Chapter 226 - Just how strong is their friendship?

Leo and Clara turned towards the directions of their visitors and saw Ella and Reuben coming towards them.

Ella, looking beautiful as always, was putting on a knee length jumpsuit and her hair tied on a pony.

She liked dressing simple, yet her beauty shone like a sunny day.

"Ella, it's not funny." Reuben whispered into her ear, as she still continues to laugh.

"Don't give me that lecture, Ben. Don't tell me you wouldn't laugh, if you were in my shoes." Ella said, holding her stomach. 

"I wouldn't." Reuben replied flatly and went to take his seat, pulling Ella along with him. 

They settle down opposite Leo and Clara.

Ella took her time to access Clara's head very well. She looked like all those druids in myth, who had to clear off all the hair on their head and have the ancient druid symbol drawn on it.

Her head isn't too big, and without the hair, it looked smaller, making her beautiful eyes more vivid and so big and cute aww.

"This is so hilarious. I need to award the barber who performed this magic. It looks like you've never grown hair since you were born, haha. Can I touch it? Damn I could already imagine the softness." Ella said and wanted to stand up but Reuben wrapped his hand around her waist, not letting her get up and flashed Clara an apologetic look.

"What!" Ella exclaimed softly and turned to look at Reuben who was tapping her secretly to stop all that she's doing.

"What's wrong with you?" Reuben asked softly.

"That is wrong." She pointed at Clara's head and burst into laughter again.

Leo and Clara stared at her and allowed her laugh to her heart's content. 

Reuben also joined in as well, looking serious since Ella isn't listening to

Ella noticed the changes in the atmosphere and gazed at Reuben's straight face as well as Leo and Clara's unbothered faces. 

"Guys, you didn't find this funny?" She asked, wondering why none of them are laughing.

"It's understandable that this dude is in love." She said pointing at Leo.

"What about you?" She asked, turning to face Reuben, because they make her look like she's laughing at nothing.

Leo sighed and shook his head. "Dude, I wonder how you manage to tame this wild tiger. You are doing an amazing job." He said to Reuben.

"I think I will be getting an award soon. It wasn't an easy job." Reuben replied.

Ella sneered at them. "Seriously, you make me feel like a failure as a woman. Even without your hair, you look astonishing. I still couldn't match with your beauty." Ella said after laughing to her heart's content, which Clara nearly joined in, if not for her emotional instability.

"I don't think so." Clara replied. 

"She's right, Baby. She's a complete failure." Leo said, hugging Clara's shoulders lightly.

"If you think that will count as revenge, then my dear friend, you just kid yourself. I admit that I was a failure earlier. Even my boyfriend here wouldn't deny that." Ella replied unbothered.

When has she ever taken things seriously?

"What do you mean?" Reuben asked and Leo also raised his brows.

"Who do you think looked prettier between Clara and I?" Ella asked Reuben.

"I would never admit another person's woman is prettier than mine. You are the most beautiful woman in my eyes." Reuben said cheekily.

"See? He might sound honest without those rants. He clearly admitted that he chooses me because we are together, tsk tsk life is so unfair." Ella said and Clara burst into laughter without realising it, while Leo held back the urge and bit his lower lip.

He couldn't help but praise Reuben in his head. He was sure that he wouldn't last a day as Ella's man because she's just too silly.

Everything is like a joke to her. She barely took things seriously.

"On a serious note, what happened to your hair?" Ella asked again trying to look serious, but once her eyes met with Clara's emerald hue to look like you're staring into a kitty eyes, which seem like they are glowing cutely at you, she burst into laughter again.

"Ella!" Reuben growled. 

"Sorry, sorry, excuse me." She said, covering her mouth. 

Clara giggled at Ella's reaction.

She's not so surprised. She believes that Reuben is one of the good things that happened in Ella's life.

The kind of person she was before, she wouldn't ask before trying to touch her head, but now even though she looks the same, there are still changes but Reuben still has a long way to go.

Leo didn't mind either, because if he does, it would appear that he finds Clara's state pitiful, which he didn't.

She's making him lose his mind each time he stared into her eyes, and he couldn't wait for the storm to be over completely.

They have a lot to catch up on.

.....

"I'm scared." An old woman could be seen inside a phone booth with her husband behind her.

She slowly reached out her left arm and her husband took it. He gave it a soft squeeze and nodded at her.

The two were Ella's parents.

They don't lack money, even though they have less of it. But the guilt of what they did to their daughter was eating them alive.

They ruined her life.

They have been wanting to meet her but Leo had threatened them, especially ever since she got together with Reuben.

Leo noticed that she has changed a lot. She doesn't act or talk rashly like before.

Speaking of talking rashly, he meant about men and abs.

When they meet each other, Ella has stopped complimenting the men around them about their beauty.

She had started seeing Reuben as the only man for her. She has moved on and he didn't want them to open her wound again.

They promised not to contact her and it only made Leo dislike them more than before, because they said that to gain their freedom.

They managed to find out that Ella now had a man and thought she must have let go of the hatred she had for them and wanted to try their luck.

Perhaps they could still get a chance to be her parents again.

They looked at her from afar and saw how she looked so happy with the man she was dating.

They go out on a date a lot and they watch from afar as the man presents her with gifts.

They saw their daughter laughed happily and jumped on him. Their shared kiss and how the man tenderly put on a necklace for her, same as a bracelet.

Before he gave a ring to her, they wanted to go back into her life. The life they ruined, they want to be part of the remains.

The woman let out a soft sigh and dialed the number.

...

Back at Leo's side.

Ella was still hyping over Clara's baldness, when her phone suddenly rang. "Pardon me." She said and picked the call.

It is an unknown number.

"Hello there." She said in her usual chirpy tone.

"Dear, it's mommy. Your dad is also here. We want to ask if we could meet." 

Ella's smile dropped and the woman continued. "We want to beg you for what we did to you. If there's still a chance that you could forgive us. We were wrong. We let greed to take over our senses.

I'm so sorry honey. Your daddy is sorry as well…"

"What's wrong?" Reuben asked as he felt the temperature around her lowered. Her gaze turned cold, which startled Leo and Clara, because she was still laughing before picking the call.

It's rare to see her like that and Leo's gaze darkened.

He stood up and took the phone from her. "Who is this?" He asked. 

Reuben wrapped his arm around Ella's shaky body. She had started to tremble and her gaze looked like it did when she was lying on the hospital bed and crying.

"Calm down." He said worriedly.

Clara also watched with a confused expression.

"Leonard." The voice at the other end seemed to shake when Leo spoke into the phone.

They weren't expecting him to be around her at this moment.

"I told you not to contact her, didn't I? You do this one more time and I'm going to make sure that you rot in jail." Leo growled and threw away the phone in annoyance. 

Clara had never seen him look so angry.

Like a doting father, Clara watched him squat in front of Ella to match her eye level and reached his hand to touch her face that looked so white.

Their friendship looks so strong that even Reuben was shocked by Leo's attitude. Just how deep did those three friends love each other?

It was like when he looked tenderly at Belle. His eyes red as if he wanted to cry, due to how Ella looked lost.

"Are you okay?" He asked Ella, while his thumb stroked her face.

Clara and Reuben couldn't even get jealous. They just felt their heart heavy at the scene.