Chapter 2.18

When Isabelle opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that she was not on her bed. It felt way bigger than what she was used to, there was so much space around it felt quite lonely to be honest. It was better than her actual bed though. That bed was so small, she was always afraid she would fall off in the middle of the night.

The second thing she noticed was that the sheet she was using was also not hers. It was not because of the touch, but because it had a musky smell that she liked yet made her nauseous at the same time. It even made her head ache a bit. Or the headache might have been a product of her bleeding days. Or her still-recovering head injury. She did not know.

And, talking about her bleeding days, her memory was jogged down thanks to the piercing pain in her lower abdomen, the whole uncomfortable feeling, and the need to just lay down and do nothing for days.

Isabelle remembered she actually had her first period of bleeding days about a year ago. She also remembered that the presence of her bleeding days was the reason why she was on her way to another city: since she had already become a fertile woman, then she had the obligation to marry.

She could not remember who she was going to marry, or if she was happy with the decision; however, what she could gather from all the pieces of memories that had been uncovering themselves was that the young woman who kept apologizing before attacking her replaced Isabelle in the marriage.

She was not sure if she needed to feel grateful or not towards that woman. Maybe leaning towards grateful was the best in the broader picture as Isabelle was able to get away from that older woman who kept nagging about her 'inappropriate behavior'. She was sure that the old woman was the one who married her off.

Isabelle had her doubts if the woman was her mother or not. A mother could not be so cruel towards her child, right?

Which begged the question of her father: did he not care about her? What was his stance in all the marriage thing? Did he support Isabelle or not? Or was he on her mother's side? It pained her to think her father was like her mother – if that person was really her mother – so she stopped thinking about it.

Focusing on herself again, she noticed she was not feeling as uncomfortable as she thought she would be. She did feel a dull pain on her lower abdomen. But, apart from the extreme fatigue and mild nausea, there was nothing else. That relieved her since she could not waste more time on bed. As Isabelle tried to sit up on the bed, she instantly froze after feeling the great influx of blood coming out.

Helplessness invaded her once she realized she could not stop or control the flow. The barest move made her body expel blood as if it was water. It was so uncomfortable! Though, there was a moment she was more surprised than anything. It was when she felt something in between her legs.

Reaching down, she not only found a warm cloth placed on her lower abdomen, there also seemed to be bandages wrapped around her groin area holding a pad.

If her memory did not fail her, the last thing she did before marvelously fainting was to throw up all over the loo. So, there was only one option as to why she was on the big bed and using a pad…

The door opened, halting her descent to utter disbelief as Felix came in carrying a bowl with something steaming inside.

"You're awake! How're you feelin'?" The teen quickly put the bowl aside and moved towards the bed.

Thanks to her new unlocked memory, Isabelle was aware how messy bleeding days could be, so she could imagine how worried Felix and the others must have been. She slowly finished sitting up, mindful of the flow of blood down there.

"I am fine… or as fine as I can be." There was no way she could deceive them after what they all must have seen, so it was best to tell the truth. It was not going to be the last time they were going to witness that situation after all.

If I am to stay, then everyone in this family will suffer together with me!

She selfishly thought. What she did not know was that the brothers truly were ready to face anything as long as she stayed.

Felix nodded and passed her the bowl he brought.

Inside, there was a maroon-colored soup with a few potatoes swimming around. As she moved the spoon, she noticed there were also some small, reddish peas. Isabelle looked up at Felix, silently asking him what it was, and he nervously presented his dish. "It's beans soup. Lucas was told it was good for… well, to nourish the body when there's blood loss."

Isabelle nodded and tasted the soup. It was savory, but not too heavy. The beans were surprisingly soft, but the potatoes were too soft. They crumbled as soon as she touched them with the spoon. It seemed Felix had left them too long in the soup. "It is good." She told him to not discourage him on his first try at making that dish.

Moreover, her stomach was grateful for the food. Especially, because it was warm food, making her body feel more comfortable. However, as she drank half of the bowl, her stomach became queasy again. She did not want to throw up Felix's hard labor, so she stopped eating.

Felix accepted the bowl back without complaint as he noticed her green face. He waited a moment, expecting her to vomit, yet she only took deep breaths until she was no longer green. He sighed relieved and then flushed, fidgeting where he sat, at what he still needed to do. "I… I also have to… have to…" He hemmed and hawed, not able to speak out coherently.

"You have to...?" Isabelle prompted him with a small and brittle smile. With her stomach keeping its content, her body asked for more rest.

"Havetochangethepad." Felix quickly said, then loudly exhaled in relief at being able to speak up his words. The problem was that Isabelle could neither hear nor understand what he said.

"I am sorry, Felix, I did not quite catch that." She apologetically smiled.

The teen's face contorted again. But with a precedent, he finally had the courage to say the words louder and slower for her to understand. "I have to change the pad." He still furiously blushed at the end of his words.

Her smile and sleepiness quickly vanished after hearing him. Pads had to be changed after quite some time… How long had it been? How many pads had he changed? How much had she slept? Dread pooled in her stomach, upsetting it. But it was no time to worry about it, as it was also no time to be lazing around!

She had work to do! Money to earn!

"No. I will change it. Give them to me. Also, pass me the embroidery tools, I cannot continue sleeping. More like, what time is it? I am not even halfway done with..."

"Calm down!" Joseph's sharp voice sounded from the door, stopping her tirade.

Isabelle and Felix startled at his sudden loud voice. It was the first time any of the brothers yelled at her. Ethan just silently projected his anger the times she was being too stubborn, but Joseph really reprimanded her. If it was before, she would have lashed out at him. But, since she was on her bleeding days, Isabelle just stared at him while tears rolled down her cheeks.

Needless to say, her reaction flustered the two brothers. Joseph more so. "Oh shit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. Forgive me! You can do whatever you want, ok? Just don't cry."

Isabelle laughed at the pathetic scene Joseph presented. "No, I just… I am not sad or anything." She explained, brushing away her tears, feeling a bit irritated that she reacted that way, yet she could not help it. She felt all over the place while in her bleeding days.

Although Joseph was a bit scary when angry, seeing him swiftly change from scary to groveling and asking for forgiveness was just too funny that it somehow settled her. All she had to do was calm him down and explain what she was trying to do before he burst into the room.

"I will not move around if that is what you are worried about, I can perfectly work from here. Though I still want to change the pad myself." She said, even when her stomach twisted unpleasantly. She hoped the soup stayed inside.

The two brothers looked at each other, sharing some silent words, before shrugging. They obviously did not share the consensus they arrived at with Isabelle, but they still did as she said. Joseph passed her the bag with pads while Felix put the embroidery box on the bed near her. Then, they left the house after Felix pulled out a promise from her, that she would call for them if she needed help with anything.

Once alone, she stood from the bed, wincing at the blood that kept coming out. When she felt it was safe to start undoing the bandages, she quickly did so. With swift moves, she took off the loaded pad and placed a new one. As she tied the bandages again, she realized she did not have special underwear for the pads. Thankfully, the bandages did their job and held the pad in place, yet she still itched to make a pair.

First, though, she had to solve the sudden problem she found herself in. Looking at the used pad, she wondered what to do with it. It was obvious that she could not keep it in the room, but she was not confident enough to walk without blood pouring out of her as if there was no tomorrow.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Felix's voice coming from the other side.

"I'll wash the used pad, Belle. Put it here." The door opened a crack, and his hand slid in; it held yet another bowl, but this one filled with steaming water. Isabelle hesitated a bit before shyly putting the pad in the water.

Any thoughts of wanting to wash them herself vanished like that. She just had to pretend it was not actually Felix touching her used pads and she would be at peace with the matter.

With that settled, she returned to the bed, pulled the box closer, leaned on the wall by the bed and started embroidering after getting herself comfortable with her legs covered. However, she was only able to embroider two handkerchiefs before sleep claimed her.

The brothers peeked from the window to see how she was doing and sighed relieved when they saw her sleeping. In their opinion, her health was more important than a few coins. Joseph sneaked into the house and laid her on her side, so she was not in an uncomfortable position, with her chin almost touching her bosom.

Only then, both happily went back to their tasks. Joseph still had to water the patch and Felix had to wash pads; no longer bothered by the blood.

As noon rolled over, Felix started on lunch. Though, with the pot of soup he already had, he saw no need to cook anything more. He was also afraid that the smell of other food would make Isabelle throw up. So, reheating the soup it was. After serving two bowls, he went to wake her up.

As he gently shook her, she let out a sound that sent a jolt to his nether area. He valiantly willed his rising boner away and woke her up.

"… Felix… what time is it?" Isabelle asked as her eyes went to the window and noticed the sun was very high in the sky.

"It's time to eat." Felix said, unrelenting in his desire to take care of her.

Isabelle, though, was not going to protest anything. Her unplanned nap helped her more than she thought. She felt more energized and her general discomfort had also lowered to manageable levels. She even drank the whole bowl of soup without upsetting her stomach! With such a good mood, she tackled embroidering with renewed determination.

Embroidering on the bed was more tiring than at the table, but since she had more space to put the things, she lost less time in arranging the threads, the blank handkerchiefs and the embroidered ones. That was why, when the sun starting to set, she managed to embroider eight handkerchiefs.

Isabelle was happy at the progress, but she was also worried that she was not even halfway done.

Feeling better, she decided to stretch a bit and change the pad. The flow was very abundant, and since she woke up at noon, she had changed it three times despite not moving too much. Felix, who still dutifully picked up her used pads, seemed to be worried about the quantity of blood she was losing, but she was unconcerned.

She remembered that, despite having a heavy flow, she only had three bleeding days. Which was a relief as she, too, would be distressed if her bleeding days lasted for many more days. Especially in that type of situation where she could not properly nourish her body and would need to spend the money she did not have in buying more pads.

Isabelle vowed to mend that in the future.

I know we will all improve our lifestyle soon!

Once she changed the pad, she came out of the house to find Joseph watering the flowers he had planted – which actually were more than she could remember. Lucas and Felix were tinkering in the kitchen and Ethan was nowhere to be seen.

"How're ya feelin'?" Joseph asked, stopping his task.

"I am better." Isabelle replied.

She definitely was not going to start a conversation with a used pad in her hand, so, she immediately headed to the well where she found a bucket with water and started washing the pad there. But… Either the sunset was playing with her sight, or she could not wash the pad correctly: it still had a huge orange spot. No matter how much Isabelle scrubbed it, it would not go!

"It's better to use warm water." Felix said behind her. Isabelle let out an inhuman screech out of fear. She did not hear him arrive! "Sorry! I didn't want to scare you!" The teen apologized and even waved away his brothers who had rushed over to ask what had happened after hearing her scream.

Isabelle waved her hand in dismissal, too, seeing as the brothers were still around. "I am fine." She told Lucas and Joseph who nodded and went back to their tasks. Isabelle sheepishly turned to Felix (She almost got him in trouble!). "So, do I have to use warm water?" She asked, combing away some locks of loose hair and pretended it was not her who had screamed like that.

Felix nodded. "But don't worry about it. I'll wash it." He eagerly said.

Well, Isabelle was a bit mortified, but she also did not have that much of experience when it came to washing clothes. The only time Isabelle did it was a disaster that Felix was gentle enough not to point out. So, she left the work to him.

"Oh, yes! I came to tell you that dinner's ready. Wash your hands before eating." He said after a moment of silence.

"Is Ethan already here?" Isabelle asked while washing her hands. It was getting dark, so he must have already arrived.

"He came, but went out again. He said somethin' about asking the Chief for stuff." Felix replied as they walked to the table where Lucas had actually already served the food. It was the typical pancake with some herbs mixed in it and the broth of that soup she have been eating the whole day.

Lucas and Joseph, obviously, were already sitting at the table. One blankly looking at the food and the other grumbling under his breath about being hungry. Although the mood was not oppressive, it was a bit akward, so Isabelle wanted to remedy that.

"So, how is living in this village?" 

She knew almost nothing about the place, and thought it was time to rectify that.