"Allow me to sleep with you tonight, Ms. Sinclair."
Tristan’s words still rang in Bella’s mind. No matter how hard she tried to forget them, she couldn’t.
She exhaled secretly while looking at the end of the deck.
Bella’s eyes fixed on Tristan’s back. He sat in the chair beside Dax, waiting for the fish to eat their bait. She could see them chat, and Tristan affectionately tapped Dax’s shoulder, even trying to ruffle his hair.
Seeing their close and intimate interaction made Bella’s heart swell and warm. She can’t hide how happy she was to witness Tristan’s closeness with their son.
Several times, she thanked herself for allowing Tristan and herself to start this journey together.
"Young Miss, it seems you have fallen in love with Master Tristan again," whispered Noora, immediately making Bella turn to her side.
"I’m happy for you, Miss. I hope Master Tristan will love you with all his heart and will never hurt you..." Noora continued. She is happy to see what Bella wanted several years ago—Tristan loves her—finally come true.
Seeing Noora’s eyes radiating sincerity and happiness made Bella unable to control the warmth in her heart.
Bella feels blessed because Tristan loves her as much, if not more. But since she decided to return to him again, a strange, unknown feeling has continued to dwell in her heart and mind—images of Sean in the last few days often appear unintentionally in her mind, even though she didn’t think anything about him. And this has made her want to meet him immediately and talk. Bella felt she owed him that.
It has been more than two weeks since they last communicated. Maybe a hundred texts were sent to his number, but all those text messages were never delivered, causing Bella to feel even more distant from him.
At this moment, she can’t do anything much about Sean; she can only pray to God to allow Sean to have time to read all her texts and call her back.
...
Bella turns her gaze again to see Tristan before she responds to Noora.
"Thanks, Aunty Noora. It’s still hard for me to believe that Tristan Sinclair actually likes me, too. And, to know he loves me sincerely after I left his life several years ago feels unreal for me till now..." Bella said softly, then turned to look at Noora before she continued, "I’m sure you already know what happened in the past, right?"
Noora nods her head to answer Bella’s question.
"Yes, I know. Master Tristan talked to me a lot. And—" Noora’s voice trailed off as she remembered something. She pressed her lips, feeling bad because she had been hiding something from Bella all this time.
A faint smile appeared on Bella’s lips, "Auntie, I know you helped him a lot when he started approaching me. You told him my schedule, right!?" she asked.
Bella was already suspicious of Noora because, in the past few weeks, Tristan had known her own schedule in detail—she doubted Tristan would have the audacity to hack her cell phone. And only one person knows what she does in detail—that person is Noora.
Noora’s lips were pressed tightly, but her eyes couldn’t lie, confirming what Bella said.
"You don’t need to be afraid, Aunty, because I won’t be angry with you. Instead, I am very grateful to you. You can see Tristan’s sincerity and help him pursue me back."
"Miss..." Noora could not utter anything; she was surprised and grateful to hear Bella’s words. All this time, she had thought Bella would be angry with her. "I’m sorry for not telling you about Master Tristan..."
"Auntie, It’s fine. Well, I already think of you as my mother and older sister, right?" When Bella sees Noora nod, she continues. "When I asked you about Tristan’s sincerity, and you firmly said he sincerely wants to return to me, I immediately trusted your judgment. Because you are the only person who understands me the most..."
"Oh, please, Miss... stop flattering me. I feel my heart swell when you say those sweet words," Noora smiled, looking at Bella while wiping the tears from her cheeks. Her words touched her.
"Hahaha, Why are you being such a crybaby?" Bella said while giving Aunt Noora a tissue. "I’m not flattering you, but I’m telling the truth..."
"Young Miss, I hope, from now on, you will get the happiness you want..." Noora continued her sentence while trying to wipe away the traces of tears from her eyes and maintain her heart so she wouldn’t cry.
"Thank you, Auntie. But you’d better stop crying; otherwise, other people who see you will think I’m scolding you." Bella chuckled, again giving another tissue to Noora while trying to suppress her own sadness, looking at Noora’s tears.
Bella feels déjà vu thinking about the past when they left this country and arrived at the unfamiliar place in North Sweden. They often talked like this and cried until their eyes swelled, stopping when their tears ran out.
At that time, Bella thought she was crying because of her pregnancy hormones that made her turn into a whiny woman, but it seemed not. That’s because Noora always touched her heart every time they talked seriously.
"I will... I will..." Noora said between her happy tears.
"Is everything alright?" Suddenly, Tristan’s deep, worried voice surprised Bella and Noora. They both looked in the direction of the voice and saw Tristan walking toward them.
"No. We are fine. We are just talking about sad drama..." Bella immediately wiped the trace of tears from her cheeks. "Are you guys done?" She turned to see Dax, who was now fishing with Geoffrey.
Before Tristan answered, Noora interrupted them as she excused herself to go inside to prepare their snack time.
Tristan sat next to Bella. He said nothing but leaned closer to look into her eyes to ensure she was okay. When he saw that her eyes were slightly red, it worried him.
He placed his hand on her cheek, very gently touching her soft skin before gently pulling her face closer to him. Their faces were only a few inches apart as he asked, "What are you two talking about? What made you cry like this?"
Bella’s heart began to beat fast, and she failed to answer his question. Their closeness distracts her.
She blinked at him a few times, trying to calm her heart.