The entire table raised their wine glasses, ready to down their drinks. Isabelle, who sat beside James, reached out and took glass from his hands in exchange for a cup of water. She then politely explained to the table full of people, "James still can't drink alcohol yet. "

Assuming that James had only just finished his cosmetic surgery, everybody didn't force him to drink.

Sophia teased Isabelle with a bright smile, "Izzy, you sure are protective of James."

James smiled wordlessly, and downed his cup of water with everyone.

The harsh alcohol ran down Alexander's throat with a hint of raw bitterness.

James's dishes tasted superb. Everyone around the table assumed James and Isabelle were husband and wife, so they couldn't help but start teasing. "Isabelle, you're so lucky to be able to eat young master's exotic dishes everyday."

After one person started the teasing, others started to chime in as well. "That being said... James, your wedding ceremony back then with Izzy was far too sloppy. You didn't even invite some of us here. Now that your face has recovered, isn't it about time that you hold a bigger wedding ceremony?"

"Yeah, James. You didn't even have a wedding ceremony. Did you do right by Izzy, did you do right by us?"

Even though James and Isabelle knew that the ceremony they were crying about would never come true, the two of them agreed to not let it slip in the slightest before they got the divorce finalized. To do this, James even played along with everyone, smiling and saying, "Definitely, I'll definitely make up for the wedding ceremony to Izzy."

From start to end, Isabelle kept a gentle smile and didn't say a word. When James said those words, she couldn't help but glance over at Alexander from the corner of her eyes. His expression was cold and distant as usual as he silently drank his wine, as though the conversations at the table had nothing to do with him.

Isabelle couldn't help but tightly clutch her chopsticks. Though she said she wouldn't love him again, whilst others were egging her on with another guy, it still pained her heart to see him so nonchalant.

"Not only make up for the wedding ceremony, make up for the proposal! Izzy, let me tell you... If young master doesn't propose, by all means, don't agree to anything!"

"They're already married, what can't she agree to?!"

"She can't agree to have kids!"

"Yeah yeah yeah, don't agree to have kids!"

"Izzy, when he proposes, remember to call upon us. We'll help you see if he's sincere enough. Until then, you mustn't give young master a child."

Give him a child... Isabelle and James's child... Alexander instantly thought about his own unborn child who was killed in the belly... His hand couldn't help but grip harder onto his wine glass.

He couldn't hear what was so funny about what they just said, but everyone around the table laughed cheerfully. His eyes calmly waited for everyone to change the topic, then when no one noticed, his eyes silently fell on Isabelle. She had her head down, quietly chewing on a piece of chicken thigh that James had picked up for her with his chopsticks.

Alexander only looked for five seconds before looking away. Then he raised his head and downed another glass of wine, stood up, and left for the living room.

He stood alone in the living room. The sound of laughter blared from the dining room. It sounded like the atmosphere was very lively, but his whole body was shrouded heavily with a sense of loneliness that wouldn't dissipate.

He didn't know just how long he stood there for. When the dining room doors opened, he masked his loneliness by hurriedly pulling out his phone from his pocket and pressing it against his ear, pretending to be on the phone.

James called out, "Bro". Seeing as Alexander was on the phone, he instinctively shut his mouth, pulled open the communal restroom doors, and walked in.

Alexander only put his phone back into his pocket when he heard the sound of flushing from the restroom. James came out, drying his hands with tissue. Seeing as Alexander was off the phone, he said, "Bro, you finished up?"

Alexander gently nodded his head.

Someone from the dining room called James's name, to which he replied back in a high pitched voice. He chucked the paper into the bin and turned to Alexander. "Come in and eat."

Alexander stood on the spot, motionless and cold. "I have to go, there's some business I have to attend to."

A hint of disappointment flashed across James's eyes, but he didn't press on. "All right, if you have time later, I'll come find you for a meal."

Alexander made a "mm" sound and glanced at the dining room door. He didn't say anything, just stood there quietly for two seconds, then strode out.

The temperature at night had already dropped. It wasn't as hot as it was during the day, as a matter of fact, it was quite soothing.

Alexander held a cup of tea and stood in his balcony as he quietly stared up at the stars.

He only agreed to go to James' dinner after seeing her enter the mansion in the morning.

He knew that by going over, he was simply asking to be tortured by things he saw and heard.

Yet, there was no helping it. God only gave him a chance to be with her for two hundred and fifty-one days. Even though he got this opportunity by acting as James's substitute, now, all he could do was torture himself to get closer to her.

A single dinner was more torturous than he ever imagined, but that was all right, he was still able to see her. He even spoke twice to her, did he not?

The two conversations: the first was when he said "Thank you" when she handed him tea, the other was when he said "Give it to me" as she hung up the phone on Mrs. Williams. But it was all worth it, was it not?

Alexander stood there all the way up to ten something at night, until there was movement at the neighboring mansion. Perhaps two people had drank a little much, for when they got into their car, they screamed incoherently, which triggered the neighbor's dog to bark endlessly.

The car lights shone endlessly in the courtyard as they left one-by-one.

Under the faint yellow lights, Alexander, who stood on the second floor, saw James and Isabelle at the gates of the courtyard. They walked back into the mansion and shut the doors, completely silencing the entire world.

Only the two of them, James and Isabelle were left in the mansion next door...

Alexander's mind wandered to the boxes of condoms he'd seen as part of James's shopping earlier, when he went over for dinner, and instantly didn't want to think more.

After about half an hour, the lights in the mansion next door were out. Alexander's hands trembled, and his cup shattered into pieces which fell to the ground.

The hot tea splashed onto Alexander's body, leaving pale yellow stains.

Alexander retreated back into the bedroom in a fluster. His steps were a little erratic as he walked over to the washroom, turned on the tap, and wildly splashed water onto his face.

That night, he clearly didn't drink a lot, but in that very moment, his stomach was churning like the sea. It was extraordinarily painful. At that moment, he couldn't take it any longer and suddenly rushed over to the bathroom. He knelt down and started vomiting.

Alexander vomited for a long time. He vomited until his stomach was hollowed out, but his insides were still burning in pain.

They'd clearly ended it half a month ago, but he was still a bit slow. He still thought that she would come back to his mansion every day, and would sleep with him in his bed. Now that he thought of her actually living with James in his mansion, and that there was the possibility of something actually happening between them, like what happened with himself, he couldn't accept that...

The more Alexander thought about it, the more he panicked. In the end, he climbed off from the wooden floor. Despite the dirty tea stains on his clothes, he went straight up to James's door, raised a hand, and pressed the doorbell.

His movements were brash as he pressed several times.

After the lights in the mansion lit up, James's voice reached him. "Who is it?"

Then the doors were open.

James was already in pajamas. He was probably lying when someone had suddenly woken him up. His expression wasn't good, but as soon as he saw Alexander outside the door, his mood immediately became better and he cried out, "Bro?"

Then James saw Alexander's dirty clothes and furrowed his brows. "Bro, what happened to your clothes?"

Alexander shook his head. "It's nothing, I accidentally spilled some tea."

"Oh." James yawned. "Bro, did you come find me for something?"

With James's question, Alexander only then realized that he'd been a little impulsive earlier. He was dazed out for a second, when he randomly made up an excuse. "A few days ago, I took a few photos at a charity event, do you want go pick two out?"

James covered his mouth and yawned again. Then he mumbled, "Another day. It's late, and I'm a little sleepy. And, Bro, you have to look after yourself. Don't always sleep so late."

Alexander oddly twitched the corner of his lips. "So... You should go get some rest."

"Mm," James responded. He then said to Alexander, "Goodnight".

"Goodnight," Alexander replied as he turned to leave. Half-way through the courtyard, the lights in the house behind him switched off. Alexander's footsteps paused for a moment, and the urge to pry the door open and take Isabelle away came over him.

If he had just the tiniest right, as he was now, then he would definitely take her... But he had no right to do so. James was Isabelle's fiance, and him? To her, he was nothing.

Alexander formed fists, shut his eyes, and his tensed body paused for a moment. In the end, he turned away and walked out of James's courtyard with heavy footsteps.

He didn't go back to his own mansion but went back to the 24-hour convenience store at the gates of the neighborhood. He bought a few boxes of cigarettes, stood under the lamppost outside James's mansion, and smoked all night.

That night, it was the longest and most grueling night of his life.

Nobody knew what kind of frame of mind he used to survive every second of every minute of that night.

Nor did anyone know, just how many glances he took at James's mansion.

Furthermore, no one knew how many times the rim of his eyes had turned red.

That night, his heart was restless, it was bone-piercingly painful, hopelessly depressed... He'd sampled all sorts of emotions in one go.

If he could, he never wanted to relive the emotions he'd lived through that night.

It was only when the first ray of sunshine reached the horizon that he felt the exhaustion of that night. His footsteps staggered him back to his own mansion. Behind him, he left a ground full of cigarette butts.