Feeling Good!

Breakfast with Phillip was nice. Apart from the food being good, the person himself was quite entreating and made for very enjoyable company.

"Are you going out just like that?"

Isabel who had her hand on the front door handle paused and looked down at her attire before turning around to look at Phillip.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Other than the fact that it's all Imperial branded and probably worth some hundreds of thousands of dollars?

"There's nothing wrong with it per se but..." Phillip glanced at her striking golden eyes and flawless face and he felt his mouth twitch. "Shouldn't you cover up a little? You're a celebrity aren't you?"

Abruptly, Isabel recalled that she was ten years in the past; the time when her career was at its highest. This wasn't the days when she could walk down the street freely without covering her face and people would bend over backwards to get out of her way, right now it was very likely... no, she would definitely be swarmed; especially right now when 'My Lord, My Lady' Season 5 was now airing, this was the season that garnered the greatest response in the whole series.

"Sorry, I forgot."

Seeing Isabel cutely reach up to pinch her earlobe, embarrassed, Phillip felt his cheeks grow warm.

"St- stay here. I'll go get you something."

Phillip ran upstairs and a short while later, he came back with a white scarf and a pair of vintage shades.

"These are Sage's, I don't think he'll mind too much if you borrow them."

Isabel accepted the items and she slipped the shaded over her eyes before wrapping the scarf around her head. A deep scent was attached to the scarf and when Isabel brought it up to sniff, it left a warm feeling lingering in her chest that gave her butterflies, she liked it.

"So Phillip, are you not a fan?"

"What do you mean?"

"You could obviously tell who I am, yet you don't seem too enthused."

Phillip scratched his head and laughed. "Well..." that's because if I dared to show any interest in you, even if I really am a huge fan, a certain someone would definitely have me dragged down and beheaded once he found out.

"I grew up in high society, so coming face to face with celebrities don't have much of an effect on me."

Dear god, don't strike him for lying. Heaven knows he almost fainted from the extreme fangasm he suffered when he opened the room door early this morning to see 'Lady Clarisse' sleeping in his best friend's bed.

While asleep with the faint moonlight peeking through the crack in the curtain lingering on her cheek, Isabel looked very much like her innocent, naïve and pure hearted character from the drama; but Phillip had learned the hard way that her looks were very, very deceiving, though her personality was pretty much in line with the image of 'Izzy' that she portrayed to the world. He was glad to know that the Sunshine Queen he and countless others adored wasn't an absolute fake.

In fact, now, it was likely that he had become an even bigger fan of hers, though he would have to definitely keep that a secret.

Damn! Did he send that special edition poster of Lady Clarisse in the Secret Room from 'My Lord, My Lady' Season 5 to the mansion or Israel's place? He'd have to give his old man a call just to be safe, he wouldn't see that thing again if Archer got a hold of it first.

"I see."

Isabel could understand what Phillip was saying. In fact, there were celebrities who were fans of people from noble families; even though those nobles weren't very famous themselves, they were rich and had power and everybody in the entertainment business was looking for a backer to support them. So if Phillip was friends with Sage and had grown up in a noble family too, then being immune to the star-struck effect was understandable.

"Well, thank you for breakfast, I enjoyed it a lot, and give Sage my thanks when next you see him."

"Then, why don't you say it here?" Phillip rushed to take out his cellphone. "I'm sure he'd be happy to hear it from you himself."

Isabel was hesitant. She was 60% sure that Sage had developed some feelings for her after last night that were beyond just friendship, and she really didn't want to pour water on any fallen seeds, but she completely lost to Phillip's puppy dog eyes and in the end, she recorded a short voice note for him to send to Sage. She also took a buddy photo with Phillip on the porch then added him as a friend on Mirror before she got into Davina's car and left.

After waving goodbye to Isabel from the front step, Phillip sent over the voice note and several pictures of Isabel he had taken during breakfast before he conscientiously wiped them from his phone and turned back inside to clean up.

Meanwhile, Isabel who was driving down Marino's picturesque streets was going over every detail of her morning with Phillip in her head and after ascertaining that absolutely nothing that would damage her reputation had occurred in those few hours and there hadn't been any ambiguity in the photos he took of her, she relaxed and turned up the radio only for the tunes of Davina's favorite CD to fill the car and Isabel laughed when the lyrics of Nina Simone's 'Feeling Good' came spiraling out.

"It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me and I'm feeling good~"

She rolled down her window and the wind blew in, whipping under her scarf and dredging up the deep scent in the fabric. Her stomach fluttered and Isabel felt light. It was as though some kind of pressing weight had been lifted off her chest and finally, her heart that had been shackled down was set free and she could soar. It was an inexplicable feeling and she didn't think that there could possibly any better feeling in the world than this.

"Stars when you shine, you know how I feel,

Scent of pine, you know how I feel,

Oh, freedom is mine and I know how I feel,

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life form and I'm feeling good~!"

Isabel played the song on repeat as she cruised through the sparse Sunday morning traffic.

Humming, she stopped at a red light and watched a group of middle schoolers all dressed up in vibrant colors cross the street. She suddenly thought of Kelvin and Phoenix, they would be starting second grade in September.

Because Brycen had been slow in helping her sign them up, the two started school a year late; they should already be in second grade, looking to move up to third. Her kids were so smart, she was the idiot for always thinking that she needed Brycen's approval for everything.

Grrr....

Isabel stopped and breathed. It was in the past, the past was history. She should let it go and just focus on her life right now. Brycen was just a part of her past.

The light changed and Isabel glanced out her window at the group of middle schoolers, looking to move off but then she did a double take in that direction.

The group was passing by outside a pet store and there, standing in front of the store window in a light blue hoodie, wasn't that Ivan? She knew that he lived in Marino, but she didn't know exactly where. Was this his neighborhood?

The light had changed and she wasn't in lane to swing off, so Isabel was just going to cruise on by and mind her own business—she knew Ivan wasn't too fond of her just yet, but then, out the corner of her eye, she caught a group of girls, college students across the street, sneaking glances at Ivan, whispering and giggling until finally, they started to move in. Isabel frowned.

She knew that it was unnecessary to worry and that Ivan could handle himself, his poisonous tongue wasn't any worse than Sophie's, that witch, but there was just something that left a bad taste in her mouth about seeing her 'sister-in-law' about to be hit on and not doing anything about it.

The cars behind her had already begun to honk their horns, telling her to move up so Isabel flipped her indicator and broke the line, swinging off on her right. She parked the car on the curb and stepped out, instantly garnering the attention of everyone in the vicinity, but the person herself wasn't aware.

Smoothing down the scarf on her head with one hand, a mesmerizing smile lifted the corner of her mouth and she took quick, even strides forward looking graceful and elegant, like someone who had just stepped out of a painting and when she was just about a meter away from Ivan and the gaggle of girls had just made it to the sidewalk, she smiled wider and called out, "Vanya~!"

Ivan almost jumped out of skin feeling arms snake their way around his shoulders intimately and he wanted to throw them off, but his mind moved fast and he paused. There was only one person who called him 'Vanya' and would use such a sickeningly sweet voice while doing it and was touchy-feely.

Sure enough, when he turned his head, although she was wearing shades and a scarf, that annoying smirk on her face was enough of a giveaway. This damned brat!

"What do you think you're doing right now?"

"Greeting you." Isabel put her chin on Ivan's shoulder and looked at the adorable round balls in the pet store's display window.

The display was parted into two by a small, white picket fence with puppies on one side and kittens on the other and watching the adorable little critters run around and tumble over each other, Isabel remembered her own cat.

From the current date, it should be about three year from now. One rainy evening after drinking her butt off at Kiss of Death, she staggered into the alley a building over to puke and found a black folded ear kitten abandoned in a box. By then, she and Davina had already split hairs for a long time, that cat became her new best friend (as sad as it may sound) up until it was killed when someone broke into her apartment as part of a retaliation against her for slapping Susan in public. Her poor Romeo.

Would she be able to find him again in this life? Only fate could tell.

"Are you thinking of buying one?"

Ivan nodded. "For Mason. He's allergic to cats, so it would have to be a puppy. He absolutely sucks at taking care of himself but when it comes to taking care of others, he's actually quite attentive. I'm getting busier with my work so I won't be able to go over to his place as often anymore and he and Sophie are two peas in a pod, so I can't trust her to do it either. I'm worried that he'll sink back into his bad habits and skip meals, but if he had the puppy to take care of then he'll..."

All of a sudden, Ivan stopped and looked over at Isabel who was smirking so hard, just looking at it was annoying.

"What kind of face is that?"

"I never knew Vanya was a man of so many words. When it comes to your sweetheart, you're not shy at all, are you?" Isabel teased and Ivan's face turned red.

"Sh- shut up, you brat! So annoying."

"Ah, Vanya is so cute~"

Ivan groaned and pushed at her face with his palm, he wasn't used to this. He had always been too absorbed in his own world to make friends and now, like some kind of trick, Isabel had suddenly popped up inside his circle of comfort. It was a weird feeling, though it wasn't bad, it made him feel jittery.

Isabel giggled then glanced over at the group of college girls who were frozen in their tracks, she smiled at them sweetly then turned to catch up with Ivan who was already walking away.

"Vanya~ Are you headed to work right now?"

"Mmm. I have a recording session."

"Great! I'll take you, so don't take the train."

"Thanks. But, why are you down here anyway?"

Isabel knew that he was asking why she was in Marino.

"I went out for a couple of drinks last night and..." Isabel touched the scarf on her head. "I slept over at a friend's place."

"Oh." He had just asked casually, Ivan wasn't really interested in knowing her business and Isabel knew that. She changed the topic as they got into the car.

"Are you coming to the Lock-In this weekend? You've never come to one before."

"Exactly. So it won't make a difference whether I come to this one or not."

"Oh, come on Ivan. The Lock-In is a really special event for the family. You've been with us for five years, that makes you a senior; even if it's for a short while, you should show your face. It'll be fun."

"I'll think about it."

"Don't overthink it; if you do, you'll just say no in the end."

She still had a lot of things to prepare for the Lock-In. When she was cornered and asked about it in the cafeteria, she had told everyone she was working on it, but she hadn't started at all. She'd have to spam her schedule this week to get everything done in time.

The Lock-In that she remembered was tragic and bleak and Isabel was determined to not let it be repeated.

The residential streets were one way so Isabel had to circle the block before coming back around and getting on the main road again.