"Who are you looking for?" The housekeeper at Joan's house asked when she saw a very beautiful young lady standing by the door.
Bella looked at her with a frown. Had she changed so much that Agnes couldn't recognize her? "I'm here to see Joan. Please tell her Bella is here to see her."
"Bella? Unbelievable!" The housekeeper said, shaking her head in disbelief as she hurried into the house to get Joan.
"So unnecessarily dramatic!" Bella muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.
"Isabella!" Joan yelled, looking down at Bella from her bedroom window before hurrying down the stairs
Bella knew Joan was very angry with her since she only called her name in full when she was upset. Joan swung open the open angrily. Her jaw was set in a determined manner.
"Hold on!" Bella said, reaching out a hand to shut Joan up the moment she saw that Joan wanted to speak.
"I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have done that," Bella said with an apologetic smile as she stepped into the house.
"You have a lot of explaining to do," Joan said as she led her upstairs to her room.
"You're really Bella?" The housekeeper asked in awe as she looked at Bella, who was walking up the stairs with Joan.
"No. I'm Ben!" Bella hissed at the housekeeper and quickly flashed her a smile when Joan glared at her.
"So? What happened?" Joan asked, staring at her with a stony expression.
"Come on, you know you can't get angry with me for long, so calm down. I'm sorry I ruined your birthday. It wasn't intentional," Bella said, slipping her arms through Joan's own as she flashed her a placating smile.
"That doesn't answer my question!" Joan reminded her, moving out of her grip.
"Fine," Bella said before going ahead to narrate how she had thought the guy was molesting the lady and had stepped in to defend her honor, only for her to find out he was the lady's boyfriend.
"Well done! Defender in chief!" Joan said sarcastically, making Bella frown.
"Why are you so angry about it? I said I'm sorry."
"How could you just zap out like that? I got arrested because they saw us walk in together and assumed you were trying to mug them, and I was your accomplice. My parents were very upset that I turned down having a birthday party just to get arrested!" Joan snapped at her.
Bella struggled to hide the laughter which was bubbling inside her but failed woefully and suddenly burst into laughter. "You didn't tell them getting arrested is one of the things on your bucket list."
"I'm not planning on dying anytime soon, am I?" Joan asked before finally succumbing to the laughter that was also bubbling inside her. Why she couldn't stay angry with Bella for long was something she had stopped asking herself.
"I'm sorry, really. I promise to make it up to you. Now, where is my phone?" Bella asked, looking around the room. She scowled when she saw her reflection in the mirror.
"And my clothes too. I need to change out of this crap," Bella said as she dropped onto Joan's bed.
"Good Lord! I can't believe how much I missed sleeping on a bed," Bella said as she reached out to take her phone from Joan.
"Where did you pass the night anyway? I thought you went home until I called Ben," Joan said as she joined Bella on the bed.
"Wait, you all didn't search for me?" Bella asked, eyeing Joan.
"Nope. When I called Ben, he simply wished me happy birthday and asked how you were doing. So I figured you weren't home, and they were assuming you were with me, so there was no need to alarm them. I played along instead," Joan said with a shrug making Bella hit her arm.
"How could you do that? What if I was in danger or had been kidnapped by a psychopath and murdered in cold blood?" She asked with a flushed face.
"I'm sure you could have handled yourself very well since you're so good at defending the honor of other people," Joan said dryly.
"So tell me, where did you pass the night?" She asked, sitting up so she could get a better view of Bella's face.
"You won't believe it," Bella said before going on to tell Joan all that had happened without leaving out anything.
"WOW! You received your first kiss on my birthday! AMAZING!" Joan exclaimed in a singsong voice as she clapped her hands happily.
"Are you crazy? Is that all you got from all I said?" Bella asked, raising a brow before standing up to take off the stupid clothes.