Bringing the Nation's Husband Home

XVII | Deep, Forbidden Love

After her death, he received some inheritance. Even though it was small, it was enough for him to survive a few years. His neighbor was an old lady who had no children. Seeing how pitiful he was, she took him in.

After his mother, the person who loved him most in this world, passed away, his personality became even more unsociable.

As Mr. Williams's father, his grandfather, grew older, the more he missed the grandson who lived outside. Hence, on every New Year's Day, he would send someone to invite the child to their family's reunion dinner.

Even though Mrs. Williams didn't react, her attitude was always dismissive. As for his biological father, he never looked him straight in the eyes. When James called "Dad", he also tried to call him "Dad", but Mr. Williams told him off and Mrs. Williams screamed at him. From then on, he ruled out the word "Dad" from his life forever.

Compared to adults, children are the most innocent in the world. James didn't think that he and Alexander were any different. In fact, he quite liked his brother who was two hours older than him, and so he made the move to get closer to Alexander, calling him his brother. When Mrs. Williams saw this, she told James off, but once established, the bond between boys was difficult to break.

Then, Mr. Williams's father, Alexander and James's grandfather passed away and Alexander never stepped foot in the Williams family's home ever again. However, he crossed paths with James a lot more.

That was when Alexander learned about Isabelle.

The three of them, Sophia, James, and Alexander, were of the same age. Isabelle was younger than them by two years. To allow the two sisters to go to school together, the Davis family had forced Isabelle to skip two years in elementary school.

The Williams family and Davis family didn't live too far away. On many occasions, James, Sophia, and Isabelle would go home together after school. During junior high, James and Alexander liked to go play football in the field after school. Sophia would usually stand by the field screaming for James to go home.

They were only in junior high at the time, but Isabelle and Sophia were already quite popular with the guys. 

Sophia's personality was very fiery and outspoken, whereas Isabelle was comparatively quiet and peaceful. The two sisters were considered pretty. Isabelle was naturally more beautiful, but Sophia's personality drew people's attention. And so, every time Sophia screamed for James to go home, people would whistle and scream.

Sophia would arrive at the field with Isabelle alongside. Though everyone was whistling and screaming at her, Sophia never blushed. Yet, Isabelle, who stood behind her, would always secretly blush.

When he first noticed it, Alexander had the ball in his arm. In his heart, he couldn't help but chuckle and silently make fun of her - they're screaming for Sophia and James, so why are you, Isabelle, blushing so hard?

But at that time, he never asked himself what Isabelle's blushing face had to do with him.

Perhaps he had already noticed her back then. The young man's heart struggled to understand what love was or what it meant to be moved. He only knew that after playing football after school every day, he would see her and feel relaxed. When he didn't see her, it felt like something was missing.

For over half a year, he had always silently paid attention to her. Then, on one heavily rainy day after school, he finally actually got close to her.

At the time, he carried an umbrella and was about to pull it out from his school bag when he saw her carrying her school bag over her head and running over to a shelter under the roof of a house. He didn't know what came over him but he pushed the umbrella back down into the bag and followed her under the roof.