Bringing the Nation's Husband Home

L | Beautiful Confessions of Love

Even though Alexander knew that he had to return the voice recorder, he still couldn't help but press the play button.

There was a buzzing sound before a clear voice came through, about ten seconds later, he heard a familiar voice calling a familiar name. "Izzy, what did you say?"

It was James's voice, it was deep and soulful, pleasing to the ears.

Isabelle's reply didn't come through, instead, the buzzing sound took over. After a long while, James's impatient voice came through again, "Izzy, hurry and tell me what you were saying. Why do you need to close the door?"

"Wow, you're serving me water?"

"James, can you be serious? I have something important to tell you." Isabelle's voice finally came through.

"Sure, I'll be serious." James's indulgent voice came through, he even coughed seriously before continuing, "I'm serious now, you can say whatever you want, I'm all ears."

There was a moment of silence before Isabelle begun speaking in her warm voice. "Everyone in this world exists to find their other half, I think mine has appeared, and that's you."

Alexander froze as he stared at the voice recorder blankly.

James didn't respond, instead, Isabelle's voice came through sentence by sentence.

"I don't wish for much, I just hope that we can be together.

"I'm not that good with words either, I just wish to say that for the next fifty years, I could still love you like I do right now.

"For the rest of my life, there won't be anyone else I would love as much as I love you.

"You have no idea how hard I have been trying to approach you ever since the first day we met.

"I have many dreams, but all of them are of you. I have many wishes, but all of them are to be with you. I hope for a lot, but all of it is for you to love me."

"To the world, you are just a mere human. But to me, you are the whole world.

"In my whole life, I will love you the most." 

A long while after her last word, James finally responded, "Izzy..."

After just calling her name, the recording seemed to have been ended. After a long pause, James's voice came through again, seemingly with a solemn expression. "In my whole life, I will only love you."

The recording then ended, nothing else coming through.

Silence settled in the office, and Alexander remained paralyzed, the voice recorder still in his hands.

His expression was calm and indifferent, showing neither anger or joy, his eyes staring straight at the voice recorder.

He seemed to have fossilized.

Alexander remained in that position till someone knocked on the door. He lifted his head slowly, staring at the tightly shut door, his lips moving slightly but nothing coming out. He moistened his lips and swallowed some saliva before tightening his grip on the voice recorder. He took a deep breath to calm himself before saying, "Come in."

His assistant opened the door but didn't walk in. He stood, politely informing Alexander, "Mr. Smith, it's already 7 pm, do you want to go back?"

Alexander lowered his lashes, sinking into silence before replying, "You can leave now, I'll drive back myself later."

"Sure," the assistant replied before taking two steps back to lightly close the door.

Silence returned to the office once more. Alexander turned to look out the window, realizing that the skies were dark and the entire city was lit by tiny sparks of light.