Bella woke up after two or three hours, rubbing her eyes as she realized she was still in the car and Lala hadn't come back. She checked her phone and saw multiple missed calls from Lala. Dialing her number, Bella opened the car door and stepped outside. She only managed to take one step before everything went black, and she found herself suddenly falling from a high edge.
When Bella regained consciousness, aching and disoriented, she was relieved to feel her heart still beating. She was alive, though in pain, grateful that she had survived the fall.
Bella slowly pushed herself up and looked around. Lala's car was being hauled away by a tow truck. Fortunately, the fall hadn't been from a great height, and that was why she had escaped without injury.
Still dazed and unsure of what had just happened, Bella stood frozen in confusion. It was then that Lala's voice suddenly came through her phone. She quickly grabbed it and pressed it to her ear.
"traitor! I've been sitting here for three hours waiting for you! Where did you even push my car to?" Lala's voice came through the phone, frantic and sharp.
"Thank God, the car didn't go over the edge," Bella replied, trying to sound calm.
"Then where are you now?" Lala demanded, clearly annoyed.
Bella looked around, taking in her surroundings. She spotted a sign in the distance and read it aloud.
"Idappally Traffic Control Police Station."
"you..!" Lala shouted, but before she could say anything more, Bella abruptly hung up the phone.
In less than half an hour, Lala arrived at the police station, breathless, having rushed in a rickshaw. By the time she got there, the car had already been taken off the tow truck.
Lala immediately noticed the front of the car was damaged. She walked over to the traffic officer to pay the fine, asking what had happened. After listening to the whole story, she understood that Bella had knocked over a "No Parking" sign and parked in a restricted zone. The officer didn't hold back, detailing every bit of the situation. After paying the fine, Lala walked out of the station and spotted Bella leisurely eating an ice cream cone and smiling, as if nothing had happened.
"Is everything sorted?" Bella asked, her smile innocent but her tone mischievous.
"Yeah, it's all good. But we've got a few things to settle between us," Lala snapped, her voice edged with frustration. But then her eyes caught a small cut on Bella's forehead.
"What happened here?" Lala asked, her anger momentarily softened as she gently touched the injury.
"Oh, it's nothing. Just a little run-in with the ground," Bella said with a grin, casually pointing at the tow truck and then the pavement. "From the tow truck to the ground, part of the experience, you know?" she added with a chuckle.
"You're unbelievable," Lala muttered under her breath, pulling a band-aid from her bag. She carefully applied it to Bella's wound. Without saying another word, Lala got into the car. Bella quickly finished off her ice cream, tossed the cone to the ground, and jumped into the car, slamming the door shut behind her.
Lala closed her eyes, trying to steady her frustration as Bella quickly apologized and buckled her seatbelt, sitting in silence like an obedient child.
"I left you for just fifteen minutes, and this is the mess you're in? Tomorrow... who knows how you'll be," Lala muttered under her breath, a mix of annoyance and concern in her voice.
"I think I saw him..." Bella suddenly said, her voice trembling as if the memory had just resurfaced. The smile that had been on her face moments before vanished.
"Who?" Lala asked, confusion written all over her face.
"Him. Hanley Samuel Matthew," Bella replied, her eyes fixed on Lala, her voice soft but certain, yet filled with a trace of doubt.
"No way. He's settled in Canada, or somewhere else, probably in the military. He won't be here," Lala said dismissively, shaking her head.
"I can recognize him from his eyes. I know, Lala. I can't be wrong. It was him," Bella replied firmly, her voice unwavering.
"You've been searching for him everywhere, Bella. This is the mess you've made. Don't you think it's time to let go?" Lala's words were sharp, her concern hidden beneath a veil of frustration.
"I loved him, Lala," Bella whispered, her voice trembling with emotion, the weight of her unspoken grief heavy in the air.
"And what does that mean now? Every love has an expiration date. How long are you going to keep chasing someone who's already moved on and built a new life?" Lala asked, her tone tinged with impatience.
"Love doesn't have an expiration date," Bella murmured, her gaze drifting far away, lost in thought. "Sometimes, people move on because they have to, because they accept what's happened and try to keep going.
Some pretend to forget, but deep down, when they reach a certain point in their lives, they realize... they were never really happy. Because there's always a void, a kind of emptiness that no one else can fill." A faint, melancholic smile lingered on her lips as she spoke, her words full of quiet sadness, the weight of a love that never truly left her.
"Maybe. I don't fully understand your theories," Lala replied, her voice tinged with doubt. "Wasn't my marriage to Fez a love marriage? And didn't you see what happened to us?"
"But with Fez, weren't you truly happy? Deeply happy? Can you deny that? Or do you regret the moments you shared with him?" Bella's voice was soft yet resolute, her question lingering in the space between them. Lala didn't respond immediately, the silence between them speaking louder than words ever could. Slowly, she nodded, her thoughts drifting back to the bittersweet memories of Fez—moments both beautiful and painful.
"It's better to live just one day for ourselves, to pursue the life we truly want, than to spend a lifetime pretending to be someone we're not, living for others," Bella continued, her gaze unfocused, as if lost in her own thoughts. "Or even better, to live alone, in pursuit of our own happiness. I don't believe feelings can be forced, Lala. I've never felt anything for anyone but him."
The words hung in the air, laden with meaning. The silence stretched on, comfortable and profound, as if both understood that some truths were too clear for words. Neither spoke, the unspoken understanding filling the space between them.