On the top of the cold windy hill, in front of a deserted cemetery, stood a slim woman.
After two years, she came to see her mother. What did she feel? She would feel self-condemned, guilty, sad …
Bella put a bunch of lilies in his hand in front of the tombstone and knelt down, “Mom, I came back to see you. I’m sorry. It took so long to come back. You have no family and no one comes to visit you and to send your favorite flowers for two years. You should be so lonely during a period of time …”
Tears seeped out of her eyes and her fingers trembled as she reached for her mother’s picture, “I’m afraid to come back to this familiar land. It’s like I’m reliving the pain I experienced in the past. From the age of twelve to twenty-five, it has been thirteen years. Family and love constantly destructed my heart, until it completely wore away the faith that remained in my body, leaving me with a broken heart far away from home …”
Bella shrugged fiercely with grief and she was telling her mother her helplessness and the reason why she had no choice but to leave, even though she had cried on her mother’s grave the night she left two years ago.
“Mom, you are the most loving person in the world. Even though you are buried under the earth, you know what kind of life I lived in the past. But now you can be at ease because it is all over. I am not the same person I used to be. I will not be unconditionally nice to others, and I will not let others hurt me anymore. When a heart grows in hurt and in pain after grinding and metamorphosing in despair, there is no one who can hurt me anymore.”
The rain finally fell like a downpour, but not without warning, and Bella knew from the beginning that there was no escaping it …
In the large dining room of the Jones-Sharp family, only three people have gathered around for dinner, Patrick, Blanche, and Kevin.
It was unknown when the original luxurious extended dining table in the house had been replaced with the square dining table of today. It seemed to be from a year ago or from two years ago, or even longer. No one remembered the exact time, but as long as the people who were still in this house were clear that this was only to forget some of the people who left.
Would you still be in the mood to eat when you sat in the same spot and saw that the seat next to you had been vacant? There won’t be any more, so the best way to forget was to stop seeing things that had associations with them.
Blanche was grave tonight as if there was something on her mind. She looked up at her son from time to time, wanted to say something several times, but finally, she couldn’t hold back and spoke out her confusion.
“I … seem to have seen someone today.”
Patrick slowly looked up and retorted to her sulkily, “Is it rare to see someone? It’s as if what you see all day long is not human.”
Since his son had moved back home, Patrick’s health had improved a lot, and even though his son was back to being cold and numb, even colder than many years ago, as long as he was back with them, it was a comforting thing.
“She’s no one else …”
“Who?”
Patrick raised his eyebrows, vaguely perceiving something.
“Bella …”
Then suddenly, the atmosphere of the restaurant condensed, and the couple simultaneously looked askance at their son.
Upon hearing the name in the heart, Kevin only lightly quivered his eyelashes. There was no unnecessary expression on his face, which let the couple could not help but be very heartbreaking. How despaired he was! When he heard such news, he was indifferent. At this time, their son was really destroyed by them …
Bella returned to the hotel from the mountain. From a distance, she saw Quintin who was standing outside the hotel door anxiously walking back and forth and felt warm. At least after she had lost everything, there would still be a man who would be worried about not being able to find her.
“Mr. Stock, are you waiting for me?”
Quintin suddenly and violently looked up at the sound, and when he saw the drenched Bella in front of him, he angrily questioned, “Where have you been?”
“I went to a nearby mall and picked up some random clothes.”
Bella raised the bag in her hand.
“I can accompany you if you want to buy clothes. You’re quite bold in this unfamiliar place.”
“It’s all intimate clothing. I’ll be embarrassed if you accompany me.”
“Then you can’t just sneak out without telling me, and I can’t get through to your phone, I’d be worried.”
She innocently curled her lip, “If I tell you, will you let me go alone …”
Quintin was stunned, “What about the phone? Why can’t I get through to the phone?”
“It ran off the power.”
“I thought you lost my phone with yourself.” He gave her a petulant stare, “Go change your clothes. Don’t catch a cold.”
“As you command!”
Bella saluted a standard military salute, causing Quintin not angry all of a sudden. There was a relieved smile on his sexy thin lips.
Perhaps because it was raining, it was only 5:30 when it was already dark. After taking a hot shower and changing into clean clothes, Bella went to the restaurant on the first floor of the hotel, where Quintin was waiting for her to have dinner with her.
“What do you want to eat?”
Quintin handed her the menu.
“Whatever.”
“Do you know when you’re the least cute?”
She shook her head, “I don’t know.”
“When you whatever.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“I’m not a random man, so why do you keep treating me like one?”
Bella was helpless, “How am I being casual with you?”
“When I ask you what you want to eat, you should tell me what you want to eat or what you like to eat, but don’t say whatever to me. Do you think I’m someone who can be dismissed so casually?
“Oh my God. Fine, you win.”
Bella raised her hands in surrender and took the menu, “Italian steak.”
Quintin smiled proudly, “That’s better.”
He said to the waiter, “Two Italian steaks, medium rare.”
While waiting for the meal, he put one hand to his cheek and asked languidly, “What do you think?”
“What?”
Bella was confused.
“It’s about us dating.”
She was speechless, “Why are you still thinking about this now? Didn’t I tell you long ago that we’re impossible to be together?”
Quintin was reluctant, “Why is it impossible? You’re not married and I’m not married. How come we can’t be together?”
“I’m divorced.”
“I don’t mind.”
“I can’t have children.”
“I don’t mind either.”
“It’s no use you don’t mind. Love isn’t for two people. You don’t mind but it doesn’t mean your parents don’t mind.”
“My parents don’t mind either. They believe in my taste.”
Bella snorted, “You are too confident. When they know that you chose a lover who is divorced and can’t have children, they won’t believe in your taste anymore.”
Quintin was startled and suddenly agitated and asked, “You have been refusing to accept my feelings, and is that what you are concerned about instead of having no feelings for me? You do like me, right?”
“It’s too extravagant to talk about feelings when you can’t even solve the most basic practical problems.”
The waiter had already brought the steak, and Bella elegantly picked up his knife and fork and cut a small piece into her mouth.
“If my parents accept you, will you accept me as well?”
As Quintin gazed at her, Bella sighed long and helplessly, “Even then I can’t accept you.”
“Why?”
“I would feel guilty. I was very much in love with my ex-husband but we still got divorced. What does that mean? It means I can’t be selfish for my own happiness and not care about the feelings of others. Every man has the right to be a father and no one has the right to take that away from them.”
“I know you were treated unfairly at your former in-laws, but I assure you will not encounter that in our house. I won’t let you get your troublesome over the children, and not every gentry family will leave you breathless.”
“That’s just transferring guilt from one person to another. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. When you gain something, you are bound to lose more, and that’s the law of nature.”
“You don’t need to feel guilty. In fact, I have a brother, who has been abroad. Our family also has many businesses abroad. My father has been allocated from the beginning that he is the master of the outside and I am the master here. So, Haley, I am telling you that I am not the only one son in the family, and the matter of passing on the family name does not necessarily have to be done by me.”
Bella looked up in surprise, “Do you have a brother? Why haven’t I heard you say that?”
“It’s because I don’t want you to think that there is someone in the family who can pass on the family name to pursue you so unscrupulously. I’ve always wanted to prove that pursuing you is only because I like you, but at the moment, you seem to be very concerned about the matter of not being able to have children, so I have no choice but to confess to you.”
Admittedly, there was a hint of emotion in Bella’s heart, and she seriously sized up Quintin for the first time, saying solemnly, “I’ll think about it.”
Even if she didn’t cheerfully accept his feelings, it was enough joy for Quintin. He felt deeply about Bella’s cautiousness about feelings these two years. She was able to say that, and it meant that he was quite certain of their relationships.
At night, Bella stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of the hotel suite. It had rained during the day, and now the rain had stopped, and there were even snowflakes.
She just realized that winter had arrived again.
This was the second winter after she and Kevin separated, and it was very cold.
She pulled open the window glass and stretched out a hand, a small snowflake swaying in her hand, and she felt extremely cold. She retracted her arm, staring at the hand of the gradually melting snowflakes, and remembered that winter, they squatted in the mountains of Hokkaido waiting for the diamond snow. That day, despite the cold she insisted to wait for the diamond snow and her determination was unstoppable. Kevin kept complaining but has been staying by her side. She actually knew in her heart that he was looking forward to the legend of the Diamond Snow coming true for both of them, but he was afraid of being looked down upon and didn’t want to admit that he believed in the nonsense like a woman.