26 Zac!

Striding out of the private room on the second floor of Eden Bliss café, Isabel breathed a sigh of relief and tenderly hugged the little bun in her embrace, seeking comfort in his warmth and softness.

Finally, it was over. She felt a great sense of relief yet at the same time there was this lingering bittersweet feeling in her chest that felt slightly hallow.

Twenty-two years, counting the last life, that was how long she had loved, chased and obsessed with Brycen Jaeger. Even if she was determined to let go, it would take time for her to heal and be able to move on, this divorce was the first step to the rest of her life surrounded by the people who cared about her and who she cared for.

Curling her lips in a slight smile as her eyes squinted gently while cradling the child sleeping against her shoulder, Isabel instantly caught the attention of many people who were seated below as she slowly descended the stairs. Even if they didn't recognize her as 'Izzy' just the fact that a beautiful woman was carrying an adorable little boy who was fast asleep while clinging to her had appeared, it warranted a bit of buzz.

Walking next to her, Steven felt quite invisible and truthfully, a little useless. He was still in a state of shock from what he had just witnessed inside that room. Although he was the lawyer, he had been reduced to a mere decoration as Isabel battled words with Dale while smoothly trading insults with Brycen whenever he had his outbursts, making the man purple in the face.

Before Steven knew it, he was being handed a draft of the new divorce settlement and when he recovered enough to check the contents since he had blanked out earlier he was deeply shaken and couldn't help growing a whole new respect for this woman. She wasn't only beautiful, her mind was also formidable. If it had been him handling the procedures, Steven really wasn't confident that he would be able to attain the same results—no, he was certain that he wouldn't be able to.

Could it be that Brycen Jaeger was only talented in business and was a complete idiot at everything else? How could he let a woman like Isabel Rogers chase him for so long without reciprocation to the point that she became dissatisfied with him and wanted to leave? And even if she wanted to leave, why didn't he cling on to her? Could he really not see her worth?

To be able to have a woman like this, a man's own pride was worth next to nothing because that woman would be all the pride he could ever need in life.

Could the woman he was currently in love with be even more outstanding than Isabel, was that it? If she was then Brycen would surely be cursed by all the men in the world for his good luck in attracting exceptional women. Though Steven highly doubted that there could be a second woman as outstanding as Isabel in such a close proximity, such women should be extremely rare in the world.

Steven didn't know, but Isabel had faced off against Dale Winters in legal debates for four years in her past life, if she hadn't picked up some kind of knowledge after all that time then she would have to accept being cursed as an idiot, plus, Isabel had always had a remarkable learning ability and capacity to memorize; she had basically just used all the experience Dale had yet to gain in the coming four years against him. Nothing major.

As she exited the café, Isabel took notice of a group—well, it was better to say that everyone passing by had noticed the group; it would actually be strange if someone hadn't noticed them.

The group was made up of four tall and brawny bodyguards in black suits and even wearing dark shades and they were stationed around one of the outdoor tables where a middle aged man in a suit with a gold monocle resting over his eye was leisurely enjoying a cup of tea.

Isabel instantly recognized the man as the one whom had taken Zac away a few days ago when they met for the first time at Reign Real Estate. Zac had called him 'Uncle Sam'.

Isabel paused for a moment as she observed the man and during that time he looked up, his kindly brown eyes making contact with her gold ones. Smiling, he raised his hand and waved her over in a way that was so extremely familiar, no one would believe that they were complete strangers.

Isabel was only startled for a moment before a wry smile took over her lips.

"I'll leave the legal procedures to you then."

After saying that to Steven and patting him on the shoulder, Isabel didn't hesitate to walk toward the table where Samuel had been waiting for her for almost the past half hour.

At ease and relaxed, she walked past the imposing bodyguards without a visible shred of anxiety then she sat down across from Samuel and repositioned Zac in her embrace again, tucking stray strands of hair away from his face.

"You knew that he was with me?"

Not bothering with the formalities of greetings or anything of the like, Isabel jumped right to questioning Samuel which surprised the middle aged man, but that surprise then turned to appreciation as he observed Isabel who had waved over a passing waiter and ordered a glass of juice and when those clear golden orbs turned back to look at him, he smiled and nodded while placing down his tea cup onto the saucer.

"Once the Little Master went missing, we checked the hospital's security footage; I saw you take him away."

"And you weren't worried?" Isabel raised her eyebrow. "We've seen each other before, but I'm certain that we've never met; you don't know what kind of person I am, how can you be assured to leave him with me?"

Truthfully, she had been wondering what she would do with Zac after all this. Earlier she had just been angry and acted on impulse when she took him away with her from the hospital; she was glad that Samuel had shown up to get Zac. But now, she was angry again for a different reason.

After Zac had disappeared they checked the security footage, saw that he was taken away but didn't take any actions to get him back; in Isabel's book, that was insane! What if she had harbored bad intentions?

Exactly what kind of parent was Zac's father? Isabel really wanted to meet the man so she could punch him in the face once... for a full hour.

Seeing the woman in front of him have her expression turn huffy and dissatisfied, Samuel didn't hide his smile as he replied: "The one I trust is not you, but the Little Master."

Isabel was stunned by that and she tilted her head in a curious fashion, urging him to continue wordlessly. Seeing that, Samuel couldn't help but chuckle, thinking that she was quite a cute child.

Taking another sip from his tea cup, Samuel set it down again, arranging it neatly on the saucer before he folded his two hands on top of the table and staring into the pale, pink liquid, slowly began to speak.

"Little Master Zac lost his mother in an accident about a year ago and the same accident also left his father in a comatose state; he hasn't woken up once in the last ten months and ever since then, Little master has become very introverted and hardly takes the initiative to make contact with people although he had been a very exuberant child before."

The first part of what Samuel said, Isabel already knew, Zac had told her himself that his mother was dead, but hearing that his father was in a coma had shocked her silly. She had thought the only one harmed had been his mother and that his father was still fine, she hadn't expected him to be in a coma. Isabel subconsciously held the little boy in her embrace a bit tighter.

"In the past few months, Little Master hasn't spoken to anyone besides his mother's grandmother-- his great grandmother, his uncle and myself. He won't speak to his teachers and class mates at school and even refuses to speak to his nanny that takes care of him on a daily basis; many doctors have taken it as an early sign of autism, he will only speak to the people he is comfortable with and trusts."

At this point, Samuel raised his eyes to look at Isabel whose expression hadn't changed from earlier other than a small furrow in her brow and he continued to speak.

"Every Saturday, Zac's uncle brings him to visit his father in the hospital. Although he suffered a head injury and ruptured his lung in the accident, the doctors have determined that Zac's father, our family's First Young Master, has healed significantly enough that he should have woken up months ago, yet he remains in a comatose state. After many examinations, it could only be concluded that First Young Master is the one who doesn't want to wake up, so it was suggested for relatives and close friends to visit as often as possible to speak with him, hoping that the stimulus would help him wake up.

"Unexpectedly, during today's visit First Young Master suddenly went into cardiac arrest. Although the medical staff was able to quickly stabilize his condition, the momentary ruckus had frightened the Little Master into running away which is when he bumped into you."

By now, Isabel's eyes were misty with tears. She really couldn't believe that everything Samuel had just told her were experiences of this small boy in her arms. He was so little and fragile, how had he endured it all?

There were adults who went crazy from that kind of heartache and grief. Most children in that kind of situation would usually choose to act out, most often in violent ways and because the people around them wanted to be considerate of their feelings, no one would correct the children's forceful ways and those tendencies could drag until even their teenage years and beyond, leading to a life of debauchery.

However, instead of exploding and letting out all the hurt and pain he was feeling inside, Zac had chosen to bottle it all up and bury it deep inside. He didn't cry, he wasn't willful, he wasn't angry, yelling and complaining, he had just stopped all together. The thought was heart rending.

"Little Master had only met you for a few minutes that day, yet he had not only spoken to you, he grew attached to the point that he called you 'Aunty'."

Isabel blushed on hearing the very endearment she had asked the little boy to address her by.

"You also made him smile... laugh, something he hasn't done in months and he's even painted pictures of you in his art class this past week. His teacher was ecstatic."

Isabel had been looking down at the sleeping little boy in her arms, but she looked up with sparkling eyes when she heard what Samuel said.

"Zac knows how to paint?"

"Little Master is talented in many ways," Samuel stated this proudly but in the next second his smile turned wry. "However, ever since the accident, he hasn't been expressing himself as he used to, until a few days ago, when he met you. So what I trust is not your own moral integrity, I know nothing about you, not even your last name; but I do trust my Little Master."

Isabel looked into Samuel's eyes and she saw nothing but the deepest sincerity, it wasn't something that she could decline, plus, she liked Zac. Such a cute, docile and fragile little bun, she wanted to hold him close to her heart for as long as fate would permit.

Isabel smiled and stretched her hand across the table.

"Isabel, my name is Isabel Rogers."

In the face of Isabel's smile, even Samuel whom had seen many beautiful people in his lifetime couldn't escape a moment of being star struck, but he was quick to compose himself as he laughed with a little embarrassment and reached out his own hand to take hers, introducing himself in turn.

"Samuel Kooke, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Mrs. Rogers."

"Mrs. Rogers?!" Isabel giggled. "I've only ever heard people call my mother like that. Please, just call me Isabel."

"You're not married?!" Samuel had spoken before he could stop himself and although he was aware that what he had just asked could be considered an offensive question, he really and truly wanted to know the answer, so he didn't take it back nor apologize.

A devil of an idea had been riding his arse ever since he first recognized the woman from the security footage; he had only momentarily chased it away when he saw the ring on the fourth finger of Isabel's left hand when she waved over the waiter earlier, but those words of hers had caused the devil to return with a vengeance.

Seeing the elder man's adorable and childishly curious expression, Isabel giggled and looked down at the ring on her finger, giving it a few turns before she slipped it off.

"Recently divorced." She pushed it into her pocket. "I'm still getting over it." She gave a light shrug.

Samuel was stunned for a second by her reply and he casted her a sidelong glance, sizing her up from across the table.

The young woman before him was beautiful, stunningly so and since Little Master had taken the initiative to trust her, Samuel wouldn't doubt Isabel's character even if his life depended on it, so in his eyes, she really was absolutely perfect. Yes, this old man with a regal appearance was actually a very biased person at heart, so with that kind of mindset, he then mumbled, none too softly: "There are men alive who would divorce this type of woman?"

For a moment, Isabel stared before she broke into delightful laughter that caused the hearts of all who heard it to become warm. And perhaps she had laughed too loudly, or maybe he had just slept enough, the little one in her arms began to slowly stir awake.

"Finally waking up?" Isabel brushed a stray tear from Zac's eye as the boy yawned and blinked dazedly while sitting up in her lap and looking around. That appearance was too cute; Isabel couldn't help kissing his little cheek.

"Good morning sweetheart."

That kiss seemed to wake Zac up as his star bright eyes instantly snapped wide open and he stared up at Isabel with a foolish expression.