After spending such a long time outside, Isabelle was getting hungry. She hurriedly defrosted some dumplings before throwing them in the pot and chopsticks into the basin.

After taking a light shower, she laid back down on her bed. She scrolled through her Facebook, and only at 1 am did she off the lights.Isabelle shut her eyes and prepared to sleep, but soon, she started to feel slightly uncomfortable. She continued to lie for a short while more before ripping the blankets off abruptly, rushing to the bathroom. She removed her clothes, realizing that there was a red spot on her panties.

Her period was here... As she walked over to get some sanitary pads, she remembered that she had just moved into James's mansion and hadn't had time to prepare her daily necessities.

But she couldn't just sleep like that... Grabbing her wallet, she walked downstairs.

~*~

Why was she out so late into the night?

Alexander frowned. Without even offing the car engine, he pushed open the door and shouted her name as he ran towards James's mansion, "Isabelle."

Even though he wasn't loud, the night was silent enough, and Isabelle froze slightly before turning to look at him.

He was dressed in a suit that complimented his tall physique. The warm glow from the street lamp spilled across his face, blurring his handsome features.

He casually walked forward, stopping about a meter from her. He slightly lowered his head, noticing that she wore slippers. "Why are you out so late?"

Isabelle was jolted back to her senses. She lifted her head slightly to look at him. "I need to buy stuff."

It was currently 1 am, and the only twenty-four hour convenience store was about five hundred meters away from York Garden's entrance. It would take about twenty minutes for her to go and come back.

Isabelle had rushed out in a hurry, she was still dressed in her pajamas with just a jacket over.

Even though the security was good, it still wasn't safe to go out so late at night... Besides, what could she need so urgently?

Alexander frowned before saying faintly, "It's late now, get it tomorrow."

"I need it urgently." She hesitated before adding, "It isn't far, I'll be back shortly."

Alexander didn't try to stop her, he told her to wait before turning back.

He opened his car door and offed the engine before grabbing his wallet from the passenger seat. He hurriedly walked back to where Isabelle was waiting. "Lets go."

Isabelle snapped out of her daze, realizing instantly that he was going to come along with her. Instinctively, she said, "It's okay..."

Without even waiting for her to finish her sentence, he started to walk forward.

Isabelle stood still for a short while before following after Alexander.

Just like that, he walked in front while she trailed after, maintaining a short distance between them.

They remained silent the entire journey, neither attempting to speak to the other.

When they reached the convenience store, Alexander stopped at the entrance, waiting for her to go in alone. Through the glass windows, he saw her throwing a few bags of sanitary pads in her basket.

So her monthly period was here, no wonder she said it was urgent...

When she was at the cashier, Alexander pushed open the door and reached for his wallet. When the cashier had finished scanning the goods, he passed a hundred dollar bill over.

"I brought small change..."

Isabelle took a few ten dollar notes out of her wallet, but before she could pass it to the cashier, Alexander had already reached for the change that the cashier had passed over. He took the bag filled with sanitary pads and headed out of the shop without her.

Just like before, they maintained a small distance between them, with him in front and her trailing behind. When she lifted her head to look at him, she thought to have seen loneliness in his wide shoulders. She couldn't bear it and averted her gaze.

The night was silent, the glow from the moon shinning down upon them, elongating their shadows.

When they reached the entrance to James's mansion, Alexander stopped and passed the bag over to Isabelle.

She reached for it and thanked him.

He didn't reply, and the two of them looked at each other in silence.

Alexander knew that he was supposed to tell her to go back and rest early, but the words remained stuck in his throat, unable to come out. Just like that, they stood silently.

When the silent atmosphere was starting to turn awkward and Isabelle realized that Alexander wasn't going to say anything, she lifted her head and said, "I'll go now."

Alexander lowered his lashes, nodding his head after some time. He lifted his lashes before saying a faint, "Rest well."

"Yea," Isabelle replied softly, tightening her grip on the bag. She brushed past Alexander and entered the mansion.

Alexander stood at the entrance for a long while. When he was sure that she had entered the room, he shifted his gaze and lifted his head to look at the night sky. He took a few steps toward his mansion before turning back towards the convenience store abruptly.

When Isabelle returned back to the bedroom, she cleaned herself once more before washing the soiled panties.

Before, when her period came, it would always be without any notice, without any discomfort, but now, her stomach felt bloated and hurt slightly. She wasn't sure if it was because the temperature of the water she had used to wash her panties was too low.

She hung her panties in the balcony and was about to go back to bed when the door bell suddenly rang.

She walked down and when she peeped through the door hole, she didn't see anyone. She started to feel worried, hesitated slightly, but still opened the door in the end. There wasn't anyone there, the front yard was empty as well.

Isabelle frowned slightly. While she was still thinking about it, she suddenly spotted a bag in front of her.

She wasn't sure what was in the bag and was worried that it was a late night prank. Lifting her head, she scanned the empty front yard. After hesitating for a long while, she knelt down to examine the contents of the bag. With the glow from the lamp at the entrance, she saw that the bag belonged to the convenience store that she had gone to just now.

Carefully, she pried the plastic bag open slightly. Inside, she saw two boxes with logos. Her heavy heart finally settled, and with both hands, she hurriedly opened the bag to take what was inside out.

Two boxes of red ginger tea, a big bag of hot packs, and three bags of dates... These were the usual things that women on their period would have. Red ginger tea was exceptionally good at alleviating any period cramps.

But her period had just come and she hadn't told anyone, who could...

Before her sentence could form, she instinctively turned to look at Alexander's mansion.

Alexander's car was just entering his mansion, the glaring light still on. As he was parking his car, the front of it was facing James's mansion, blinding Isabelle. She reached her hands up to block her eyes, only when the lights dim did she put them down.

The front yard lights never turned on. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear the sound of the door closing. Soon after, the house lit up, the lights spilling into the yard, lighting it up.

Isabelle stared at the lights for a long while before retracting her gaze. She looked back down at the bag before her, realizing that these were placed here by Alexander.

It was actually quite easy to guess. He was the only one that knew she was on her period, and he must have returned back to the convenience store to get this bag for her when she had entered the house.

Isabelle's heart squeezed slightly. She knelt for a long while before placing everything back into the bag and bringing it back into the house. Before she entered, she turned back to take one last look at the mansion ahead that was lit up.

When she reached her room, she opened a pack of red ginger tea, making herself a cup. The aroma from the tea filled the entire room instantly.

As she sat on the sofa, she stared at the steaming hot cup, her feelings growing confused.

She knew that Alexander had gone to the convenience store with her because he was worried, she also knew that he had bought things for her because he cared for her.

But she could not understand what his care and concern meant right not. Was it because of the child that he had killed? Was he trying to make himself feel better because of the guilt?

Many times, even though one knew that they could not be together, one would still feel touched and moved by the other's actions.

Just like her and Alexander. He had killed her child, so she had decided to stop loving him, even struggling to remove him from her memory, but tonight, she couldn't help but feel touched by his actions.

Alexander spoke calmly. "The variety show that I assigned to you previously will be recorded on the ninth of this month, remember to prepare for it beforehand."

It was about business matters... "I understand."

Alexander sunk into silence at his end.

Isabelle held onto the phone, waiting, before speaking once more, "Erm, is there anything more? If not, I'll hang up now."

After about a minute, Alexander said softly, "Yea." When she was about to hang up after saying goodbye, he suddenly spoke again. "Izzy..."

Isabelle paused, silently waiting for Alexander to continue.

After a moment of silence, he spoke once again. "Is it inconvenient these few days? The recording might be tiring, do you need me to push the date back?"

Just like from the bag of things that he had left at the door, she was starting to feel confused. She lowered her lashes and remained silent for a while before replying calmly, "It's okay, there's three more days, by then, I'll be fine."

"If... you don't feel well on the day of the recording, remember to let the crew know."

"Yea, I understand, thank you."

~*~

Alexander didn't intend to snatch Isabelle from James. He also didn't expect for her to fall for him, but he didn't want them to sink into becoming strangers as they had five years ago. Those were the worst years of his life...

He was always finding ways to get close to her, finding ways to talk to her, but he wasn't able to find any.

Informing her about the variety show could be done by any small member of the staff in the company, but he yearned to speak to her and was willing to do such a minute take.

But Isabelle was just a newbie who didn't have much on her schedule, in order to find ways to speak to her, he had to abuse his position to give her more work just so that he could talk to her to tell her about it.

Even though it was just half a month, Alexander had accepted three dramas, seven advertisements, and other random activities for her...

Even though his actions had caused the board members of Global Entertainment to be unhappy, he chose to ignore them and did as he pleased.

Just when the board members were the tensest, Alexander, who was still in the midst of filming "Alluring Times", assigned a historical drama for Isabelle. She had never acted in this genre before, and to make matters worst, Alexander, who was the producer, had also invested in the drama.

Alexander's assistant started predicting that in a month the actresses in Global Entertainment would probably start to rebel.

The historical drama "Heaven's Sword" that Isabelle was assigned to was a big production, just like "Alluring Times".

It was the first time she had the female lead role, so she was nervous, but luckily, the male lead was Jake who she was rather familiar with.

Helen was also part of the drama, but her screen time was short, it was more of a guest role.

~*~

On the first day, James randomly insisted on sending Isabelle over for work.

He booked business class tickets, the two of them sitting in the same row but there was a small pathway between Isabelle and James.

Camila had prepared a movie on her iPad beforehand, so once the plane took off, she switched it on and passed an earpiece over to Isabelle.

James took a newspaper from the air stewardess and flipped through it casually until finally resting his gaze on a photo on the top half of the second page.

Helen wore a pale colored long silky dress, as she stood on the red carpet with her delicate jaw slightly tilted, a smile on her face.

James stared at the photo for a long time before finally shutting the newspaper in frustration. He stuffed it into the magazine slot and turned over to look at Isabelle and Camila. They were both engrossed in their iPad. Turning to look into the screen, James saw a close up shot of Helen.

He took in a long, deep breath, moving back to recline against his seat. He shut his eyes, but all he could remember was the memory of Helen slapping him a month ago.

On hindsight, he had no idea why she had slapped him, but he was thoroughly angered and had returned a slap before he could stop himself.

His return was hard and aggressive, stinging his palm.

He regretted instantly, and in that swiftly, he started to fret. He knelt down instinctively, apologizing.

But the moment he laid his eyes on her, he saw that her eyes were dry, without any tears. She had on a calm expression that didn't make sense. It was as though he hadn't slapped her. She stood back up as though nothing had happened and started to make herself presentable.

It was as though the person that was slapped wasn't her at all...

Just like the day he had gotten into the car accident...

That night at 8 pm, he had rushed to the airport to get her after she had finished her work in France. He had brought her for dinner and had even gotten her a present. When they reached the apartment, he impatiently reached under her clothes, and just like every other time, she obediently complied.

But once all their clothes were taken off and he was about to enter her, she suddenly said in a calm voice, "James, let's break up."

At that moment, all he could remember was how close they were. He had taken her words for a joke and continued to kiss her face as though she hadn't said anything.

But she reached out to push him, repeating the sentence once more. "James, let's break up."

He looked into her eyes and could see her seriousness. When they were both in university, she had came to him to sell herself so that she could have enough money to settle her father's medical fees. At that time, he had bought her for fifty thousand. They had been together for seven years, but now, she, who had never been in a relationship, suddenly wanted to break up.

Even till today, he couldn't understand why he would feel so angry. It was as though his pride had been tattered. He had thought for a moment and asked, "Are we even together?"