Love Made Me Do It

4. A Part of Me

A huff

Another one

Sucking a chunk of cold air

Another huff

Isabella strolled up the steepy hill, on the wet road, the morning having no sun to give due to the clouds shrouding the sky and the tall trees making the wet atmosphere even more colder on Isabella’s pavement of morning Jog.

The beautiful houses lined up, at distances on the suburb at Elma street of Cherwood, the now designated area for the richbees.

The mesmerizing grey, white, beige, creamy walled houses covered with green bushy trees, tall shrouding ones, pines, some vegetative ones, with the residents nearby's own personal gardens.

Isabella would always pass by many of their housekeepers or gardeners working on the vegetations; at first they used to smile and wave at Isabella but when they got nothing in return they stopped even trying to greet the now famous as the morning grumpy lady of the Elma street, among the housekeepers community.

Anyone would sulk with happiness at the scenario to have jog every morning but not Isabella. In fact, she would give in anything in her power to run away from this town and be at a place that didn't had trees, hills and beaches at the same time.

Perhaps be in a desert for a pretty good period of time.

Reaching her spot, the guards immediately opened up the carved black iron gates, platted with gold, to the biggest mansion up the Elma street top of the Elma Hills, that had the name plate, 'Alexander Mayhew' carved on the wall next to the gate.

The lawns extended throughout the top hill where the mansion was situated. Some housekeepers were scattered alongside the huge garden which had 3 artificial and 2 natural ponds.

Crossing down the huge cement water fountain Isabella reached for the glass doors that she slid open, the house staff, busy around, turned their attention to Isabella.

They never understood that woman. Before her, their boss brought a number of ladies home and each one would get meaner by the scale but this one didn't even bother ordering anyone around.

In fact for anything she prepared her own stuff, if asked to help Isabella would simply decline them all.

Making her way into the kitchen, she started preparing her shake where a young housekeeper in her usual black skirt and white top came to stand right next to her as a part of her duty.

Isabella wore her usual crop top, that flashed her flat tummy, skinny leggings usually followed up a hood, just like that day.

The housekeeper was keenly observing Isabella’s body, mentally judging if it is what makes these rich men fall at their women's feet.

"How old are you?" She asked the housekeeper who was shook out of her trance of mentally judging Isabella.

Isabella had noticed her gaze which made her question the young girl.

"Seventeen." she relied back.

Turning towards the young girl and drinking her shake Isabella looked her head to toe. She was a bit chubby to the sides but that only complimented her height.

"Get out of this shitty town while you can. Men around here aren't even worth it." Isabella gave her a peace advise that left the housekeeper shocked and confused.

That was just another trait of Isabella’s personality she loved making people shock.

Reaching the large master bedroom, she opened the door and was greeted by darkness.

The mahogany walls, the Macassar Ebony wooden furniture that added to the dark aura of the room, a one sided couch resting right in front of the huge glases balcony.

Isabella removed the maroon velvet drapes off the window and let the grey lights illuminate the anterior.

Alexander was missing from the room which meant that he was either in gym or conference with some Chinese investor, Isabella didn't find any in between to that situation.

Taking her morning shower, she walked back into the room with her  towel wrapped around her body and saw Alexander sitting down on the single sidded bronze carved wooden framed couch.

He wore his gym shorts with no shirt on. His glistened pecs, shining for a clear view, his bulgy biceps even more clearer than the sun even in a sunny day, his perfectly natural abs resting alongside his entire body as he had files scattered in front of him on the coffee table.

"Sit!" he offered Isabella who knew she had nothing better to do than to enrage Alex early in the morning and have a day full of his tantrums.

So she complied and sat right next to him, leaning against the head rest. She looked around boredly while Alexander continued working on his papers.

"Pass me a cigarette." he asked.

Leaning ahead she lit up a smoky puff for him and placed it right down between his lips. He looked down at her and held her nape to let her face rest in his hands, right in front of his face.

Their eyes never leaving each other's. He liked how he was able to hold her gaze. That was the sign of Isabella’s purity for him. Her mind was never clouded by any second thought other than his eyes when he looked at her. She never turned her eyes down on his body or her mind on his money when he looked at her, which made Isabella interesting and more fun in Alexander's mind.

Still holding her down with his one hand, Alexander removed the cigarette off his lips and smoked a puff out in Isabella’s opposite direction.

Pulling her back to sit next to him, now closer to him, he kept his cigarette in the hand that rested over Isabella’s shoulder that she wished to smack right away.

She rolled her eyes in silence, letting her agitation sit in, while Alexander continued working on his papers.

Grabbing her nape, he pulled her closer each time he puffed through his cigarette which only added to Isabella’s annoyance.

Finally done with his smoke and burning it out, he pulled Isabella closer to his chest, rummaging through some magazines.

He finally reached the one he was looking for and slid it in front of Isabella.

It was a jewelry catalog that had the name, 'Mayhew Jewels' written on the front page.

"Tell me which one you like." He ordered Isabella.

"You never ask me, why bother now?" She shrugged, leaning back not touching the catalog.

He picked up the booklet and threw it on Isabella’s lap.

"I don't like your neck empty and I figured if you get what you like you might wear it." He shrugged.

Rolling her eyes she shook her head and began going through the catalog, "If you only actually cared about what I want."

He scoffed knowing that her sarcasm wasn't going to rest.

He pulled her up on his lap, straddling her legs around his waist and swiftly pushed her down on the couch to top her.

"If you only actually knew what I actually care about." He smirked leaning down and removing her towel off her.

"I just took a shower." She tried reasoning out, moving his hand off her shoulders.

"We'll take another one together." He smirked making her body quiver as his hand reached down between her legs.

She closed her eyes and let his hands work its magic on her, "The bed." She pointed so he could take her over there.

But like ever other time, her words were ignored.

Alexander filled his body with the pleasure he desired and devoured his mouth with the taste of the woman he had began fantasizing now more than ever.

It wasn't supposed to be this way for the two....

They weren't ever supposed to see each other after that night when Isabella slapped him. Back when they were young and reckless.

They met again at a very different stage of their life.

When they weren't so young and reckless anymore in fact if anything they were fiddled with responsibility and clouded with stress and work all around them.

When Alexander and his brother finally came back home from Harvard, it was the year when Isabella left Cherwood.

She fought her parents after she got a scholarship at Stanford. They weren't in favor of her leaving the place but she argued for an entire year after they finally let her go.

She remembered the argument she had with her parents at her seventeenth birthday, where her parents made her wear a cone hat, her mother baked her favorite almond crunch cake, her father got her the new Range Rover.

"Oh my God!" Isabella chimed with excitement hugging her parents, as she stood outside looking at the car.

"Thank you so much, you guys. It's everything." She smiled a big one, her toothy grin making her parents more than happy. They all stood outside, on the Porsche of the small Villa that was their family home, where Isabella’s parents had surprised her with the new car.

"Actually... I want something else as well." She said with a breath filled with nervousness.

Her father, Toby Grace, a handsome man of a strong built that even Sierra, her best friend had a crush on, smiled at his daughter.

"What is it?" He asked.

She guided her parents back inside the house, leading them towards the large cozy living area that had the fire place lit up to warm the cold December night.

While her parents waited in the living area trying to guess what their daughter was up to, Isabella came back holding an envelope in her hands.

She took in a deep breath, "Mom, dad... I don't want you guys to freak out but I applied for some colleges."

Her words scurried the Grace's faces. The two looking at each other with their hearts filled with anxiety.

"I know you guys want me to go to NYU because that way I would stay with you guys but I got into Stanford." She shrugged her shoulders with the same puppy eyes that always melted her parents heart, letting her have whatever she wanted.

"No!" Her father chimed out loud without hearing another word.

She deepened a breath, her mind pre-set for this conversation.

"Dad please, it's the only damn thing that I want and I want it so badly. You know I've never said no to anything you guys have asked for." She played the card she had been holding for such a long while.

"And we have never said no to anything you've asked for." Her mother butted in with a stern expression on her face.

Her father would eventually give in to anything but her mother was the more fierce one to deny Isabella her needs.

"I've have never asked for something that you guys would disagree too but this is something I want on my own. Like I just want this. I know a dozen of students from my own class that applied for Stanford and none of them got in. This is a big thing..."

"You should've asked before doing this." Her father cut her off, "You shouldn't have gotten your hopes high."

"But dad, I knew you guys would've never let me apply and I wasn't expecting anything but now that I have it, I don't want to throw it away."

"How many times have I told you, to not to grab on to things that you can't hold." Her mother warned her.

Feeling agitated with her parent's behavior Isabella beamed with anger, "I don't know what is wrong with you guys, why can't you just let me live my life on my own."

She groaned taking off her party cone off her head.

"Isabella.... We do everything for you."

"Then just let me do what I want." She slammed the cone down on the ground harshly and it was the first time her parents were witnessing her throwing a tantrum.

"You don't know what's good for you." her father tried calming her by reasoning out.

Having her point break of anger she yelled out loud, "How would I ever know if you guys would never just stop running my life and let me live on my OWN!"

It was the first time ever they had witnessed her anger. They had never known that their daughter could get that angry as well.

"Isabella!" Her mother scolded her for her behavior.

"WHAT?" She yelled back, "Just let me live how I want and stop dictating me. You guys suffocate me." Her voice finally cracked as her entire body began shaking with tears running down her cheeks.

She ran up to her room, even throwing away the keys to her Range Rover.

Sitting down at the living room, her mother cried in her father's arms, holding a baby picture of Isabella.

Even though they hated the idea of letting their daughter go anywhere away from their eyes but the mere thought of her words that they suffocate her and make her feel dictated pierced their hearts so they decided to do what was the best for Isabella.

That night they kept the envelope and car keys next to her bedside table when she was sleeping peacefully.

Her mother even pecked her forehead, which she did every night before she went to sleep.

Her mother wished to never let that habit of hers vanish away for her little angel.

The loud knock on the door startled Isabella, turning around, she saw her assistant Anna standing at the doorway holding some files.

Isabella turned away from her view of the large buildings outside, towering above her small tenth floor office.

Her small wooden furnished, simple and beige walled office depicted it was the one for a small scale operations.

"I need you to sign for some sponsors and also the upcoming partnership with Gatorade and there are some new local crisps coming out, every bakery needs to have them...." Anna detonated the work load on Isabella.

"I'm guessing it's a new up front business of Mayhew family in the name of locality." Isabella c****d an eyebrow at Anna.

She smirked with a cocky expression.

"You know they're the next Kardashians."

Isabella c****d an eyebrow and sighed, knowing how accurate Anna was.

After she was done with her work she took a leave for home, but instead of turning her car on the usual route, she took a detour.

Her phone rested next to her handbag on the passenger seat of her Range Rover. No text from Alexander meant she was free for the night.

Reaching outside the facility, she passed through the security flashing her visitor's ID.

Parking her car in the open street parking, she walked into the facility.

Checking her name, time and ID. She passed through the security where one of the lobby boys, lead her down to a nurse station, through the monochrome walls, with bright white lights illuminating the clean, slippery ceramic tiled floor.

Her heels clicked down with step she took, echoing through the hallway.

It was almost past visiting hours but they still let her in given to her special excuse provided by Dr. Louisville, given to her working hours and the condition of the person she visits.

A chubby, black nurse lead her into a facility room that had a single grey cushioned restless couch, resting next to the wall opposite to one of the two doors.

The nurse locked behind the door from which they entered.

"You may sit." She smiled at Isabella to which she nodded and took a seat, keeping her handbag right down.

The nurse briefly noted her attire and her expensive taste but went ahead out of the door opposite of the couch, mentally sympathizing with Isabella’s condition.

A new story of morality to tell her grandchildren once she gets home.

Isabella looked around nervously, her hands fidgeting inside her lap, she studied the diamond ring in her middle finger, just another one of Alexander's many jeweled gifts.

The door creaked open as the nurse walked in followed by a white short lady, her silver streaks shinning through her brunette hair, pulled down in a messy pony tail, her freckles evident on her wrinkled skin. To say the lady wasn't older than fifty six, yet her condition had made her look older.

The frown on the lady's skin was replaced immediately by a huge grin.

"Oh Isabella my dear child." She rushed ahead and pulled Isabella in for a hug.

She closed her eyes and leaned down to return the affection because she knew it was short lived.

"You've grown so much." She smiled noticing Isabella head to toe, "And you look so sheer in that lady dress. Stanford did you good."

Tears brewed into Isabella’s eyes realizing the situation that the old lady was in.

She sniffed hard and put on a smile.

"These lousy people don't know I have to get out and meet your father and discuss so many things. Why don't you let me go?" the old lady yelled out at the nurse who simply stood back with a poker face.

Isabella turned the old lady's face towards her, touching her cheek gently.

The lady smiled back a wide one and replicated Isabella’s action but touching her cheek softly with her palm.

Isabella smiled softly, letting tears run down her face, rubbing the knuckles on her cheek softly with her thumb. She mumbled softly.

"It's okay Mom!"