10 Would You Be Sad?

In the end, after taking hours to arrive and spending a long time browsing through catalogs at the company, choosing a house was, in a word, fast- in more words, decided in an instant- in an expression, love at first sight.

"Are you sure about this, Ms. Rogers? There are still many other properties for you to choose from. You don't need to be in a hurry to decide"

The manager of Reign Real Estate, Daniel Becker, was surprisingly little older than Isabel herself. The thirty year old man was tall, lean with a shrewd countenance and was, in a word, sexy.

Dressed in a tailored blue suit with a pair of frameless glasses covering forest green eyes, his blonde hair slicked back with an unruly fringe hanging over his forehead, he had the air of an elite with an added aura of elegance that made him very appealing.

"I'm certain, this is definitely the one."

So far, since it was very late, they had only been to one other house that Daniel had suggested, but when they stepped off the car and Isabel laid eyes on this place, she had just had a feeling about it and after touring it, she was absolutely certain. This was her chosen home for her and her family.

Standing in the middle of the massive garden under the shade cast by one of the many large trees under the light of sunset, she looked up at the second floor where Davina was watching over Phoenix and Kelvin who were giggling at each other from the balconies of their chosen bedrooms which were separated by barely two feet of space.

Honestly, the house wasn't all that huge (though it was still pretty big), but the property that came with it was almost two football fields. The living room had a ton of space and would still have plenty space once it was furnished, but that was what Isabel liked about it, she had kids after all- growing kids, they needed the space.

The kitchen was also massive and the complete and modern furnishings made Isabel's eyes light up like a kid in a candy store when she saw it.

Although she was no iron chef, to please Brycen, Isabel had honed her cooking skills to near perfection, though on the flip side, because Brycen didn't even deign to share the same room with her for too long, she never had many chances to cook for him and because she was always busy with work, then went mad in her last life, she never cooked often for her kids either. Isabel decided that this life, she would put her skills to use; she would definitely cook three meals a day for her kids, breakfast, lunch and dinner and many snacks in between.

After the living room and kitchen, there was also a cozy dining room and a large open studio of almost 30 square meters, a little larger than the living room and almost twice the size of the kitchen. There was also a laundry room and a toilet. That was the first floor.

The second floor had six bedrooms- inclusive of the master bedroom- two toilet and baths- not counting the master bath- a study and another open studio, this one of about 10 square meters.

Outside, there was the pool, the patio which was ideal for family barbeques, a moderate sized tennis court and the massive garden with its many giant trees that gave Isabel inspiration for a tree house just by looking at them.

Seeing the happy gleam in Isabel's eyes as she looked beyond the garden hedges toward the sprawling stretches of lands, Daniel glanced over at Kim and could only smile wryly when the other woman waved her hands and shook her head in a helpless manner.

"In that case then, Ms. Rogers, will you follow me to take care of the paper work."

"Yes."

Isabel's eyes were positively glowing as she followed two steps behind Daniel with a skip in her walk.

They sat down on the patio chairs and went over the contract little by little; Daniel was very patient and explained everything to her, the benefits and loses of every clause and exception and although Isabel was grateful for the consideration, she didn't dare to get it into her head that the Reigner's concern was truly for her.

A crafty and ambiguous smile crossed Isabel's red lips as she glanced at Kim who was hanging over Daniel's shoulder to view the contact, one of her hands unconsciously pressing against the man's shoulder for support and the way Daniel used his left hand to handle documents and write at an awkward angle, obviously not used to it and leaving his right hand free to support her.

Nipping her lower lip to keep back the megawatt smile that wanted to burst out over the obvious development between her friend and this very outstanding man, Isabel lowered her head as she patiently listened to Daniel's explanations.

It was already dark by the time they left the property which only had a few more formalities to be taken care of before it officially belonged to Isabel, one of which was her divorce.

Currently, Isabel and Brycen were still legally husband and wife. Carrying through with the complete purchase now would be the same as putting half of the property's ownership under Brycen's name and Isabel didn't want that, so she asked for some time to settle her affairs to which Daniel graciously agreed before smoothly asking Kim out for dinner another time then getting into his silver sports Cadillac and speeding away.

"Tsk, the title of temptress really has to be carted off Izzy."

"I agree, I agree." Isabel nodded her head like chicken pecking rice as she hugged Phoenix who was sleeping against her shoulder while looking after the handsome figure of the car disappearing in the dark until only taillights were visible.

"Would you two stop it!" Kim fumed with puffed up, red cheeks.

""No.""

But the two people she was trying to communicate with were shameless beyond hope.

When they returned to the apartment, Isabel didn't ask Kim stay over and let her go home for the first time in a long time since she was free to take care of her children herself. Davina had work to take care of since the promotion period for the final season of 'My Lord, My Lady' was starting tomorrow and Isabel would need to go back to work.

Isabel had just finished changing the still sleeping Phoenix into her strawberry shortcake pajamas and after tucking her in, went over to the bed on the other side of the room where Kelvin was still laying awake. She smiled.

"It's late. Try to get some sleep okay, there's school in the morning."

Isabel chuckled softly and kissed his forehead before turning out the room light and turning on the projector night lamp, filling the room's ceiling with stars.

"Mama."

Just as she was about to open the door, Isabel heard Kelvin's call and turned back, humming lightly, her eyes gentle.

"When are we gonna move into the new house?"

Isabel smiled. "Do you like it over there?"

Kelvin nodded. "I like it a lot. Will we move soon?"

"As soon as possible."

"Then..." Kelvin fisted his hand under the blanket. "Will dad be coming too?"

Isabel froze. She wanted to see the look on Kelvin's face at that moment, but there wasn't enough light in the room and she was too far away to see the bitterness in his gaze as he looked at her.

Isabel felt anxious and instead of answering his question, she asked some of her own.

"Do you want your father to come? Would you be sad if we moved without him?"

After asking those questions, Isabel instantly regretted it and wanted to take them back. How could she expect a six year old to make that kind of decision? Although she wanted to give her children the chance to choose for themselves, asking like this was wrong; but she received a surprise when Kelvin actually replied.

"I doesn't matter if he comes or not, but... will you be sad if he doesn't come mommy?"

Isabel didn't know, but at that moment, Kelvin's fist was clutched so tightly, his nails almost cut into his small tender palm.

Yes, he was only six years old, but that didn't mean that he was stupid or naive. He loved his mother, loved her more than life itself, but he could see that in her eyes he would never be worth more than his father, the father that always neglected and ignored her.

From early as when he was only four years old, Kelvin's dislike for his father had been planted and over the past two years it had only grown until it reached the point that he thought of the man as a stranger- only, he was a stranger that had a hold on his beloved mother's heart. If his mother could forget about that man and realize how much she was truly loved by everyone around her, how happy would he be—how happy could she be. But Kelvin didn't hold any hope for that. He had learned from Aunty Kim and Aunty Davi that his mother had clung to Brycen Jaeger for twelve years already with no intention of letting go although the man obviously treated her unjustly; he was only indulging in wishful thinking when he asked that question, so Isabel's reply shocked him greatly.

"No, I won't be sad." Kelvin's eyes widened as he saw the smile that curved his mother's mouth, her elegant profile illuminated by the hallway light. "As long as I have you and Phoenix, nothing else matters to me. I'll be happy as long as we stay together."

Kelvin felt a warm feeling rise in his chest like an overwhelming tide and his eyes became wet. Choking back the tears that wanted to gush out, he mumbled a soft 'me too'.

"Good night mum."

"Good night Kelly."

Isabel watched Kelvin turn over onto his side, burying half his face into his pillow and pull his blanket up to his chin before closing his eyes.

Closing the bedroom door, Isabel leaned against it for a while silently with her eyes closed and when she opened them, her golden orbs glistened with unshed tears.

Her son was thinking about her happiness. That thought warmed Isabel's chest so much that it hurt and her guilt flowed over as she once again thought about if Kelvin had held the same sentiments in the last life. Isabel sighed, she really let down her son.

Pushing away from the door, Isabel went and had a bath, then dressed in a long white tee shirt with a pair of shorts underneath and the thick, blue rimmed glasses she hadn't worn ever since entering the entertainment circle, she curled up on the living room couch under a floor lamp with her sketchpad and began to pour her heart out for the first time in years.

Back inside of the twins' bedroom, Kelvin was still laying wide awake as he watched the rotating stars on the ceiling; there was a small smile playing on his lips.

His mother was no longer in love with Brycen, he could see that. Her eyes no longer held that muddy look when he was mentioned and not a trace of hurt was seen in her expression when she mentioned leaving him. Right now, Kelvin was too happy to think about sleeping, but at the same time, his heart was in unrest.

Kelvin was not as naïve as people thought him to be, he knew that the world was not all sunshine and roses like his sister believed and he also knew from the many scandals and gossip on the internet that the entertainment circle was probably one of the world's muddiest marshes and his mother, she was a blooming lotus in the midst of all that muck.

Although now she was free from the shackles of her unhealthy infatuation with Brycen, she was also losing the protection that came with being the wife of the CEO of Jaeger Corp. Now, she would be just another artiste for the wolves and tigers to prey on.

Frightened by his own thoughts, Kelvin pulled his blanket up to cover his head and he uttered a prayer in his heart, begging whatever god there existed above to please give him the ability to stand tall and protect his mother. He hated the fact that he was so young with no power or ability and still inexperienced with the world. He wanted to grow up quickly, at any cost.