Desmond's mom let out a long sigh and let her shoulders sag slightly. "I don’t blame her, though. She has every right to be angry. After everything we did, after how we treated her... I wouldn’t stop to listen either."
Bella, who was standing a few steps away, folded her arms tightly across her chest. "But she should at least hear us out," Bella muttered. "Why would she do that? I mean, we are trying to apologize. We are trying to make amends, aren’t we? It’s not like we are asking for much. She could have rolled down the window for a second. Just a second."
Mrs. Elizabeth shook her head gently and glanced at her daughter. "Bella, don't say that. She's angry, and she should be. This is not about what we think she should do. We pushed her away. We hurt her. She doesn’t owe us her time, not after the way we treated her."
Bella huffed in response and said,. "Yeah, okay, we were wrong. But if she doesn’t let us talk, how are we supposed to make it right? She should have just let us talk first."
"We won’t stop trying. Since we didn't succeed today, then we’ll try again another time. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll keep trying until she listens. We owe her that much, and we won't stop trying." The mom said, and Bella sighed, rolling her eyes slightly but not arguing further. "I just don’t get why she’s being so stubborn. I mean, it’s not like she doesn’t know we regret what we did."
"It’s not about whether she knows," the mom replied. "It’s about whether she’s ready to forgive. And that... that might take time."
She made her way back to their car, and Bella followed her. Just as Mrs. Elizabeth reached for the car door handle, Desmond appeared from the hospital entrance. He had the medication in hand, but the expression on his face showed he had noticed their unusual behavior.
"What happened? Why are you two standing outside the car?" he asked as he approached them. "What’s going on?"
His mom gestured toward the empty road and replied, "We saw Anabel."
"Oh, Anabel?" He repeated. "You guys saw her?"
Bella nodded, her arms still crossed. "Yeah. She walked out of the hospital and got into her car before we could talk to her."
"We tried to approach her, but she drove off before we could say anything. We called out to her, knocked on her window... but she didn’t respond." The mom explained, and Desmond was not even shocked. That was what she expected her to do. Both of them were the reason they were in that situation. They treated her like a slave, like a nobody. Why would they allow her to listen to them?
If not because of them, they would be living happily in harmony. But their hatred towards her turned everything upside down.
"Did you really expect her to stop and talk? She’s angry with us. With all of us. So you shouldn't be surprised." Desmond replied, and his mom tilted her head slightly while looking at him as if she was suspecting something.
"It's like you met her inside. Did you meet her, didn't you?" she asked, and Desmond nodded slowly. "Yes, I met her," he admitted. "And she refused to listen to me. She’s still furious with me."
Mrs. Elizabeth’s face softened, and she placed a hand on Desmond's shoulder. "We won’t stop, Desmond. We’ll keep trying until she comes back. We’ll do whatever it takes to make things right."