Chapter 33 Nightmares Revisited
Belle stood with her back against the door, lost in thought!
Lexie's father is the deputy mayor of A City, powerful and influential, and Paige also sees this in her, but Belle is nobody.
Her mother's hollow eyes occurred to her, and she realized that she hadn't been home for days.
It's time to go home for a visit.
After Calvin left, the large house seemed even emptier, extremely cold and silent.
With mixed feelings, Belle didn't have the heart to work anymore and packed up her things and walked outside.
The night breeze was blowing, which cleared her mind, but a sad smile rose to her face
When she returned home, her mother was already asleep, so Belle tiptoed in, afraid of waking her mother.
"Belle?" Her mother's voice came out clearly from the bedroom.
Belle was taken aback, so her mother was still awake.
She walked softly inside.
Kate was lying on the bed, draped in a coat. The room was dimly lit and her face could not be seen clearly, but the muddy light in her eyes brightened up when she saw Belle.
"Belle, why are you back so late, where is Calvin?" Kate beckoned with her hand towards Belle who was standing in the doorway, looking behind her with anticipation in her eyes. Belle walked over with a forced smile, "Calvin gets stuck in the company, I'm also very busy. I've come to see you now, because I will begin to be occupied from tomorrow, I may not be able to see you for the next few days."
Kate's face is somewhat white, her hair seems to have gone gray overnight, not young anymore. Her legs have been amputated, so she could only lie in bed.
"Belle, did something happen between you and Calvin?" Kate's lips trembled, her heart was a huge panic and unease. She was not a fool, since Belle married into the Harvey family, Calvin had never paid a visit, though Calvin's grandmother would gather the two families for a meal every year.
Every time his excuse was that he was busy at work.
Even sitting together at dinner, she could see that she and Calvin were not close to each other, but after all, the Harvey family had not been less courteous, so she couldn't say anything!
Three years ago, after the Harvey family's accident, her daughter had gone to America for further study. Although the elders of the two families would still get together for dinner, the cold words and extremely indifferent attitude of Paige was harsh to bear. And in the past three years, the Harvey family had never come to door, so she knew there must be something fishy.
Every time she asked Belle, Belle kept silent.
She knew that there had always been a problem between them, but she dare not ask, for Belle was her only daughter!
Her heart aches every time she thinks about it. She can allow things to happen to her and to her husband, and she can grit her teeth and get through it, but she can't tolerate her only daughter being unhappy. "Mom, don't think too much. Calvin is busy with the press conference every day now, I'm working with him every day." Belle replied.
Although she did not show her pain in front of Belle, but Belle was her daughter, she could feel the pain and anxiety of Belle.
But Belle thought that she had to hide the fact that she had been divorced with Calvin.
"Mom, look, this is the phone Calvin gave me." Belle bent down and wrapped her arms around her mother's shoulders to deliberately show off, holding back the throbbing pain inside.
When Kate saw the phone in her daughter's hand, she was a bit skeptical.
Only husband could give away such an expensive phone to his wife.
"Mom, look, this is me and Calvin at work together, now Calvin is busy, he will visit you later when he has time. I will also be very busy during this time." Belle deliberately took a few videos of her working with Calvin and showed them to Kate.
In order not to make her suspicious, she insisted on going home every day except for the days when she had just come home from the hospital. These days she deliberately did not go home every day because she was worried that her mother would be sad and upset if her mother knew about her divorce from Calvin.
As soon as she got through this, she will take her mother and emigrate to America before telling her mother the truth.
Her phone rang, Belle scrambled to answer it with one hand holding the fruit.
"Hello." blurred out Belle with a grape still in her mouth.
"Where are you?" The low magnetic voice carried a hint of huffing, as if in reproach. Belle's heart panicked and the fruit in her hand fell onto the bed.
"Have you forgotten our agreement, have you forgotten the contract? It's only been a few days and you can't hold out?" Calvin sneered at the other end of the phone, his tone odd.
Belle staggered, remembering the damn contract.
But wasn't he with Lexie's parents? Wasn't he supposed to be spending the night with Lexie?
Had he been back to his flat!
Belle was surprised.
"I called home and no one answered. Don't think that just because I'm out, you can do whatever you want behind my back." Calvin continued to chastise gloomily over the phone.
So that's how it was, Belle's face was unpleasant.
"Is it Calvin looking for you?" Kate's eyebrows were stretched out and she gave a smile with relief in her heart.
Seeing her mother's delighted smile, Belle nodded with a smile, her heart full of bitterness, "Calvin, I'll be right back, you can sleep first."
She hung up the phone, put her arms around Kate's neck, "Mom, Calvin is waiting for me, I have to go back first. After this busy period, I will take you to America and fit you with a prosthesis, then you will still be able to stand up again."
"Okay." Kate's gloomy face was gone and she smiled brightly, "Belle, you should be gentle and considerate to Calvin. He is a well-known person in the society, his status is noble and he is no better than ordinary men. A woman is most successful in this life if she can capture a man's heart, it is useless if she is capable, because without a man's love, a woman will not be happy. I just hope you'll be happy, and I'm looking forward to having a grandchild."
Belle quietly turned to pack her things, she was afraid that if she stayed any longer, she would burst into tears. She couldn't make her mother sad and upset anymore, it was the only thing she could do at the moment.
"Mum, I'll go first, Calvin is waiting for me." She turned off the light in the room and said with smile.
"Okay, go on." With a pleased smile, Kate lay back down.
Belle fled as quickly as she could.
As she had only just stepped out of the house, her tears were like broken beads and her nose was unbearably sour.
She hailed a taxi and walked towards the Grand Hyatt.
"Belle." Under the magnolia tree at the entrance to the Grand Hyatt, a tall figure was walking towards her, impatient on his feet, "Belle, so you really do live with him? It's not fair to you!" The man's eyes glowed red, his voice was hollow.
Belle was taken aback, and when she opened her eyes to see that it was Martin, her face turned white and she took a few steps back.
The smile on Martin's face froze, and his heart felt like it had been run over by a wheel. No matter how he treated her, pampered her, tried to be nice to her, she was always wary and indifferent. He took a step forward, and Belle took a step back. Step forward again, and she steps back again.
"Martin, what can I do for you at this late hour?" Her voice was indifferent.
The smell of his cologne perfume poured straight into Belle's nose, and Belle felt a sudden burst of coolness run up from the soles of her feet, and her body began to shiver.
It was that perfume that had haunted her like a demon once.
Now just smelling it makes her whole body shiver and tremble.
What she had deliberately ignored was forced upon her by the smell of perfume.
One summer evening in her sophomore year, she went to a classmate's birthday party with Lottie, but just after walking out the door, she realized that she had forgotten her wallet.
As she hurried back to her dormitory, she passed through the bamboo grove at the back of the hill and was violently wrapped in strong arms behind her; she had no time to scream before the hand covered her mouth.
The man picked her up and headed towards a dark corner, violently tearing at her clothes.
She struggled to scream, but the man pulled out a handkerchief and gagged her.
The world went dark in an instant, disappointment, sadness, desperation, all sorts of emotions came flooding to her.
She burst into tears, just when she thought she would lose her virginity, the sound of crisp foot stomping on the floor produced a powerful rhythm towards them, the man panicked, his trousers were still on. The man was so flustered that he stopped moving.
As if released, Belle took advantage of the man's moment of panic to push him away and run away.
To this day she remembers the distinctive perfume of the man who had desecrated her.
She never knew who came to save her, but she saw hope in the darkness and was graceful about that, but she didn't know who he was.
She had even less idea who the man had desecrated her? The only thing she remembered was the smell of that perfume, and to find out what that perfume was, she had walked through countless perfume counters, and then found it in a cologne shop in America. She realised that it was a special cologne that was not available to the general public.
Martin rushed over and grabbed Belle's hand, saying in a soft voice, "Belle, don't be obsessed, leave Calvin, it won't work out between you two. He's going to marry Lexie soon, both parents have met this evening and are discussing the marriage."
Belle's face became bloodless. Tonight Calvin was really there to talk about marriage.
Her lips pursed, her eyes smiling, she tried to shake his hand off, but his hand was incredibly strong, holding her tightly, and with a gentle grip, he had her in his arms and was about to molest her.
It was horrible.
Panicked in her heart, Belle struggled hard and asked with a shudder, "So that year, it was you?"
What? Martin's body shook and a grim smile appeared on his face, his laugh was tinged with a chill and he gasped sharply.
"Belle, I miss you so much, be good." He took hold of her chin, his lips about to press forcefully against hers.
Belle reached out and flung her hand viciously over, but his grip was so tight that she could not move.
Again, as if the dream had begun anew, a rhythmic, decisive pace came from behind them, but this time instead of standing in the darkness, the man shouted out. "What are you going?" A cold voice came out of the man's mouth as a pair of large, strong hands pulled Martin away and slammed him hard towards the ground.
Martin was thrown hard to the ground, knocking his head on the floor, and his eye sight went blurred.
"Calvin, you are going to marry Lexie soon, why do you still care about my business?" Martin was furious and climbed to his feet, growling.
"Don't forget that you will soon be marrying Rosa too. Belle is a designer hired by our Harvey Corp, you can't be allowed to act recklessly. If you bother her again, then I will have to tell Grandma and have her punish you." Calvin said in a stern voice.
"Calvin, I'll have this in mind." Martin covered his face and ran off in a huff.