questioned.
“Yes, you must.”
“Why? Why does it have to be like this? I can’t hold on…”
Blanche pressed her shoulders in pain, “You must hold on. Do you know what will happen when he finds out about this? I know my son better than you do. He will be devastated, and will never be able to love again. He will be completely disappointed in life. For the past three years, I have clearly seen how he suffered. Now he gets rid of his love wounds. Do I have to see him suffer again?”
Blanche also cried. Bella was so heartbroken that she hugged Blanche, “Mom, what should I do? What should I do…”
Blanche and Bella hugged and cried. Bella never thought that she would be sad for anything except her mother.
Life was like a story, as if everything was arranged.
It was evening when they got home. Kevin still had not come back, and Bella had not seen him for a whole day. After eating dinner, she called him, “Are you still not off work?”
“I’m socializing. What’s up?”
She was silent and then she said, “Nothing, I just miss you.”
“I’ll be home at about nine o’clock.”
“Good, drink less wine.”
But Kevin still drank a lot of wine and didn’t return until ten o’clock. Bella saw the familiar headlights from afar and ran over, but it was the car driven by Alvin.
“Kevin is drunk.”
Alvin pulled open the passenger door, lifted one of Kevin’s arms and took him out of the car, and after a brief moment of consternation, Bella hurried forward, “I’ll do it.”
She strenuously racked Kevin upstairs, and when she reached the room, Kevin looked at her in fascination, “Bella, are you crying? Why are your eyes so puffy?”
“Then why are you drinking so much?”
She looked down and questioned in a small voice.
“I drink because I want to, so why are you crying, then? Is it because you want to cry?”
“Yes, I want to cry.”
“Why do you want to cry? You’ve managed to steal my heart. Why do you want to cry …”
Bella didn’t want to talk about this topic with him, “I’ll run a bath for you.”
She rushed into the bathroom, closed the door, and shed tears. She guessed that Kevin seemed to know something, but did not dare to speculate deeper. She got up and stood next to the mirror, condemned herself, “Do you know, you’re becoming more and more cowardly now, before you just did not have the courage to confess, but now, you do not even have the courage to speculate. Bella, you are really useless…”
The bathroom door was opened, and Kevin drunkenly asked, “Is the bath ready?”
She quickly turned her back, wiped away the tears, and turned around again, “Well, okay.”
Kevin walked in, took off all his clothes in front of her, and then lay down in the bathtub. Bella didn’t dare to look at him, and was about to move out when his arm reached out and dragged her whole body into the bathtub.
Bella let out a panicked scream and asked him in the water, “What are you doing?”
Her clothes were all wet, and she was lying in his arms, tightly circled by him in an ambiguous position. She was unable to move. Kevin smiled evilly, “This isn’t a swimming pool. You don’t need to be afraid.”
“You let go of me. I’m still wearing clothes.”
“I’ll take them off for you.”
“Don’t.”
Bella struggled hard to escape his hold. He was suddenly a little angry, “I’ve seen every part of your body. Are you still embarrassed?”
“No, I…”
She sighed, wanting to say something but couldn’t, so she had to compromise, “Alright, you do whatever you want.”
Kevin rolled her over and quickly took off the clothes she was wearing. He asked again, “Bella, is there anything you want to say to me or not?”