Bella turned around in anger to her hotel room. She had planned to have breakfast but now didn’t have any appetite for it.
“Bella, you shouldn’t always run away from home.”
Kevin followed behind her and counseled her sincerely.
“Anyways, I won’t go anywhere and nobody can send me away as well. Since I have to leave, why not choose a way that I want to go?”
“How could the way you choose be the same as the one I choose for you? I choose an easy way for you, and what do you choose? Did I say the retreat is a better place or did I say living in the mountain is better?”
“I don’t care what it is, I choose what I like.”
“You are not planning to settle down here, are you? Or, you want to build a cottage on the hillside and raise our two children by digging edible wild vegetables?”
“Why can’t I? You got problems with it?”
Bella went back to her room to change up shoes and then went out again.
“Of course I got problems with it. How could my children lead such a hard life? Look what era we are in right now, you feed them with wild grass, even a stepmother won’t do this!”
“It’s wild vegetables, not grass!”
“I don’t care whether it’s vegetables or grass. I don’t allow it anyway. Now I order you, as the father of our children and your husband, come home with me immediately!”
“As the children’s mother and a woman whose husband has betrayed her, I order you to get lost as far as possible. I’m going hiking now, I don’t have time to quarrel with you.”
Bella bought a cup of soybean milk and a fried pancake on the street stand. When she was about to put it into her mouth, Kevin snatched them, “How could you eat this stuff? It’s so unhygienic. Let’s go, I’ll take you to the restaurant.”
“Young master, you should know most people lead a hard life. I will live on wild vegetables in the future, why I can’t eat them? ”
“Have you asked my permission?”
“I don’t need your permission, I have the freedom to do what I want.”
Bella grabbed back her breakfast and chowed down on them. When she was at home, she never enjoyed her food like this, but now a fried pancake she bought on the street made her feel so fulfilling. Seeing this, Kevin was exasperated.
At the foot of the mountain, Bella stared at the ladder for a long time, which was so long as if it was going to heaven. She didn’t speak and was very quiet and serious as if meditating something.
Later, she took a deep breath and start climbing.
“What are you doing?”
She only took two steps and Kevin tugged her on the arm.
“Can’t you see what I am doing?”
Rolling her eyes, she shrugged off his hand and kept going.
He knew she was stubborn, she was determined to do the things that she wanted to do. So he didn’t say anything and followed behind her. Stepping on the stairs that someone built for his love, he was feeling other’s amazing love story.
With high mountain and long ladder, she was out of breath after a short distance, even though she was in good health but was pregnant after all. She wanted to finish the climbing and not back out. Kevin couldn’t see her suffering, he hurried to stop her, “I’ll carry you.”
“I’m pregnant, how could you carry me?”
He looked askance at her bulging abdomen. With a frown, he held her up horizontally.
“What are you doing?”
She put her hands around his neck and was shocked at him.
“Stop trying to be strong. You can’t go on climbing but still push yourself to do it. Why don’t you admit that you can’t sometimes? Why you have to be like a ninja? Is that more like your personality?”
“I’m not tired, put me down.”
Bella was not used to this special treatment, not to mention that there were not just two of them traveling here.
“Don’t move, we are halfway up the mountain, it’s no joke.”
Kevin’s warning intimidated her. She stopped struggling and talking but just let his two arms carrying her, climbing to the top step by step. He sweated so much that it fell on her face. His sweat was warm. She bit her lip and reached out her hand to wipe the sweat on his forehead.
Her gentle move stirred up ripples in his heart.
“Ok, you are tired now, let me walk on my own.”
Seeing him sweat more fiercely, she couldn’t bear to let him do this labor. But Kevin refused to let her down. He spoke slowly, “Bella, I can’t build a long ladder like this, but I will carry you to the top with my hands.”
Her heart suddenly softened and didn’t ask him to let her down anymore. Fortunately, Kevin finally carried her to the top. Though they had many breaks along the way, it was such a thrilling moment when reaching the top.
A gust of chilling wind blew in their face, blended with a fresh scent of earth.
It was said that they were inseparable as they had watched the diamond snow together.
She has climbed 6000 stairs with him, which meant that they wouldn’t separate each other and would go even further than the 6000 steps.
Then, in conclusion, was it true that they would never be separated and their love would last forever?
Maybe the answer would emerge when they were old.
“Bella, you said you would fulfill my three wishes, is your promise still valid?”
“Yeah.”
She didn’t turn her head but just nodded stiffly.
He hugged her from behind, “Then, my second wish is you forgive me and don’t be mad at me anymore.”
“You didn’t tell me your first wish and just skip to the second?”
“The first one is going to Vienna, isn’t it? You said yes.”
“Can I back out?”
“No.”
“If you want me to fulfill your second wish, then, tell me what’s going on between you and Freya?”
Kevin was silent again and the atmosphere went heavy with the rustling sound of wind in their ears. Bella turned her head confusingly, “Is it that difficult for you to tell me the secret? You should know that the more you want to hide it, the more I want to know.”
“Bella, I don’t want to tell you because it’s inappropriate to let you know right now. I just want you to live happily every day, to live in the sunshine, and I’ll take all the dark and despicable things. I know you worry about me. But as I said, there is no need for two people who loved each other to do something for each other, as long as they know they both love each other, then it will suffice.”
He held her hand and put it on his chest, “Can you feel it? My heart beats just for you.”
Bella’s eyes were emerging with tears, “You only have three wishes, are you sure that forgiving you is your second wish?”
“Yes.”
“Ok, I forgive you. From now on, you only have one wish left.”
Looking back at their bumpy life, Bella chose to believe Kevin, “I’ll accept your first wish. I’ll come home with you and go to Vienna.”
“Bella, what should I say now? It seems no words can express my gratitude to you.”
“You don’t have to feel grateful for me, I didn’t do it just for you.’
Bella lowered her head, “I just hope that everything will be over when our children are born.”
This life is like a nightmare, please be over, please be over soon. She wanted to have the happiest life with Kevin.
“I promise, that day will come soon.”
Kevin kissed her on the lips. It was cold, icy. Maybe it was the chilling wind blowing by them.
“Are you cold?’
He took off his coat and put it on her but was stopped by her, “I’m not cold.” Only the heart would feel cold. If the heart felt warm, then all felt warm.
“Kevin, is there anything that you think you are incapable of or that you shouldn’t do?”
“As to a person, knowing what you shouldn’t do is as important as knowing what you can do. I won’t do the things I shouldn’t do. But if the things I shouldn’t do but I have to do it for some reason, then I will definitely do it.”
“What does our future look like? I have never thought about it. Rather than saying I never thought about it, I dare not to think about it. If my expectation is too high, then I would be disappointed when the reality falls short. If my expectation is too low, then I don’t have the confidence to continue.”
“We can never predict our future. When we were young, we are too honest, but after we grow up, we are so dishonest. Life is full of surprise.”
Bella couldn’t understand, “What does life have anything to do with our future? Having a good life right now means our future will be bright? Or having a hard life right now means we will have a good life in the future?”
“In our lifetime, it’s common that the one we love and the one sleep beside us are not the same people; that one says those love words that weren’t meant for the one sleeping beside us. We think about the future, plan for the future, but the future never comes, which is very common enough. So, I mean, sometimes, a person’s life gradually ends like that.”
…
That day, Bella and Kevin sat on the top of the mountain for a long time. When they were going down, she was thinking about Kevin’s words: sometimes, a person’s life gradually ends like that…
Celeste was driven into a corner but still doing futile struggling. Louis watched her mother’s life get harder day by day, he couldn’t bear it and took Alice to visit her.
Only a few days away from her, his mother has lost lots of weight with her eyes getting hollow and lifeless.
“Mom, why don’t you go to France. It doesn’t matter that the company goes bankrupt or we are in debt. You can leave here and I will take care of everything for you.”
Celeste sneered, “Patrick didn’t defeat me, a brat wants can take me down? No ways!”
Louis was a little disappointed, “Please don’t be stubborn, okay? You are done but still say you got it. I learned from my dad that the Anti-Corruption Bureau has now got solid evidence of your bribery and tax evasion, and it is only a matter of time before you are arrested. ”
“Then let them do it, I won’t give up until the last moment.”
“What is your bargain chip? I’m asking you, what is your bargain chip to fight against Kevin? How nicely you put it last time that if you can escape, then you will settle down in France, but what happens now? You can escape last time, it doesn’t mean you will be lucky enough to escape the next time. Are you determined not to give up until there is no hope at all?”
“