Bringing the Nation's Husband Home II

V | Forbidden Love

He stared on for a long while, remembering the night five years ago that he would never forget....

That was two months after the day Isabelle had spent the night at his apartment.

That was the night their relationship had taken a turn for the worst, resulting in them becoming strangers.

Every time he remembered that night, even after five years, he would still feel as though a dagger was ripping his heart apart.

It was the night the Golden Movie Award ceremony was held and it was also the night he was awarded the 'Best Second Male Lead' award because of the hit series "Longing". That was also the start of his blossoming career and Isabelle's twenty first birthday.

Regardless of how busy he was, he would always find time to celebrate her birthday.

If he could, he would have gone to celebrate her birthday with her.

But that day, he needed to be at the award ceremony, as it would affect his entire career. If he was really awarded the best second male lead, his career would be smooth sailing from then on.

This was the moment he had been waiting for after struggling for four years, after fighting hard to improve himself, to be able to give her the best.

He made up his mind and headed to D.C.

Before his flight, he arranged for his assistant to bring Isabelle two sets of presents. One was the black swan cake he would order every year and the other was a bouquet of fresh flowers he specifically flew over from France. In the bouquet, he had handwritten a card with the words: I love you.

Initially, he was ecstatic to have won the award, in front of the thousands of applauding crowd, he was both touched and excited.

After the ceremony at 8 pm, it was about four hours till the end of Isabelle's birthday. He didn't attend the after party of the award ceremony, but instead took a flight with his trophy.

When his plane had touched down, it was already 11.30 pm. In his hurry, he didn't inform his assistant and took a cab straight to Davis family's mansion.

By the time the cab reached the highway, it started drizzling. He sat at the back of the cab, looking out at the blurry scenes outside the window, recalling the first time he had met Isabelle. His face smoothed out and he started feeling an unusual tenderness and anxiety.

His heart started to run and even the palm that was holding onto the trophy started to sweat as he thought of how he was going to confess.

At 11.45 pm, the cab stopped directly outside Davis family's mansion. He paid and alighted.

Isabelle's birthday party had already ended. The entire mansion was silent except of the open door.

He waited for the cab to leave before taking a deep breath. He headed towards the entrance while arranging his confession speech. But before entering the mansion, he paused, his gaze falling on the trash area outside.

It must of been someone from the Davis family who tended to the cleaning. The rubbish bin was filled with all types of gift boxes, empty bottles, and fruit peelings. Among the rubbish, he honed in on one place - a bouquet of fresh flowers and an unopened cake with the Black Swan packaging that was probably just thrown out.

From the part of the packaging, you could clearly see that the cake had fallen out of shape. Also, the petals of the beautiful fresh flowers, received in the morning, were scattered on the floor.

Some petals were trodden on, and the bronze card was ripped in two, casually thrown on top of the battered flowers.

In that split second, it was like Alexander's pressure points were pressed. He stood on the spot without moving an inch. Just like that, the happiness and wonderful image in his heart dissipated in a puff of smoke. No, it was like someone had cruelly slapped him across the face.