Bella turned back slowly. Her eyes blurred by tears and rain, so she was not quite clear enough to see a figure standing on the shore waving at her. She froze briefly and continued walking, but the voice behind her sounded again, “Girl, can you take me with you if you’re going to die?”
Bella was startled again, seeing that the figure had even jumped down. She even walked back, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, and finally saw that the person calling out to her was a tattered beggar, in his sixties. Because of hunger, he was actually skinny.
“What are you doing?”
Her voice was hoarse.
“Do you go to die? Can you take me with you? I’ve wanted to die many times, but each time I didn’t have the courage. Today I saw you bravely jump into the water, so I thought I could go to die with your courage.”
“Why do you want to die?”
“Because of hunger.” That beggar pointed to his body, “I wear such broken clothes and I am a beggar. The weather is not good to beg for food. Hunger is really unbearable, so it is better to die.”
Bella touched the pocket, and did not bring money out. In a hurry, she took of the earrings her mother left her, “You take it and sell for some money. Don’t follow me again.”
The beggar took her earring and weighed it, shook his head, “No, this earring is only enough for me to live for ten days at most. What about after ten days? I’m going to die again.”
Bella was a little annoyed, “Do you want to die that badly? Did you have a good life before?”
“I used to live even more scrawny than I do now, but I just never thought of relieving myself with death before, but now I do.”
“If you never thought about it before, why do you want to die now instead? You should have to survive. There is always a way out. After ten days you don’t necessarily have to starve. You can take the money from the sale of earrings to buy a lottery ticket. You may win tens of millions of dollars. From then on, you will be able to live a good life. You can live to the age of one hundred years in the case, and I just please you don’t let your life end at sixty years old.”
The beggar laughed, “You are quite persuasive, so why do you have to die? I’ve lived to be 60. How old are you, girl? Why are you so desperate?”
Bella was speechless by his questioning. After a brief silence, she had given up the idea of dying, choking on the beggar, “Thank you, you are a good man.”
“Oh, I don’t want to be a good person. These days, good people are lack of food, but evil people live freely.”
“If you are hungry, please come to the Cloud Mansion to find me. My name is Bella.”
The beggar smiled and nodded, “Good, you’re also a good person.”
Bella couldn’t say anything when she sniffed. She was indeed a good person, but she could also be bad sometimes.
“Then I’m leaving. Please take care of yourself.”
“Okay, same here.”
Bella walked a few steps suddenly turned around and said apologetically, “Can you please return the earring I just gave you?”
“Huh? Why? I’ll starve to death.”
“It was the only gift my mother left me, and I just begged to die, thinking it wouldn’t matter if I had it or not, but now…”
“Oh, I understand. Then I give it back to you.”
The beggar handed the earrings to her, and Bella looked at his thin body and was very upset, “Why don’t you come back with me and I’ll get some money for you.”
“No. You’re not in a good mood right now, so I’d better find you at the house some other day.”
“That’s fine.”
After Bella said goodbye, she quickly disappeared into the vast night. The beggar smiled pleasantly, and also walked away to the opposite direction.
Back at home, the in-laws were shocked, looking at Bella who was soaked. Patrick was at a loss, but Blanche knew it.
She lost her mind and went upstairs, locking herself in her room, and Blanche followed her in, reaching out to touch her cheeks in distress, “Does he know all about it?”
“Yes.”
Bella cried before she spoke.
“So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. Mom, I don’t know what to do now.”
“Promise me that you’ll stick it out, and if you give up at this point, it’s doomed completely.”
“I can hold on, but he may not forgive. He already hates me with a passion.”
“Then you love him twice as much. No matter what the situation is, love is the best way to dissolve hate.”
Love was the best way to dissolve hatred. It was the most adhered to quote by Bella. She could use love to dissolve other people’s hatred, but who could dissolve the hatred in her own heart for her?
As she expected, Kevin didn’t come back this night. She sat alone for the whole night and thought a lot about it, but finally decided to dissolve the hatred in Kevin’s heart with love as Blanche said.
When she called him, his phone was switched off. So she went to the office to look for him. But she was told that she couldn’t go in without the president’s permission.
Kevin made his position clear, and Bella was disappointed and left. After she was off duty, she came to wait for him outside the company again. After waiting for two hours, she did not see Kevin come out.
Fortunately, she waited for Alvin.
“Ma’am, waiting for Mr. Jones-Sharp?” Alvin came forward to ask.
“Well, is he off duty yet?”
“Don’t wait. He left the office at three o’clock.”
“Where did he go?”
“I’m not sure about that, but now should be the worst time for him.” Alvin cast a meaningful glance at Bella, “Perhaps you should leave him alone for a while.”
Bella nodded in dismay and turned away haggardly, but behind her, someone was gazing at her coldly from above.
In the Royal Rose Bar, Kevin and Ives and others sat in the box guessing and drinking. A few friends did not notice the coldness in his eyes. Roman also shouted, “Calling girl here. I heard that there is a group of beauties recently.”
Osmond echoed, “Good. If there’s no new lady, I’m ready to go to other places.”
The box foreman led five or six beautiful women into the room, and said respectfully, “A few masters, the girls are brought over to you. All of them are new to the place, so please be gentle.”
Ives whistled, “Don’t worry. We won’t scare them.”
As soon as the foreman left, four men went forward to pick the four preferred ladies, leaving one standing stupidly. Osmond made eyes at her, “Hurry up and come to Kevin.”
The girl also didn’t know who Kevin was. Looking at the other several were accompanied, she sat next to the unaccompanied man.
Kevin was drinking wine, and ignored the girl beside him. That girl may really be a newcomer here, because she actually did not know to take the initiative to accost him. After a while, he looked at her, “Why do you keep looking at me?”
The girl was frightened, quickly looked down, and replied apprehensively, “The manager said that I should sit next to a customer and look at them all the time.”
What?
Roman spewed out a mouthful of wine, “The greedy boss is quite capable. Where did you find such a pure girl?”
The greedy boss was the owner of this Royal Rose Bar, and earned money with an evil mind.
“So did your manager tell you how to steal the hearts of your customers?”
The girl shook her head, “No.”
“Then do you want to try?”
Kevin wrapped a hand around her waist and leaned close to her, asking ambiguously with charming eyes, “How about it? Am I handsome?”
“Well…”
“So, do you like me?”
“Yes…”
“If I save you from here, will you stay dead to me?”
“Will…”
“Good acting skills.”
Kevin mockingly smiled, and suddenly pinched her neck, “I’ve seen women who are even more hypocritical than you, so don’t play innocent.”
The girl was so scared by him that she cried. Ives quickly pulled his hand away, reprimanded, “What’s wrong with you? I just assured the foreman that I wouldn’t scare them. Aren’t you making it difficult for me?”
Kevin snorted coldly, “You can’t be merciful to insincere women, or they will take advantage of your unpreparedness and hurt you without hesitation.”
Several people looked at each other, and was deeply puzzled by his abnormal words and actions, but there was no one who dared to question him.
Bella stood haggardly in front of the bedroom’s floor-to-ceiling window as Lena knocked on the door and walked in.
“Bella, can’t you still reach my brother?”
“Yeah.” She nodded at the loss.
“I have a new phone number for my brother here. Try contacting him.”
Bella looked askance at Lena in surprise, “How did you…”
“I ask Alvin. Alvin is good to me. He will not betray my brother for anyone except me.”
Lena said about Alvin happily. Bella thought that she had also been so happy, but the happiness was short-lived, so she was a little gloomy. She wrote down Kevin’s new number. After Lena left, she apprehensively called him.
It took a long time to get through. It seemed there was very noisy, “Hello?”
She took a deep breath and said, “It’s me, Bella, let’s…” She didn’t finish, but the phone hung up. Kevin was so indifferent. She sadly squatted to the ground.
A long time later, she suddenly got up and put on a jacket and ran out of the house. She guessed that Kevin should be at the Royal Rose Bar, because just now on the phone, she vaguely seemed to hear Ives’s loud voice.
To the Royal Rose, she found the steward of a little inquiry, and knew that Kevin really was here. She calmed down, ready to be snubbed by him, and directly pushed the door. For her arrival, in addition to Kevin, each one was very surprised.
“Bella, what are you doing here? Are you looking for Kevin?”
Osmond teasingly said.
She didn’t reply, walked straight to Kevin and said, “Can we talk?”
“Get out.”
Kevin drove her away mercilessly, and even though she was ready, she wouldn’t give up easily, “Then let’s talk here.”
She looked askance at the woman beside Kevin, “Can I ask you to get out?”
The girl was shocked by her momentum and was about to get up, but Kevin pressed her down, “No one has the right to kick you out without my permission.” Then he turned to Bella, “The one who should get out should be you.”
By this time, Ives and other people felt something wrong, so they all got up and said, “We still have to leave beforehand. You guys talk.”
Roman gave a wink at the girl, and the girl panicked and followed them to leave.
Only the two of them were left in the box. Bella was about to sit down and talk with Kevin, but he stood up abruptly and stepped out of the box without looking back.
Bella shed tears all of a sudden. How much did he hate her? Wouldn’t he give her even one second of his time?
She sniffed and chased after him. Outside the door of the nightclub, Kevin was saying something with Ives and others. Bella found his car and waited by his door. After a while, he finished talking and walked straight towards the car, but ignored her and pulled open the car, started the engine and drove away.
Bella quickly stopped a taxi and said to the driver, “Catch up with that car.”
Ahead was the traffic light, and all the cars stopped. Bella visualized the red light in front of her, and she remembered that day Kevin thought she was really hit by a car, and angrily didn’t allow her to take a taxi. So she impulsively pushed open the car door and walked down.
“Hey, miss, what are you doing?”
The driver shouted in panic, but she turned a deaf ear and continued to walk forward. She did not stop next to Kevin’s car, but stopped in the middle of the street.
When the green light came on, she closed her eyes and resolutely took the step. She was gambling again, betting her life on her love, just for what Kevin said, “Because I will feel sad.”