"Mrs. Smith, congratulations. You've been pregnant for a month now. "
A month... Then wasn't it that night she drugged Alexander in America?
She said it, she had a baby in her belly at the time, and Alexander just gave her a look of disbelief...
Isabelle secretly let out an 'ah'. She then hastily asked the doctor about more serious matters. "Last night whilst I was dancing, my stomach hurt. Is the baby okay?"
"Mrs. Smith don't worry. The baby's just fine." The doctor gave Isabelle a reassuring smile. "The pain you felt last night was probably because you were dancing too vigorously. It must've upset the fetus. As long as you don't bleed, it's nothing major. However, the first three months of pregnancy are rather dangerous. I recommend that you rest well. Of course, resting well doesn't suggest you stay in bed. Taking walks is good for the body."
Isabelle listened intently, paying close attention to every word the doctor said, trying to take it all in.
"Also, please remember to visit the hospital for a B-scan in a month to check the baby's heartbeat." After the doctor finished, she thought for a moment, then added, "Oh, right.. I prescribed you some folic acid . Please have Camila collect it, and please do remember to take them on time every day."
"Thank you, doctor." Isabelle wore a light smile and looked over at Camila. Her friend immediately knew what to do, she grabbed her purse and walked out.
Soon enough, Camila returned with two boxes of folic acid.
As per the gynecologist's orders, the nurse escorted them downstairs to the parking lot. When they got in the car, Camila couldn't wait to take her phone out. She turned to Isabelle and said, "Izzy, when I went downstairs to pay, I saw a broadcast about you and Alexander, and it's an interview!"
Isabelle furrowed her brows. "Interview? What interview?"
"It's that 'Appointment with the Great God'..." As Camila said this, she clicked into the website with the live broadcast.
Because the parking lot was underground, the signal was cutting in and out, and the streaming speed was terrible. Camila put her phone to one side and started the car up straight away. When she drove above ground, she found an area to stop at with fewer cars. Then, she brought her phone up again and started the stream.
About half a minute passed, then the presenter's voice came out of Camila's phone. "Just now, we talked about Mr. Smith's thoughts on the future of Global Entertainment, so our next question for Mr. Smith is about himself. Mr. Smith, have you recently had any plans to star in a new project?"
Camila put her phone on the car's phone stand. On the screen, Isabelle saw Alexander wearing a slim, black, tailored suit. He sat on the left looking strikingly good, his long legs crossed in the armchair. He looked majestic and graceful. Between his brows, he emulated his usual distant and cold aura, making him entirely mysterious but not overly elusive.
Faced with the presenter's question, he deliberately paused for two seconds, as though seriously considering something, then said, "I have no plans at the moment."
"Ah, that's a real shame. I trust many of our viewers tuning in now are definitely disappointed. After all, everyone still wants to see our Mr. Smith appear often on our screens." The presenter's tone of voice was very fitting, there was even a slither of regret, but quickly after, he changed the question. "We know since last year, for about half a year now, Mr. Smith has left the company for others to operate. In this past half a year, has Mr. Smith been enjoying your time off or are you working on a new project?"
"Not a new project, but investing and playing the stock market." Alexander's voice was as plain as usual.
"Stock market? Recently, the stock market is really bleak. I know quite a few friends who have performed poorly. I wonder if Mr. Smith is winning or losing?"
Alexander's reply was really modest. "I'm lucky. For the time being, I haven't lost yet."
"So Mr. Smith, can you reveal just how much you won?"
"I think I doubled it."
"Doubled?" the presenter shrieked. "Then Mr. Smith, can you divulge just how much did you doubled?"
Alexander had a good demeanor, but he lowered his eyes and didn't say a word.
The presenter really had a way with words, as he immediately switched topics. "Alright, it's better if we not ask this personal question. However, I still want to shoot my mouth off and say, Mr. Smith, how do you plan to spend all that money you're raking in?!"
The presenter was just lamenting his feelings. He didn't actually think Alexander would respond, so after he finished that line, they put the microphone down and flipped to the next cue card to see how they would continue with the interview.
Who knew, Alexander, who was sitting to a side, would pause for a second, then calmly say the three words, "To support Izzy."
The moment the presenter asked Alexander how much profit he gained through the stock market, Camila nosily asked Isabelle, "Izzy, how much has your husband invested into the stock market?"
Isabelle shook her head at a loss. She really didn't know how much Alexander had invested. Even though they were married, after becoming lawfully husband and wife, she was like everyone else when it came to Alexander's finances. She knew he was loaded but she hadn't a clue how rich.
"Izzy, you're not really doing a great job at being a wife are ya... you don't even know how much money your husband has..." Camila hadn't finished complaining when Alexander's elegant voice said "To support Izzy" through the phone. Camila's mouth gaped, as though she'd just forgotten what she was saying, then her words changed instantly. "Izzy, you can't find another wife as fortunate as you in this world!"
"..." Without saying a word, Isabelle rolled her eyes at Camila, then turned back to Alexander on the phone. No matter how composed she appeared, her brows still shot up at the two words Alexander.
-
The presenter was left stunned by Alexander's sudden four words, and stared at him in a daze. "Mr. Smith, you earn so much money just to support your wife?"
It was obvious how interested the presenter was about Alexander's private life. Seeing how he had actively brought the topic up, the organizers put some cue cards with questions prepared in advance. The presenter looked at Alexander and asked, "Mr. Smith, do you care to share with us your and Miss Davis's story?"
Alexander spoke calmly and politely. "I'd be delighted to."
"Mr. Smith, when did you meet Miss Davis? How did you meet?"
Even though those glorious times had passed many years ago, he remembered everything clearly in his mind, like it had happened yesterday. Alexander didn't think too much about it when he spoke.
"During the first half of my third year in junior middle school, I would often see her pushing her bike past the football field I played in after school with friends. That's when I noticed her."
Perhaps it was because he was reminiscing his past, but Alexander's eyes grew softer. "But I actually met her in my first year of high school."
"First year of high school?" The presenter was evidently shocked.
"Yes, first year of high school," repeated Alexander calmly. "But then, that year when I graduated from my third year of junior middle school to high school, we once had a close encounter with one another."
"A close encounter?" The presenter looked engrossed.
"It was on a rainy day that we found shelter under a roof together for the first time."
"Oh that sounds so romantic... How do the lyrics go again?" As the presenter said this, she tilted her head in thought, but eventually couldn't remember what they were.
Alexander, who sat to a side and was always not very talkative, eventually spoke up himself. "Rainy days aren't the most beautiful thing, it's to find shelter under a roof with you that is."
"Yeah, that line. So Mr. Smith remembers that line in the song. That must mean it really resonated with you." The presenter smiled, then asked, "So Mr. Smith, did you fall in love with rainy days after that time finding cover from the rain?"
"Yes."
-
"Izzy, so as it turns out, Alexander has liked you since the third year of junior middle school?" said Camila, since she couldn't resist to comment.
Isabelle didn't even bother with Camila, but stared at Alexander on the phone. She thought back to when she filmed "Alluring Times" and when his assistant asked her to go to his room. At the time, she even brought him dinner. It was raining that night. She enthusiastically ran over to the window and stared at the falling raindrops. Back then, he even asked her, "Do you like rainy days?"
She remembered it clearly... the tone of his voice and hints of surprise when he said it.
But she didn't understand what he was surprised about exactly. She said "Yeah", and even asked him in return, "Do you also like rainy days?".
It was around the time they reunited, and when they spoke the most to each other.
That night, he told her that he fell in love with rainy days because of someone. Deep inside, she was a little excited because she also fell in love with rainy days because of a person.
Till now, she hadn't realized just how many things they both loved because of one another.
-
"Mr. Smith, you mentioned that you've known Miss Davis since the first year of high school. Does that mean Mr. Smith has had a secret crush on Miss Davis for as long as a year?"
Alexander lowered his eyes. His voice was just as flat as usual, but there was also a hint of hidden sadness. "Not one year, thirteen years."
"Thirteen years?" The presenter was completely shocked by Alexander's words. "Thirteen years isn't a short amount of time. Many people have had someone they've secretly had a crush on, but eventually they'd lose to the reality of it all. Mr. Smith, how did you persist for so long?"
"It's not that I wanted to persist, but I couldn't not persist, because at first, I gave her all my emotions. From that moment on, I didn't have any emotions left for anyone else." As Alexander said this, he had a distant expression on his face, but the words from his mouth were actually incomparably emotional.
The presenter sat beside Alexander astonished by his reply. After a pause, she then asked, "Mr. Smith, why didn't you confess to Miss. Davis?"
Alexander, who never once discussed his personal life to the media, for the first time, didn't hold back or mask anything. He spoke frankly. "At first, I had to work through the scorching heat on weekends handing out leaflets to be able to give her a birthday gift, let alone talk about giving her a good life. Even the simplest daily things in life, I couldn't provide them for her."
"Mr. Smith, were you afraid the girl you liked would live a hard life, so you never confessed?"
Alexander didn't say anything this time, but gave a gentle nod.
"But if I remember correctly, Mr. Smith, you won the award for best supporting actor six years ago. At the time, your pay must've been high, right? You could definitely give Miss Davis a good life. Why didn't you confess then?"
"I wanted to confess..." He thought back to the night he received the award. He had rushed over overnight, just to catch her by the end of her birthday and tell her 'Happy Birthday' and 'I love you'. In the end, what actually happened was different. "But before I could even confess, I learned that she was engaged to someone else."
"Someone else?" The rumors about Isabelle were buzzing, and the presenter had caught wind of them too. "Was it Mr. Williams James?"
Alexander let out a "Yeah" in confirmation.
"On this topic, I think we can't not mention the recent scandal that has caused a frenzy online." The presenter's attitude became instantly serious. "I believe, Mr. Smith must've seen the photos publicized online. Furthermore, Mr. Smith just said that Miss Davis and Mr. Williams were engaged, so... Pardon me Mr. Smith, is it true that Miss Davis and Mr. Williams got divorced because of you and the scandals online?"
Perhaps because Alexander was live on set, the presenter's words were far from sharp and direct, unlike those of the reporters in York Garden. In fact, she was extremely cunning with her words.
But the implications were all the same. She was asking Alexander if the online scandal was true... that Isabelle really had an affair during her marriage, and because of Alexander, she really did abandon James.
When Alexander was asked this question, his demeanor seemed utterly calm and composed, as though the person being cursed online wasn't Isabelle. The tone of his voice was dull as when he discussed Global Entertainment's progress. "Since everybody thinks those photos are real, do you think there's any reason for me to answer the question?"
The presenter was left stunned for a while at Alexander's question, then smiled and said, "Mr. Smith, by that, are you suggesting that the situation isn't as everyone thinks it is?"
Alexander was just as he was before. He didn't directly answer the question, but as usual, he asked a question back in response. "If I said no, who would believe me?"
This time, the presenter was so stifled, she didn't quite know what to say.
Alexander inhaled gently and continued to say, "If a man really loves a woman, I believe he wouldn't want to ruin her reputation.
"If I really wanted to steal someone's woman, I could of made a move five years ago when they were engaged. I didn't have to let the woman I deeply love become my forbidden love. I didn't have to watch as we lost five whole years.
"Myself, I only wanted to see her happy. I never hoped for her to be my wife.
"Of course, I've said all this, but everyone may not believe me. After all, they're just words without any evidence. Those photos are real.
"I also know that there's no use for me to stand out and say all this, and it can't change anything, but I still want to let it out. Most importantly, I want to say it for her to hear.
"Because I want her to know that even if everyone in the world abandons her, I would stand by her side without hesitation and fight against the world."
As Alexander said this, the presenter, sitting beside him, never made a sound to interrupt him.
The interview had clearly gone awry, yet everyone filming live on set didn't relay a single prompt.
Alexander stayed silent for a moment, then opened his mouth to speak again. His voice wasn't as dull as before, but full with intense emotions. "Izzy, no matter how many people say that you're no good... no matter how many lies or how much gossip surrounds you, I will always see you as my beloved princess.
"I'm so sorry that I can't share the slanders targeted at you, but I will try my very best to shield you."
Everyone in the entertainment industry knew that Alexander never accepted interviews, nor did he answer personal questions, but today... Since he sat down, answering each and every question the presenter asked him, till the very the end, where the topic turned to Isabelle, he was very cooperative in the face of the presenter's nosy questions. Right then, his aim was for the presenter to ask him about the online scandals buzzing about these past few days.
From the very start, it looked like a regular interview, but nobody knew that it was a trap he had actually set up, one step at a time.
He didn't have any evidence that he was the 'James' Isabelle married, so he could only use this method to clear matters up.
Of course, this clarification wasn't very persuasive... He couldn't persuade every single person to believe it, but he still wanted to do it.
Not only did he do it, but in front of everyone in the world, he wanted to openly swear to treat her well.
Even if the people weren't fine with his honesty, what did that matter?
He just wanted her to be happy.