Justin had to stop himself from rolling his eyes and ended the conversation.
...
Bella sat in the lounge of the other room while scrolling through the mean comments with red-rimmed eyes. Overwhelmed by
emotions, she pressed hard on the screen.
Axel and Declan stayed by her side, not knowing where to look. They were caught off guard by the incident.
"Don't be upset, Bella. Ash and Dr. Larson aren't in showbiz. The whole thing will blow over in no time." Axel sighed and felt bad
for his brother.
"It will blow over, but the experience will continue to haunt Ash and Arnold."
Bella closed her eyes and took a deep breath to pull herself together. "Ash is KS Group's CEO. Even though the business
belongs to our family, Ash's credibility and reputation are tarnished. The perpetrator just wants Ash to fall from grace. Though
Arnold is not a public figure, his family doesn't play nice. I doubt he can return to his family now."
With that in mind, Bella felt sucked into negative feelings.
After spending so much time together and going through thick and thin together, Bella had long considered Arnold to be family.
Upon learning that Arnold was punished by his family, she was dying to barge into the Larsons' residence and give them a piece
of her mind.
She was on Asher's side.
Bella did not want Arnold to be hurt anymore.
As tears welled up in Bella's eyes, Declan got down on one knee and took her hand. He looked tenderly at her. "Don't worry,
Bella. If the Larsons are blind enough to disown Dr. Larson, we will welcome him with open arms."
"Dec..." Bella murmured softly while tearing up.
"I often wondered about the type of person who deserved an outstanding, proud, aloof man like Ash."
Declan chuckled. "Now I think no one suits him better than Dr. Larson."
Bella was lost in her thoughts.
She recalled the times she saw Asher and Arnold. Arnold would do his best at anything Asher asked of him. They often looked
into each other's eyes with unspoken emotions.
There were telltale signs right from the beginning.
"Declan is right. It's a good thing that Ash found the person for him."
Axel was back to his chirpy self. "Hehe. At least one of us is not single anymore. Ash is setting an example for us."
Declan said, "It's your turn next, Axel. You're not getting any younger."
"Fuck. The four of us are only a few minutes apart! Why don't you think about yourself? You only hang around men. I don't see
you with any women. I think you might die alone."
Declan joked dismissively, "That's okay. I can just pick one of the guys."
Bella and Axel widened their eyes and reached their hands out. "Really?"
Then came a knock on the door.
Axel went to open the door, only to be taken aback. "D-Dr. Larson?"
With Arnold at the door, Bella got up from the sofa.
"Mr. Axel, is Bella in there?"
Arnold's lips were dry. "I want to have a talk with her in private."