Isabelle murmured "Who gave you the right?" several more times before looking up at the ceiling. She wiped her face off the endless tears, turning to stare out at the rain through the entrance of the cave.

Gradually, the image of how she fell in love with Alexander materialized in her mind. It was a rainy day just like today. Her heart started to throb, she could no longer bare it any longer, starting to cry once more.

This time, the cry was short. She quickly regained her senses, her long lashes were soaked with tear droplets as she stared at him. In a resolute voice, she said, "Alexander, seriously, I can understand what you did, I'm James's wife in name, the child wasn't meant to be alive, but even if i can understand your intentions, I can never forgive you.

"I can never be as ruthless as you are..."

Her voice turned weak. She always thought that the most torturous thing in the world was not being able to love, but right now, she realized that the more torturous thing was that after what he had done, she still couldn't stop loving him.

She buried her head between her knees, speaking in a sorrowful voice, "If you have been treating me well because of guilt, you can forget it because you'll never be able to compensate for what you did..."

Her question seemed to have caught Alexander off guard, it was only now that he was able to process what had happened. Isabelle had found out about the abortion? But he had already silenced the doctors and nurses with a huge sum of money...

Just when he was still pondering on how she had found out, he heard her last sentence: "You can forget it because you'll never be able to compensate for what you did..."

A glimmer of hope rose. With bright eyes, he finally said, "You didn't want to have anything to do with me because you thought I had aborted the child?"

His question seemed to have caught her off guard this time. She clenched onto her collar, not daring to look at him as her eyes started to turn red once more. In a seemingly soulless voice, she said, "You really killed my child...."

As opposed to her despair, Alexander was visibly agitated. He reached out to grab her shoulders, persisting with his question. "Izzy, answer my question first, you never wanted to see me again because of the child?"

Isabelle buried her head further into her knees. She moved her shoulders, trying to free herself from him.

Alexander exerted more pressure as he asked once more, "Answer me..."

Before he could finish his question, she abruptly lifted her head. With a face full of hatred, she spat out, "Yes!"

Isabelle had only said a word, but it was enough. A dazzling bright smile spread across Alexander's face. He pulled her into his arms and embraced her tightly.

Isabelle was in despair and felt like dying but he had on a smile on his face? Even if she had a mild temper, she couldn't help getting infuriated. She struggled with her entire body, trying to free herself from his embrace, but Alexander exerted more strength, successfully caging her in his arms. It was as though he was trying to meld her into his body.

She started to get increasingly furious, she opened her mouth and bit down on his shoulder.

Alexander trembled, clearly in pain, but he had no intention of letting her go.

In Isabelle's desperation, tears started to fall out once more, her entire body trembling. When she could feel herself dying inside, she suddenly heard Alexander's whisper.

"Izzy, you indeed got an abortion and I had indeed signed the papers, but I didn't have a choice, the child..."

He had thought that she hated him but only now did he realize that it was because of the child.

Alexander felt as though his emotions had just went on a wild ride, it was so exhausting it almost killed him.

At this moment, when he mentioned the child, the happiness was replaced by sorrow once more. In a low voice, he explained, "When the report came out, the child had already been dead for a weak."

Isabelle seemed to have been struck, she stopped biting onto Alexander instantly.

"Izzy, when I reached York Garden, you were already bleeding. I didn't know what to do so I sent you to the hospital... At that time, your condition was bad and you needed to go to a surgery immediately.." Alexander never wanted to be reminded of that night ever again. Even till today, he would awake from this nightmare sometimes. "Izzy, I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect the child as a father should."

Isabelle blinked several times before moving her mouth away from his shoulder to look at him in shock. "Died inside me?"

Alexander nodded lightly. His throat moved slightly, and he continued, worried she didn't believe his words, "The reports are all with me, you can take a look once we return if you don't believe me."

Her child died? That's why he signed the abortion papers? Which meant she had misunderstood him all this while?

He had been treating her really well recently... But she had always been ignoring him and treating him coldly... And a few minutes ago, she had just said such mean things to him...

She started to regret her actions and started to feel embarrassed. She buried her head in his shoulder and stared back at the spot that she had just bitten... There was blood and the skin had turned slightly purple.

Lowering her lashes in embarrassment, she reached out to caress his bruise before asking lightly, "Does it hurt?"

Alexander's face was a frightening shade of white, but he shook his head faintly. "Doesn't hurt."

Isabelle couldn't help her eyes from turning red. She reached out and hugged Alexander's neck, burying her head in his chest. After a moment, she raised her head slightly towards his ears, in a low whisper, she apologized, "I'm sorry."

Even though she wasn't loud, Alexander could hear every word. His body froze, but he didn't say anything, wordlessly hugging her closer.

Isabelle remained silent. In this deserted place, they quietly enjoyed each other's embrace.

After a seemingly long time, the rain stopped, sinking the forest into silence. The only sound was coming from the crackling fire.

When Isabelle finally calmed down, she began to think of what Alexander had said . She turned to face him slowly. "Alexander, why did the baby die?"

Alexander froze slightly, remembering the swallow's nest that Mrs. Williams had given her. Menace with a mixture of hatred and heartache flashed through his eyes, but it was gone in an instance. Before Isabelle could detect any change, he had returned back to normal.

Mrs. Williams was her mother-in-law, the mother of the man she loved... If she were to know the truth, it might cause a rift between her and James... The only reason Mrs. Williams had targeted her was because of him, it was all his fault....

In an emotionless voice, he explained, "The first three months of pregnancy are usually the toughest, it's very easy to have a miscarriage. At that time, you were still filming, the lack of rest and proper nutrition caused it to happen."

Isabelle recalled her nausea. She had originally thought that it was a normal gastric problem, but now that she thought about it, it was probably from the pregnancy. Afterwards, the nausea had stopped and she thought that her stomach was fine, but it was actually because the baby had died...

If she had listened to Alexander and visited the hospital early on, the tragedy wouldn't have happened and she wouldn't have ended up misunderstanding him.

She remained in deep thought for a long while before asking softly, "Alexander, then why didn't you tell me the truth?"

Alexander seemed to feel sick. He leaned against the cave's wall, staring at the fire. "Izzy, I just didn't want you to be upset."

I didn't have any other intentions, I just didn't want you to feel that heart wrenching pain that I had felt on that day.

I just wanted to carry all the pain and shoulder all your burdens.

He was just worried that she would be upset, that's why he didn't tell her. It wasn't because he didn't want the child... Isabelle started to feel a stinging sensation in her eyes. She softly murmured, "I'm sorry."

She waited slightly, then asked uncertainly, "Alexander, will you blame me?"

Alexander couldn't keep the cough in any longer, starting another fit. "Huh?" he asked after.

"Will you blame me for misunderstanding?" Isabelle repeated uncertainly.

"No..."

Before he could say another word, he fell onto her.

Alexander had placed his entire body weight on Isabelle, and she had almost fallen with him. Turning her head to the side, she could see his tightly knotted forehead and pale lips. Just then, she remembered that he was still running a fever. She reached out to feel his forehead: the temperature seemed much higher than before.

He had soaked in the stream for such a long time, went to collect branches shirtless, all of it must have caused him to catch a cold.

Isabelle felt her heart start to ache once more. She hurriedly climbed out of his embrace, then struggled to pull him to the straw mat. Using all her strength, she endured the pain in her leg, towing him towards the mat.

She covered him with his jacket before adding more branches to the fire so that it would burn more furiously, increasing the temperature in the cave.

The rain had been ongoing for a long time, causing the air to be moist. As the wind blew, the cave started to get cold and humid.

Alexander frowned as he lay on the straw mat, his face scrunching up in discomfort. Even unconscious, he was trembling from the cold.

Isabelle stood in front of Alexander, attempting to block the wind that was entering the cave but it didn't seem to work as he continued to tremble uncontrollably. Even his breathing was starting to get weak as he continuously murmured something.

Isabelle moved her ear towards his mouth to try and decipher what he was saying. After listening for a long while, she realized that he was repeating "Cold".

Without any hesitation, she removed her costume and placed it over Alexander's body, but just then, a gush of wind entered, sending chills through her body.

Even with two layers of clothes, he didn't seem to be getting any warmer...

Isabelle looked at the fire before turning to look at the entrance of the cave. Deep in the woods, what could provide him with warmth?

She felt his icy cold hands as she listened to him murmur. She started to feel anxious, and frowning, she thought desperately of ways to warm him up. Just then, she seemed to have thought of something. Biting her lip, she removed all her clothes and slipped under the clothes that were covering Alexander. She inched over to him and arranged the clothes over both their bodies before hugging him close to send her own body warmth over.

Isabelle hugged Alexander for a long while. In time, she felt his shivering stop and his body start to warm slightly. His breathing turned long and deep as though he had fallen asleep. Only then was she able to finally relax. She leaned against him in exhaustion, allowing sleep to take her.

~*~

Alexander had a dream, he dreamed that the both of them were lying together naked, her skin just like in his memory. It was soft and tender, sending desire through his body. He couldn't control it, kissing her lips greedily, seeking more.

It was a scary feeling. He became excited almost instantly and impatiently sought for more, pressing onto her body.

He could hear his breathing becoming impatient and his temperature starting to rise.

Alexander could hear his hurried breaths and feel his ever rising body temperature.

Even his breaths were starting to heat up.

He wasn't sure where they were, but all he could feel was the rising heat...

His desires turned strong and his actions became increasingly daring. He continued to caress her lustfully, yearning and seeking more, while she remained docile, accommodating his touch.

It was indeed a dream... Alexander's breathing became erratic and unstable, but at the last moment, he suddenly stopped.

I can't... Now that they were no longer a couple and James was awake, he couldn't, not when the man she loved was awake. They were meant to be together and he wasn't going to ruin it... Even in his dreams, he wasn't going to allow it....

He tried to control his breathing, his hands clenching tightly into fists as he desperately pushed down his desires, forcing himself away from her body. Yet he pulled her into his embrace, a layer of sweat covering his forehead.

~*~

The next day, Isabelle was awakened by the birds chirping. She was in a slight daze, staring up at the cave wall for a while before bolting up from the mat. She sat on the mat and scanned the surroundings, realizing that she was all alone. The fire had extinguished, leaving a pile of ashes in its wake and the clothes she had removed the previous night were back on her.

Alexander had dressed her? But where was he?

Isabelle tied her crumpled clothes, finding kiss marks on her collarbone. It was then that she realized in a daze that something had happened the night before. Her face blushed a deep shade of red instantly.

It wasn't a dream, it was real... But halfway through, why did he suddenly stop...

"You're awake?" Alexander's voice came from the entrance of the cave.

Isabelle hurriedly stashed away her thoughts, turning to look at Alexander. He walked into the cave with his hands full with the fruit that she had eaten the night before.

She continued to stare at him as he placed the fruits in front of her. She picked one and took a bite before turning back to look at him, "How's your fever?"

Alexander swallowed the fruit before replying. "It's gone." He paused for a moment, then added, "Thank you for last night."

Isabelle knew that he was referring to how she had removed her clothes to provide him with warmth, and her face turned red instantly. She lowered her head and bit hard into the fruit.

The cave remained silent for a while. After some time, she lifted her head to ask, "What are we going to do now?"

All Alexander could think about was the incident from the night before, but when he realized that she was speaking to him, he hurriedly asked, "Huh?"

Isabelle thought that he didn't understand what she was asking, so she clarified. "I meant how are we going to leave this place? The crew might not be able to find us here."

She reached into her pockets and fiddled around before saying in exasperation, "I forgot I was wearing a costume so I don't have a phone..." Just then, her eyes brightened and she stared at Alexander. "Right, did you..?"