Isabella's POV

I watch him struggle with his words. I watch him narrate every single thing without leaving a stone unturned.

I watch him make an effort not to break down in front of me and I wish I could wrap my hands around him, comfort him and tell him everything will be fine.

Time they say heals all wounds.

Jayden is healing already but he doesn't know. For a whole year that I worked for him, I never knew he was battling with something as deep as this.

I judged him to be cruel, harsh, and rude. I never knew he was battling with the trauma of watching his wife die in his arms just within a minute of arguing with each other.

It makes me want to cry. But I am refraining from letting my tears pour.

When I can no longer hold it in, a tear drops from my eyes. Before I can wipe it, Jayden sees it and he smiles sadly and stops talking.

How do I console him?

It feels like I was right there that night, standing aside and watching him and Gabriel struggle to revive her back to life as the blood flows from her head and her protruding belly stops breathing.

I imagined myself crying so hard and begging her not to leave. I imagine myself crying and begging her to wait for the baby to come out first. But she left and Jayden hates babies.

"You have a chance for a new story", I find myself saying to him softly, balling my fist to control my nerves and stop the tears threatening to run down my face for the second time.

He lifts his head to stare at me with his dull eyes. "A new story?"

"Helena would want you to be happy, Jayden", I add instead and he shakes his head.

Quickly, I grab his hand. It feels cold but I don't remove my hands from him. Instead, I rub my two hands over his to warm his cold hand. It is like a replica of his heart; cold. He needs something to make it warm again and alive.

"She loved you. A woman who loves a man would want him to always be happy. His happiness will guarantee her happiness too. You are healing already. I don't see someone who isn't healing right in front of talking about his pain the way you are doing. The person I am seeing right now is Jayden. The person I am seeing is someone who is a few inches away from healing from the hurt of his past and not letting it have a toll on him ever again. A person who isn't ready to let his past control his emotions. All I see is a strong man who has been holding onto the past for so long."

"Isabelle, you don't understand…"

"Because I have never been in love?" I cut him short. That must be it. He thinks it is because I have never been in love, that is why the words are coming out so easy for me. Maybe he thinks I won't understand how hard it is because I don't have a man whom I love so much and who died.

"I might not have experienced love in a man but I have experienced love and I know what exactly love is."

He looks up again and quietly extricates his hand from my hold. He is a bit warm now so I let him go.

"My parents. Is there any love greater than something unconditional?" He shakes his head. "What you felt for Helena was true, pure, unconditional love and that was what I felt for my parents too. But they died so I have been in your shoes."

"I'm so sorry", his eyes become smaller and he looks really sorry.

I wave it away. "It's fine. It's been so long. But now I am over it."

"Really?" I nod. "How did you do it?"

I hum. "I almost didn't survive it", I laugh shortly. "But I did. My determination to get over it helped me to get through it. I wanted to die and go meet them but I told myself that dying won't make their death worthwhile. I know they want me to be happy. I decided to be strong, study harder and get a job so I can make them proud by taking care of Grandma. We both suffered the loss but here we are."

"Wow!" His eyes hold some new form of respect for me. I am sure he never thought I had possibly gone through the stage he is currently going through.

It feels similar and familiar and that's why I am so attached to his case and ready to help him. The one year with him will be worthwhile. By the time we are ready for a divorce, I am sure he will be completely healed from the hurt of the past.

"The only way you can make progress is to stop looking back. The past matters a lot but sometimes, they don't matter. The future does. The more you look back, especially into the mistakes of your past, the harder it becomes for you to move on. The harder you find it to move on, the more difficult it will be for your healing process. If you don't heal, you can't be your normal self and you won't be able to fight the nightmares and the trauma."

He nods in agreement.

"All you need to do is give it time and be determined to let go and that will be all. I will always be here whenever you need me."

"A shoulder to cry on?" He asks me in a joking manner and I snicker in laughter. He joins in.

I can't believe Jayden is joking. I never knew he had a sense of humor. He was always looking serious when we were working together.

"Thank you, Isabella, for wanting to lend me a shoulder to cry on", he expresses and chuckles. "But I think your shoulder is too little to accommodate my tears."

"I will let you have the other shoulder too", I grin widely and he shakes his head.

"Too small. If I need a shoulder to cry on, I am going to need many of them to fill in my tears because I promise you you won't be able to handle my cries when I start."

I don't understand what he means and I can't reply to him. Is he trying to say that he cries a lot or what is he saying?

I want to ask him what he means when he points to me with a laughing face.

"I got you!" I roll my eyes. "I knew you would be confused or concerned."

"Whatever!"

We fall silent again and I glance around the little house with a light smile on my face. This place is really nice and serene.

I wish I could go outside to touch the water but I don't want to leave Jayden behind. He brought me here for a while, probably because he needs company and I need to be close to him till he finally resumes work again.

I am sure he will be back to himself when he starts working again. But I will miss helping out whenever his Assistant brings the work home.

She regards me with some sort of look but I don't bother myself about it. I already know who she is. If only Jayden hadn't told me she is the one his Mother wants him to marry, I would have been bothered about how she looks at me.

But I am not. She might probably end up with Jayden at the end of the day. When I leave after a year, Jayden will need a woman and since his mother wants her, they can be together.

"What are you thinking?" I hear his question which pulls me out of my reverie.

I smile without facing him. He might figure out that I am lying. "Nothing."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Ok. About Verona, do you really want to go?"

"Of course, I would love to. Don't worry, I plan to get Alejandro's number from you and give him a call before October. I want to make the inquiries and see if I can afford it." I tell him.

I have been thinking about Verona ever since Alex talked about it during our dinner.

Well, I haven't thought of it for a long time until that night because I never knew I would be able to make money within a short time but now that I have some money with me, I can at least enjoy a vacation with it.

It will be so nice to go on a trip with Alejandro being the tour guide.

"October is next month", He reminds me.

"Yes."

"Wow, it didn't cross my mind. I should probably give Alejandro a call tomorrow. Or should I check the internet?"

"Let's call Alex", I turn to him. Alex will give him real information about it.

He raises his brows. "You have given him a nickname already? Alex?"

"It's not a nickname. I only shortened his name", I say nonchalantly.

"Do you like him that much?" The brows are still furrowed.

"Yes, of course Don't you like him too? He is a nice man."

He expels a sign and picks up his phone. "I will sponsor your trip to Verona and any other place you want to go to in Italy but the condition is that you have to be back in two weeks."

My mouth drops open in surprise. I never thought he would ever give me the chance to go there. I was already thinking of making the plans on my own and when everything is set, I would let him know and persuade him to let me go by using Alejandro.

Did he just say he would sponsor my trip?

When he notices that I am not saying a word, he looks up. This is when it dawns on me that this is indeed real and I am going on a vacation to Verona- The city of love.

Abruptly, I shoot up to my feet and jump on him in an embrace.

****

Isabella is going to Italy!💃💃💃💃🎉

Will Jayden be more open to her now?

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