“But I’m still sorry for causing you so much trouble because of me. People must think you have no taste for marrying such a terrible woman.”
“I don’t need what others think of my marriage, and likewise, no one cares who I marry, as long as I know for myself what kind of person you are, Bella.”
Bella held beck her tears all the way but now started crying. Kevin’s trust and favoritism was undoubtedly the best comfort for her at this time.
“Honey, thank you.”
“What a fool! You don’t need to thank me.”
Kevin reached out his hand to wipe her tears, while ridiculing, “I found that you are becoming more and more feminine now. No matter how much you were bullied before, you were like a man who didn’t shed tears. But now you are crying in front of me at every turn. Because you are clear that only a crying woman can arouse a man’s desire to protect her, right?”
Bella broke into a smile, “No.”
“Well, whether there is or not, it hurts me when you shed tears. So don’t feel sad in order to keep me from feeling bad. I’ll take care of this.”
“How are you going to handle it?”
“I will find out who the person who walked the rumor is, then restore the truth.”
Bella was nervous, “Are you trying to publish the story of why I signed the marriage contract with the Cotton family?”
“Okay.”
“No.”
She refused without even thinking, “Absolutely not.”
“Why?”
Bella’s tears fell down again, “The childhood memories are indelible wounds in my heart. I’m already sad. I don’t want to expose the wounds to everyone anymore, even if it can prove my innocence.”
Kevin felt sad and took her into his arms, “I’m sorry Bella. I didn’t consider your feelings. I’m sorry.”
Bella leaned on his shoulder and sobbed quietly, really tired and exhausted. Her life was messy and unbearable, troubles coming one after another. If it only affected her alone, it would be alright. But it implicated Kevin, she was really overwhelmed.
When she returned home in the evening, standing in front of the Cloud Mansion, she lingered for a long time not daring to go in and to face her loving in-laws.
Until Kevin came back, he took her hand and went in, facing her in-laws and Lena sitting in the living room. Just as she was about to apologize, her mother-in-law said, “We have seen the news this afternoon. Don’t feel guilty, Bella. It’s just ridiculous. Your father-in-law has contacted them to remove the news. It’s just that this rumor monger is so hateful that he seems to expect that our Jones-Sharp family will block the news. He has contributed to all the newspapers and the press in city B, and even the neighboring cities have received news.”
“You don’t care about this matter. I will deal with it. You can block a website, but you can’t let people stop gossiping about it. Let’s eat first.”
Kevin calmly took a glance at his family, and already had an idea in his heart.
“Bella, don’t be sad. No matter what others say about you now and how they look at you, in my eyes and your father’s eyes, you are the good daughter-in-law.”
“And me, in my heart, you’re the best sister-in-law in the whole world.”
Lena raised her hand to speak, clarifying that she was on the side of her sister-in-law.
“Thank you, mom. Thank you, dad. Thank you, Lena.” Bella looked askance at Kevin beside her, “Thank you.”
“Okay, you thank all of us. I’m tired of hearing it. Let’s eat.”
After eating dinner, Bella went upstairs and dialed Richard’s number, and the phone was quickly connected. He seemed surprised, “I really did not expect you will still call me.”
“Richard, it’s you who did it, right?”
Richard was surprised, “What do I do?”
“There are rumors about me not keeping my promise and marrying Kevin everywhere in B City right now.”
“Well, so you still know that you don’t keep your promise.”
“So are you admitting it?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t do anything like that, but if I knew who did it, I’d be grateful to him because it’s exactly what I’ve always wanted to do but was afraid to do.”
Richard hung up the phone.
Bella sat down weakly on the sofa in deep confusion.
Kevin came to the bedroom and saw that she looked tired, and asked very sadly, “Are you still troubled about that incident?”
“No.”
Bella tried to force a smile, “I promised that I won’t take it to heart, so naturally I won’t be bothered with it.”
“It’s good that you don’t take it to heart.”
Kevin tidied the broken hair at her temples and soothed, “Trust me, I won’t let you stay unhappy like this. I won’t let those unkind people create something unkind to cause you trouble.”
Bella leaned into his arms and said leisurely, “I guess you’ve heard enough of thanks today.”
“Yeah, so you don’t need to say it again. People who truly love each other don’t need to say sorry or thank you.” Kevin sighed, “Our Bella is already tired now.”
She looked up sharply and was very surprised. Why did Kevin’s words sound as strange as when he called her that night in America?
Early the next morning, despite the scandal, she went to school out of a sense of duty as if nothing had happened, teaching her students and grading their homework, fighting the cruel reality with her stubborn willpower.
Alice suddenly squealed as if she had discovered a new world, “Bella, come quickly.”
Thinking that something else had happened to make her unacceptable, Bella walked to Alice’s desk with heavy steps.
Then, suddenly, she froze.
On Alice’s computer, a press conference held by Kevin in the name of the company was playing at the moment.
Kevin sat on the CEO’s seat in a straight suit with a calm face, with Alvin sitting beside him. They were surrounded by reporters from various newspapers and websites, who scrambled to ask questions to Kevin and hoped to get first-hand information on Kevin’s response after the scandal exposed yesterday.
Bella held her breath and stared at the computer screen. She was completely unprepared and was very worried about whether Kevin was going to expose her past, for which many people might start to sympathize with her. But she didn’t want such sympathy. She just wanted to bury that awful past in her heart and let it become a permanent dusty secret.
“Hello everyone, please make your positions and ask questions one by one in order.”
Kevin succinctly motioned for the reporters to take their seats, remaining calm.
“Mr. Jones-Sharp, I’m a reporter from the Business Daily. I’d like to know if you’re holding this press conference today to show that you don’t know that your wife was once engaged to another man.”
Kevin gave that reporter a sharp gaze and solemnly replied, “You’re wrong. I knew it from the beginning.”
“Mr. Jones-Sharp, then why did you marry her if you knew it from the beginning? Do you know that the person who has an engagement with your wife is a mentally handicapped person who is deeply sympathized with by society?”
“I know, but love has nothing to do with sympathy. I fell in love with my wife at first sight. She did not marry me because she was greedy for my money, but because I had been pursuing her forcefully. When her father’s business had a bottleneck, I took the opportunity to marry her into the family. She was completely compelled to do so, not because she was too snobbish as some inaccurate reports describe, not to mention that with the family she’s engaged to isn’t poor.”
“Then according to you, it was actually you who used your power to rob the fiancée of the foolish Braxton, right?”
“It’s fine if you want to understand it that way.”
“So don’t you feel guilty for stealing a woman from a fool?”
“My wife’s marriage contract with Braxton was based on a legal nullity, and she was forced to do it at first. But then we truly loved each other, so how can that be considered robbery?”
“But the Cotton family has a marriage contract signed by your wife’s fingerprints. Even though you know she has a marriage contract with someone else, you still used your power to marry her into the family. Wouldn’t that be a bit of bullying of the vulnerable?”
Kevin smiled mockingly, “Hey, do you have any common sense? Is a contract signed by a fingerprint always valid? Do you know how old my wife was when she signed that contract? 折She was twelve years old. Don’t you think that a twelve-year-old was forced to sign a contract like that?”
There was silence, which was quickly broken by another reporter, “And what forced your wife to sign that contract at the time?”
Bella was nervous once again, but she felt relieved upon hearing Kevin’s reply.
“I’m sorry, but this is a private matter. So please forgive me for not being able to tell you.”
“Mr. Jones-Sharp may have a point with your words, but to us normal people, Braxton is in great need of a partner who can take care of him for the rest of his life. Because of his IQ, it may be hard to find another woman who is willing to marry him. But you are different. You can have all kinds of women except your wife. Why couldn’t you have a bit of mercy and let them be together at that time? ”
Kevin was about to explode. He slumped and questioned Alvin in a low voice, “Where did you find this group of idiot reporters? Are you trying to force me to hit someone?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Jones-Sharp. I was wrong. Don’t hit them, or the consequences will be severe.”
Alvin faced the reporter and smiled, but he was muttering.
Kevin took a deep breath and replied with a smile, “I’ve made it clear from the beginning that love has nothing to do with sympathy. Do we have to ruin another person’s life just because we sympathize with them? You guys can think about it from a different angle. At that time my wife didn’t love me or Braxton, but she would only have a lifetime of misfortune if she married Braxton. But she gained happiness by marrying me, which is a stark contrast. As long as you guys look at things rationally, you won’t think that I’m robbing a woman from an underprivileged group again, but I’m saving a woman’s unfortunate life.”
“Mr. Jones-Sharps, are you sure you’re telling the truth and not making excuses for your overbearing behavior? You keep saying that your wife is living happily now. Is that your wife’s own personal experience, or is that your unilateral self-justification?”
Kevin could no longer hold back. This reporter was obviously here to make a scene, and from the very beginning, he was challenging his bottom line again.
With a snap, Kevin threw the cup of tea in front of him and coldly shouted, “Get out.”
There was a scream from the scene. A reporter started to film this image, Alvin immediately stopped it, “No filming. No filming-”
The live broadcast on the computer screen stopped. Bella was also in a mood. In order to help her prove her innocence and not to expose her past, Kevin even took all the blame on his own. How can she repay this affection …
“Oh my god, Mr. Burne-Brown, you’re simply so tactful that let Kevin held a press conference to help you clear up a misunderstanding. You’re simply our women’s idol.”
“Yeah, if being a woman can be like Bella, she will be considered a success.”
…
Alice listened to these sarcastic words and could no longer stay calm and slapped the table, “Your remarks are nothing but sour grapes. Look at yourselves, you don’t look like teachers!”
“Well, we don’t look like teachers, but is a person who abandons her foolish fiancées in order to marry into a rich family a model of virtue?”
Bella sneered, silently out of the office. She was actually used to these sarcasm.
Alice once again chased after her, but when she saw that Bella was going to the principal’s office, she suddenly stopped.
This video, despite being blocked in the first place, was still seen by quite a few people, including Freya, who angrily came to Jones-Sharp Group and questioned Kevin as soon as she met him, “Do you know what you did today that you shouldn’t have done?”
“I don’t know.”
Kevin didn’t even look up and replied coldly.
“You shouldn’t have held any press conference for a vain woman, and you shouldn’t have offended reporters for her. Now that the video of you smashing people has been circulated. Many netizens are calling you names! Did you know that?!”
“Then let them scold me. It doesn’t matter.”
Kevin’s unconcerned attitude completely infuriated Freya, and in her eyes, he was unconcerned, which was actually a sign of his love for Bella.
She couldn’t accept it in any case.
“Kevin, what about your calm in the past? Bella is just a woman who will cause you trouble. You should respect and ignore this kind of woman. Otherwise, she will cause you more trouble in the future.”
Kevin slowly looked up directly at her and said, “Since she is my wife, I can’t ignore her affairs.”
“Then you can’t take the blame on yourself either. Your actions like this will cause your company’s stock to drop a lot!”
“If the loss of a little money can make my wife stop carrying the burden of a gold digger, I think it’s worth it.”
Freya didn’t think that Kevin would be so biased in favor of Bella. She was about to go mad, “Kevin, how could you do this?”
“So what do you think I should do? Should I ignore it when she’s slandered?”
“You should ignore it. Bella isn’t a public figure. Even if there is negative news. it’s only temporary. It will naturally die down after a while, but you’re different. You’re a respectable person in the business world. You’re taking responsibility for her, which doesn’t implicate you personally, but your family’s business.”
Kevin laughed sarcastically. He looked directly at the woman in front of him with strange and cold eyes and said, “Freya, once I was sorry that we were separated for three years, but now I’m not sorry. Because the three years of separation made me see clearly that there was such a huge difference between my values and yours.”