When Isabelle finally opened her eyes, she was still in a daze. Where was she right now?

She lifted her head and looked around. When she saw that she was in a forest, she frowned before recalling what had happened. She had fallen into the stream while filming and then had thought that she was about to die. That thought sent a shiver through her even now.

Alexander seemed to have sensed her movements. He turned but couldn't see her face clearly, so he lightly asked, "Izzy?"

When she heard his voice, her frown deepened.

Why was he here? Was she dreaming?

Alexander waited for a while. When she didn't reply, he asked again, "Izzy, are you awake?"

When she heard him once more, she came back to her senses, remembering what had happened. When she was about to give up, she had felt someone hug her. At that time, she seemed to have thought it was just a hallucination...

She realized that Alexander had saved her, but she still couldn't process what had happened, asking in a daze, "Alexander, is that you?"

"Yes, it's me." Alexander's had heard the clear but faint voice. After a moment, he asked, "How are you feeling now?"

After he had asked, she seemed to feel a sharp pain on her left leg. Biting her lip, she replied softly, "I'm fine."

She lifted her head to look at the dried branch above her. "Where is this?"

"I don't know," Alexander replied honestly.

"Oh..."

They both remained silent. Alexander focused on the road ahead, walking carefully with Isabelle on his back.

Isabelle wasn't able to get over what had happened. She leaned on Alexander's back, staring into space with a blank expression, deep in thought. After a long while, she realized that Alexander's presence meant that he had jumped down the cliff after her.

In that instance, her heart squeezed, her expression turning into one of incomprehension.

The three meter cliff wasn't high, but in the face of such a strong current, wasn't he worried that he would die? And why did he jump ? If he didn't jump, would she already be dead?

Isabelle's mind was filled with endless questions. She couldn't hear Alexander even when he told her about the cave ahead of him.

Alexander carried her into the cave. Someone must have been here before for there was a straw mat and black charcoal inside.

Alexander was worried that she would catch a cold, so he signaled for her to sit closer. When she stood up, her entire body slouched forward from the pain in her left leg. Alexander came forward hurriedly to catch her. "You're injured?"

"It's fine." Isabelle shook her head before limping towards the fire. But after two steps, Alexander lifted her up and placed her in front of the fire before kneeling down by her feet.

He moved the red costume aside to see that the white pants beneath were already soaked in blood. He frowned and carefully lifted them There was a long cut on her left leg that was still oozing out blood.

Luckily it wasn't very deep. He heaved a sigh of relief before taking off his almost dried clothes. He dried them further in front of the fire before shredding without hesitation to wrap Isabelle's leg.

Even though he had been careful, Isabelle could still feel a stinging pain. She sucked in a breath, frightening Alexander. He trembled slightly and tried his best to lessen any force he had on the leg.

Isabelle bit her lip, enduring through the pain. With the glow from the fire, she stared at Alexander's handsome features. Lowering her lashes, she seemed to be in a struggle, for her hands had clenched into fists silently.

After about half an hour since Alexander had left the cave, lighting pierce the skies before a thundering clap sounded. Isabelle, who had been in a daze, shuddered. Just then, it started pouring outside the cave.

The forest was dense, so there wasn't much rain falling to the ground.

Then again, another lighting struck through the skies. Isabelle started to feel uneasy, worried that Alexander would be struck. She placed her hands on the floor and tried to stand up. When she was prepared to walk out, she saw Alexander coming back with branches in his hands. She grabbed onto her clothes and sat back down.

Alexander added more branches into the fire. When it started to blaze, he reached into the pile of branches for some fruits and threw a couple to Isabelle. "Fill your tummy."

Isabelle looked at the red looking fruit that looked like an apple but wasn't . She hesitated slightly before reaching for it.

Alexander seemed to have guessed her thoughts. As he continued to fiddle with the branches, he explained, "Its a wild fruit that can be eaten. In the past, when the filming conditions were bad, I had to live like this in the forest as well. Back then, an elderly farmer told me that the people in his village would eat this often."

Isabelle let out a light "oh" lightly before rubbing the fruit with her clothes. She placed it in her mouth and took a bite. It was sweet and sour and tasted delicious.

Recently, Alexander had been trying to use different ways to get close to her, but he could always feel her distance and just chose to ignore it.

He knew that ever since James woke up, he was no longer needed.

He washed his face, a tinge of despair and loneliness creeping onto his expression as he continued to fiddle with the fire.

The rain outside was getting harsher, beating onto the branches, causing loud sounds.

Other than the sound of water, the crackling of the fire could be heard in the cave as well.

They sank into silence, no longer speaking to each other.

Isabelle ate two fruits. When she was finally full, she lowered her head to stare at the fire.

After a seemingly look while, the rain still continued to fall. Alexander reached towards his jacket, which was already dry. He grabbed it and walked towards Isabelle, placing it over her shoulders. "If you're tired, you can sleep. I'll keep watch."

Isabelle looked towards him, her lips moving slightly but nothing coming out in the end. She laid down on the straw mat and curled her body. With Alexander's jacket covering her, she shut her eyes.

After a while, she could hear Alexander's footsteps going away. She opened her eyes slightly and saw that he was half naked, leaning at the edge of the cave.

He turned his head to look out the entrance, his face emotionless as though he hadn't a care in the world, but somehow she could sense loneliness and despair radiating off him.

In the end, she shut her eyes, forcing herself to sleep.

Isabelle couldn't fall asleep, she remained in the same position, listening to Alexander adding more branches to the fire several times. After a seemingly long time, she started to feel drowsy, in her half-awake state, she heard Alexander coughing.

The sound wasn't loud, and towards the end, he forced the cough down.

Isabelle frowned. After a while, she heard a suppressed cough once again.

She could no longer keep her eyes shut. Peaking through the flames, she could see him sitting in his original spot with his hands covering his mouth, trying to keep the sound in so that she wouldn't be disrupted.

His face was unusually pale, his body trembling slightly; he didn't seem well.... Was he having a fever?

Isabelle could feel her heart squeeze once more. She tried to ignore him but couldn't keep it in any longer: "Alexander..."

Alexander froze slightly before turning to look at her weakly. "Did I wake you up?" Apology and guilt sneaked into his face as he apologized faintly, "I'm sorry."

His apology made her heart clench. She could feel the stinging burn in her eyes and struggled to keep the tears back. Turning her head aside, she took a deep breath to calm herself. When she could finally speak normally, she asked, "Are you okay?"

It was a simple question, but in that instance, a glimmer of hope flashed past his eyes. Before he could reply her, another cough escaped through is lips. He swallowed a big gulp of saliva in order to suppress it before looking at her. "I'm fine, I might have choked on the smoke from the fire."

While he spoke, his entire body was trembling. It was as though he was freezing.

Isabelle felt her tears starting to well up. With the intensity of the sting increasing, she lowered her lashes and bit her lip before struggling to stand up.

"What do you want to do? I'll help you, be careful of your leg." Alexander hurriedly stood up, but before he could take a step, he fell back down.

Isabelle limped over slowly. When she finally reached him, she extended her arm to feel his forehead. His skin was burning but yet he felt cold.

Before she could say a word, Alexander had a coughing fit, then reassured her weakly, "I'm fine."

Isabelle ignored him. She returned back to the straw mat to grab his jacket and limped back to him. Before she could place the jacket on him, he reached out to stop her. She looked down at him and saw an expression that she had never seen on him before. He had a dazzling faint smile. "I'm really fine, you can have it on when you sleep to save yourself from getting a cold."

Isabelle could no longer ignore him anymore, and tears poured down her face endlessly.

He jumped down the cliff for her, carried her to find shelter, helped her tend to her wound, let her rest while he stood guard, didn't even dare to cough out loud, fearing it would disrupt her, and now when he was having a high fever, he had reassured her warmly that he was fine.

Alexander panicked. Even though everything was fine a moment ago, why would she suddenly cry? "Izzy..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Isabelle started to question him as tears continued to stream down her face.

"Why did you jump down?"

The instance she asked the question, she could feel her chest start to hurt once more.

For the past few weeks, she had been desperately trying to suppress her feelings for him, but in an instance, everything came gushing out.

He continued to study her expression: she seemed agitated, her lips trembling as she repeated the question once more. "Alexander, why bother about me? Why jump down to save me?"

Tears continued to stream down her face continuously while Alexander stared on in anxiety. Half his heart had frozen over, and due to his fever, he seemed to be in a slight daze, his pale lips moved slightly but he remained silent.

Isabelle's tears started to fall at a faster rate. She lifted her hands to wipe them off, but they seemed to be never ending, drowning her entire face. She bit down on her lip, forcing back her cries as she stared at Alexander. Taking another deep breath, she added, "Do you know how much I wish you were out of my life!"

Alexander remained expressionless, as though he didn't care what she had said, but behind him, in a corner she couldn't see, he was holding tightly onto a pile of dirt.

"We're no longer a couple, no wait, we were never a couple, but now, we are officially strangers... You have no idea how hard I've been trying to ignore your presence..." The more Isabelle spoke, the more her heart started to ache. In the end, she started to plead with him. "Alexander, I beg you, please leave me alone... You have no idea how pained and upset I get whenever I see you..."

Isabelle's knees buckled and she dropped to the floor, crying into the ground.

Alexander had never known that he had been bringing her pain all this while. Even if she released him and left his world, he still had hopes, he still tried desperately to appear before her, to treat her well.

Initially, Isabelle was still able to ignore his presence, but today... When she had fallen from the cliff, he had come after her, he had helped her tend to her wound, given her his clothes, braved the rain, endured the cold, and now, he acted as though everything was fine when he was running a high fever.

If he was able to do such a cruel thing to her, why couldn't he just continue to be cruel so that she would be able to forget him? Why did he have to treat her so well after doing such a thing? His actions made her waver, made her heart confused, made her struggle between hatred and love. It was driving her to the edge...

Alexander could no longer hear a thing, his mind blank. All he could hear were her cries, each sob driving a dagger deeper into his heart.

Her words repeated continuously in his mind, seemingly killing his soul every single time.

Ever since Alexander was young, he had been insulted many times. Even his birth father had said cruel things to him before, but he had never felt as pathetic as he felt right now.

He wanted to allow himself to react or do something, but he had no idea what he should do. He could only maintain his usual frosty demeanor.

After a seemingly long time, Isabelle's cries started to go down, her lashes trembling lightly.

He had always assumed that if his confession failed, he would lose her completely, so he would rather silently stay by her side.

Even if she would never turn back her entire life, it was fine.

Because in this world, she was the only one that gave him hope and showed him the beauty of life.

Many times, just her expression or a faint smile was able to brighten his day.

But even this tiny request was slowly turning into an unreachable desire.

Alexander's eyes gradually turned red. He lowered his lashes, his expression remaining calm. After a long while, he lifted his lashes and looked towards Isabelle, his eyes distant and cold.

Isabelle, did you know? You're the warmth that I've spent my whole life trying to get close to.

His lips curled into a slight smile, it was faint and had a hint of sorrow. Right now, he was ready to tell her that he would get out of her life.

~*~

Isabelle cried for a long long time but she couldn't seem to vent her sorrow, her heart continued to be in a deep knot of pain.

The moment she saw his name on the abortion form, she felt upset, she felt weak, she didn't even have the courage to ask him why he had killed her child because she was worried that his words would send her straight down to hell.

But she never never expected that her lack of courage would cause the pain and suffering today.

She wanted to free herself, she wanted to just run away, to let her heart go cold...

She lifted her head and looked straight into his eyes.

The rain outside continued to pour relentlessly, and before she could ask her question, two steam of tears fell down her face. She took a deep breath before asking hoarsely, "Why didn't you want my child?"

Alexander had been preparing his words but before he could say anything, he heard her question. He tilted his head to look at her curiously.

Her eyes were swollen. As she knelt on the floor, she appeared small and delicate. She had her head raised towards him, staring straight into his eyes with a resolute expression.

She repeated her question once more. "Alexander, why did you abort my child?"

Isabelle's voice choked up as her heart continued to ache. "Alexander, I know that our marriage was fake and the child wasn't in the plan, but since he had arrived, how could you be so ruthless? How could you kill him?"

After crying for such a long time, her calmed emotions erupted once more. "Don't you know that it's a life? How could you be so ruthless to kill a life? It's murder, MURDER!

"Who gave you the right to kill my child?" Her tears came back with a fury, her throat choking up as she spoke. "My.. child, who gave you the right? WHO?"