Faintly, the ambulance sirens could be heard in the distance.
The room beca extrely tense. Bella and the others were now looking toward the exit as they saw Bryan and Nick rushing outside to await the paradics’ arrival.
"Bella," Natalie grabbed Bella’s hand in worry. "What happened to Henry? Why does he seem to be in pain? He looks pale, and his lips are purple. Is he alright?"
Natalie’s trembling voice failed to hide her fright. While her hand gripped Bella tightly, her eyes still stared at her son in horror.
"Mom, he is—" Before Bella could finish her sentence, several quick footsteps were heard coming towards the living room. She saw Bryan leading two paradics with their equipnt, swiftly entering the room.
Natalie’s grip tightened as she saw the paradics approaching.
"Mom, let the paradics help him," Bella said, pulling her mother into the corner.
Reluctantly, Natalie nodded and followed Bella, but her eyes never left Henry.
As Bella felt her mother’s cold hand gripping her arm tightly, she smiled gently and patted her hand. Leaning closer to her, she said, "Mom, my brother just fainted. He will be okay..."
Slowly, Natalie’s face relaxed. Her eyes were not as tense as before, and all that was left was worry.
"Bella, are you sure your brother is okay?"
"Hmm, he is—"
"But what happened to him before? Why did he suddenly faint just like that?" Natalie asked. She still couldn’t understand why Henry was lying on the sofa, looking in pain. "Is he sick?" she asked while trying to sound calm, worrying about distracting the paradics.
"Mom, No. Henry is not sick," Bella shook her head, smiling awkwardly. She tried to find the right words to explain how she beat her older brother. She didn’t want to anger her mother.
"So he’s not sick? Then why did he faint like that?" Natalie was even more confused by her short answer.
Bella took a deep breath before she answered, "Mom, I had to slap and kick my brother. And I think I hit him quite hard."
"YOU WHAT?" Natalie shouted in shock, but seconds later, she hurriedly covered her mouth with her hand when she saw the paradics and the others now glancing at her. She smiled while trying to gesture to them to continue helping Henry.
After being ignored by everyone, Natalie leaned closer to Bella and whispered, "Bella, you said you beat your older brother? Impossible! How could he be in that miserable state!?"
Natalie found it hard to believe that her daughter, who was three tis smaller than Henry, could beat him to the point where he couldn’t get up or even faint.
"Hmm, I’m, mom…" Bella smiled thinly at her mother’s skeptical gaze.
This is why Bella didn’t want her family to know about her martial arts ability. The main reason is that no one would believe that her small fra could handle challenging and perilous situations like what happened earlier. And they always looked at her skeptically.
"No way! Your body is so small. How can you beat a grown man double, no, triple your size? He even fainted?" Natalie shook her head lightly, doubting Bella’s claim. She continued, "You asked Bryan to do that, right!?"
Bella sighed deeply. She knew it was useless to explain now. She tried to distract her mother, saying, "Mom, you should stop asking about how I beat him and instead ask why I beat him."
Natalie patted her forehead lightly as if blaming herself for forgetting about that. "You’re right; why did you hit him?"
"Because he wanted to slap in front of Grandpa. I’m sorry, Mom, I can’t let him beat , or my older brother will never see the sun again if Tristan knows about it—" Bella’s words paused when she saw her mother’s sharp gaze, annoyed at Henry. "You know how Tristan pampered so much, right...Mom?"
"Hmm, I know! Well, your brother deserved it! You did the right thing, Bella. I’ll scold him if he wakes up!" Natalie said in anger that Henry had dared to slap his little sister.
Not long after, the paradics finally finished giving Henry first aid. They both looked in Natalie and Bella’s direction and started to explain what had happened to Henry.
"Mr. Donovan passed out. We have checked and found that his condition is stable. We also found out that he has suffered so internal injuries that require imdiate treatnt and surgery..." explained the paradic before they excused themselves, leaving for the hospital for Henry to receive urgent care.
Bella felt relieved that her brother would survive.
"Thank you, gentlen..." Bella said. And let them bring Henry.
Natalie insisted on accompanying Henry to the hospital, and despite Bella’s concerns, she couldn’t stop her. She could only ask Bryan and Noora to join her for support, even though they were planning to visit Tristan’s family hospital.
Taking a deep breath, Bella looked at her grandfather, who had returned to his seat on the sofa. She felt guilty as she observed her Grandpa’s somber expression.
"Grandpa, I’m sorry I caused Henry so much trouble and ruined our dinner plans," Bella said apologetically.
Isaac smiled at Bella before responding, "Bella, it’s okay. This is not your fault. He brought his own trouble, so let him face the consequences. You should go ho now and be with Dax. The little guy must be confused about what happened here."
Bella was startled, rembering her son. She stood up imdiately, but before leaving the room, she looked at her grandfather and said, "Grandpa, co join us for dinner. Geoffrey has already asked the chef to prepare dinner for the whole family, but with what just happened, no one will attend."
Isaac frowned slightly as if he were thinking about sothing. After a few more seconds, he smiled at Bella.
"Bella, I hope you don’t mind if I pass dinner. I plan to visit Henry in the hospital, too. I need to talk to your brother again to let him know that everything has changed," Isaac said, feeling weighed down by everything. He knew he couldn’t rest easy until he sorted it out.
Bella didn’t press her Grandpa. She could only nod before leaving the house.
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