Chapter 3.6

As Joseph followed after Isabelle, he inwardly berated himself for how he acted back at the patch. Her imposing posture demanding for answers made him panick, his mind going blank and his tongue not cooperating with him. She was smaller than him, but he had felt like a child being scolded by an adult.

Her unshed tears, though, reminded him that she was his partner, his lover, his future wife. He owed her everything she demanded and more. That was the price he was willing to pay to marry such an amazing woman like Isabelle.

At that moment, he also learned an invaluable lesson: to never hide things from Isabelle, no matter how problematic the issue was. It was best to look for a solution together sooner rather than let it explode on their faces.

"Isabelle!" He called out after noticing she had stopped; probably because she realized going deeper into the mountains was not a good idea. 

"Go away!" She yelled, walking away again. Her tight voice belied her crying. He felt miserable for making her cry.

"No. Stop." He reached out and successfully grabbed her wrist. She tried to pull it away, but he would not let go. He was never going to let her go. "Stop, Isabelle. The mountains are dangerous at night." Although the sun was not setting yet, he could hear the birds getting ready for the night already up in the trees, looking for a place to rest. 

"As if you care." She viciously returned.

"I do care." He replied, pulling her to his arms. They wrestled a bit as she tried to get away from him. Not wanting to hurt her, he let her move around but did not separate from her. After a moment of tossing and turning and pushing and pulling, she ended up leaning her back against a tree, trapped by his body at the front. "Lemme explain."

"I don't want to hear." She retorted, looking away.

"I used to court her." Joseph still spoke up. "I thought we were gonna marry; we had a good relationship. In the end, she left. She married 'nother one. I was hurt, yes. But I decided to leave it all in the past. She wasn't worth the time I spent with her, all the time I spent imaginin' a future together. No matter the reasons, she didn't fight for us."

Trapped in his embrace as she was, Isabelle really had no other choice but to listen to his hurried and ill-thought-out explanation. According to his words, there had been strong feelings between the two before. Had those feelings really disappeared as he claimed? She distrusted his words.

"What is happening between you two?" She demanded.

"Nothin', I swear." He leaned back and looked directly at her to prove his sincerity. His chest painfully throbbed seeing her tear-filled eyes. He ventured to free one of his hands to cup her cheek and make her look at him. "There's nothin'. She came back lookin' for me to get some revenge on her cheatin' husband. I told 'er I ain't getting involved with 'er anymore."

"She is still looking for you." She pointed out, sniffling.

Joseph rested his forehead on hers, his eyes never leaving hers. His thumb gently brushed her cheek. "... She got pregnant by one of the servants. She's afraid her affair's gonna be discovered by the husband when the child's born." Isabelle frowned confused, clearly asking what that meant. "The servant's skin is... It doesn't match with either."

Isabelle's eyes widened at the revelation. Was the woman that dumb?! Well, cheating was a despicable deed not only from her part, but on her husband's part, too. However, her blunder did not give her the right to destroy another person's relationship.

"What does she pretend to get by coming to you?" Isabelle still had that doubt.

"She wanna pass the child as mine. That we'd been seeing each other, and that her marriage was forced; that way she could get money from a divorce..." The moment he had heard her plan, he was utterly dumbfounded. He had no idea Milly could be so cunning yet so incredibly dumb.

That was when he realized he definitely had to cut off all contact with her. Who would have thought she would not give up on her crazy plan, and even went to look for him at the patch to continue pestering him?

"If she asks you to marry her, would you accept?" Isabelle quietly asked, unsure.

Joseph huffed. "Never. I'm way past that brash and stupid phase when I was younger… Still young and handsome, but not stupid." He cheekily grinned at her, earning a tentative smile from her.

Gone were his days of desperately looking for a woman to marry, of throwing the net to see what he could catch. He finally found the perfect woman to form a family with. He did not want to throw such a marvelous relationship for a scheming woman. With a sigh, he went back to hugging Isabelle.

Apart from her scatterbrained plan, the main reason for him to reject Milly was that he no longer felt anything for her. All his feelings were focused on Isabelle.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. Isabelle remained silent. It made him nervous; even making him think that she would never forgive him. "I really messed up by not tellin' ye sooner. I thought I could solve it myself. Maybe I could've; but I should've told ye all 'bout her for ye to trust me."

She hummed. He was not sure if she was accepting his apology or not. He had done everything he could to mend his relationship with her. He explained, he apologized and even teased her a bit. All it was left was to voice out something he also should have told her sooner. 

"I like you, Isabelle. I don't care about no other woman that's not you. I only like you."

She leaned her head on his shoulder and nodded, finally accepting his apology. "I like you, too." She softly confessed, encircling his waist with her arms. "I do not want for another woman to come looking for you. I am selfish Joseph. The moment I put my eyes on you, you were mine. All of you."

Her words made his body warm up and his heart twist in a welcomed way. Hearing her stake claim on them was so alluring. Joseph kissed her head and made one last promise to her and to himself. "I promise nothing will come bother us in the future."

"Good." She accepted his promise, trusting his words once again. She had wanted to stay mad at him, let him feel all her anger for a few days. However, after listening to his explanation, although her anger had not completely subsided, she understood the situation was all started by that woman.

Isabelle was angry at Joseph for hiding things from her, things that also involved her. But she was furious at this woman for what she provoked. And that was what she was going to focus on in the future. Fighting with Joseph would not help them in the long run. Fighting with this Milly woman though… That was doable.

With the matter solved between them, a heavy weight was lifted off Joseph's shoulders, leaving him light and very aware of the body he was holding.

His self-imposed promise from the day before suddenly slammed to the forefront of his mind and refused to go. Same as that feeling of her big ass in his hands.

Joseph had never been one to think too much about things. The only time he thought things up, he almost destroyed his relationship with Isabelle; so no, no more deep thinking from him. He was going to stick to actions to show what he wanted. And what he wanted was her; to taste what he had wanted to taste.

"Joseph?" Isabelle's breathy voice sounded by his ear. She had not missed certain member twitching against her stomach. His hands swiftly moved down to her waist and his lips started peppering her neck with kisses, fully pressing her against the tree behind her. "Wait… We are outside." She reasoned.

"My apology's not over." He stated, his burning eyes making her heart race.

"What are you trying to do?" She squeaked when he felt him untying her skirt.

"You've left me hangin' for two days, Isabelle." He stated, claiming her mouth in a deep kiss. His lips devoured hers, not letting her retaliate in kind. His overbearing tongue invaded her mouth, leaving her quivering and knee-weak. "I'm sure we'll both enjoy this." He breathlessly whispered in her ear before nipping it.

His words were like honey, and any coherent thought abandoned her.

Successfully untying the skirt, he started making his way down her neck, sucking a bit to leave some marks. His hands softly caressed her naked thighs, going up and down until he grabbed her ass and squeezed it; groping and kneading.

Her breath hitched when her underwear joined her skirt on the ground. She felt herself getting wetter as his fingers teased, getting closer and closer but never touching where she wanted. "Joseph..." She breathlessly complained.

"Gettin' there…" He chuckled, satisfied at the needy tone in her voice. Seeing her flushed countenance, he devilishly smiled. It was time to make that face morph into pure ecstasy. He swiftly got on his knees, not letting her react to his move until she felt it.

"Ah!" She cried out in surprise, throwing her head back in pleasure, one of her hands immediately grabbing his hair as her thighs squeezed together at the sudden stimulation. Though they quickly parted, silently asking for more.

Joseph moaned when she trapped his face between her thick thighs; his cock even throbbed for attention. What a way to discover a new kink! He inwardly celebrated. Humming appreciatively at her sudden cooperation, he buried his face deeper in between her legs with the granted space.

His tongue slowly drew the shape of her folds, tasting her wetness. As her sex unraveled under his ministrations, he reached even deeper, spreading her with his thumbs and thrusting into her entrance with his tongue.

"Ah! Nn! Yes!" Isabelle did not hold back any moan or sound her mouth let out. She just focused on those marvelous sensations.

Of his tongue slithering into her dripping wet entrance. Of his lips pressing deliciously against her whole intimacy. Of his tongue rapidly licking her clit. On the obscene sounds he let out as he licked and sucked. She euphorically smiled at the stimuli, clearly feeling her orgasm quickly building.

Her hips twitched, trying to get more pressure from him. He readily responded to her moves and sucked harder, licked faster and pressed his face even more against all that wetness. He was extremely intoxicated from her taste, from how she sounded, how she reacted.

Finally, his efforts paid off and she let out a delirious moan as she came, her whole body twitching together with her walls. He stood and pressed his body against hers. His hand guided his hot and hard member to her slippery folds to seek his own pleasure.

He grunted when she closed her legs to give him more friction. Both panted in each other's ears at the new sensations, at the lewd sounds of their skin slapping against the other, so similar to…

Joseph hoarsely let out a moan in bliss when his orgasm crashed so quickly just from the thought of almost, almost properly doing it with Isabelle.

His seed joined her wetness, a squelching sound coming out from between her thighs as he stiltedly thrust his hips. "Fuck, can't wait to make love to ye." He breathlessly said, kissing her ear.

"And see who makes the other come faster?" She challenged, embracing his waist to keep him close.

Joseph hoarsely laughed. "I'm in."

Some time later, they cleaned themselves as best as they could in the wild. When they finally made their way back, night was already upon them. Walking in the dark, with only the stars as their witness, they shared a couple of lingering kisses that could have developed into something more if it were not for their noisy stomachs asking for food. 

The other brothers were obviously worried. It was way past dinner time and they had not returned. So, the moment the two crossed the entrance gate, they were asked where they had been. Since neither were going to reveal what really happened, they just said the two had a long conversation about the situation with Milly to reach a solution.

The brothers' pointed stares at Isabelle's neck gave away what that 'conversation' actually entailed, but seeing how calm the two acted with each other, then they let it slide and accepted their rather flimsy excuse. To the brothers, it was more important to have a nice and respectful relationship with Isabelle than what they did to reach such 'solution'.

After eating their dinner by candlelight, it was time to wash up. Or more like, with Felix's curiousity, bath-time with Isabelle became gossip-time.

"So, you two really good now?" Felix asked, trying to look back at Isabelle, but his position in the tub not allowing him to do so.

"As good as we can be after a fight." She replied as she gave his back a good scrub.

"What's that mean?" The teen asked, twisting his body a bit after Isabelle scrubbed a ticklish point.

"It means the problem will be solved when all the involved parties stop making trouble." Isabelle elucidated, then passed him the cloth so he could wash his front. Meanwhile, she stepped out of the tub and reached for the soap. Rather than cleaning, it only moisturized the skin, so she decided it was best to use it after scrubbing.

"Like... that woman?" Felix knew who the problem was. Ethan had told them what Joseph had shared with him about the thing with Milly, and the teen only felt revulsion towards the woman who she once thought as nice.

"Like that woman." Isabelle confirmed. If that woman was really so shameless to keep looking for Joseph, she was not afraid to tell her a thing or two. Mrs. Ekore had taken Isabelle by surprise with her rapid accusations. But no more!

"How can people be like that?" He asked, sounding a bit downtrodden.

Isabelle sighed. Felix was young, yes, but he was also missing more social contact. He only knew the goodness and tempers of his brothers, and, perhaps, from a couple of villagers that visited their house. Most villagers were possibly total strangers to the teen.

"There are all kinds of people out there, Felix. Some are good, some are bad, some have good reasons for their bad deeds, and some do good things with ulterior… with bad motives." Isabelle tried to explain. "You have to meet all these people to form a better opinion of them. Do not judge just from appearance, and do not trust others so easily."

Felix nodded. Maybe, with time, he could see the world beyond Yellow Leaf Village and beyond Basin Town. Only then, he would realize how small his current world was.

"Right. Let us go to sleep then?" She prompted once she finished lathering her body with the soap and rinsing it a bit with water.

Since they only conversed and did nothing sexual, Felix had no problem with draining the tub by himself. Isabelle helped him with drying it with a rag. Then, because the tub was a bit heavy, the two leaned it by the side. Although it was a bit of a strenuous activity for her weak self, it made her feel better than just watching like she did with the other brothers while they did all the job.

She wanted to help around the house more, but most of the stuff required having strength, like lifting the tub, or carrying buckets of water, or carrying baskets of recently harvested vegetables. Any lifting of heavy things in that matter.

I cannot even deal with my own weight!

She inwardly cringed after recently discovering running left her panting like a dying dog. Even walking for a long time was a task in itself. Lately, she had only remained sitting to embroider, standing for cooking and teaching, and laying down to sleep. She had become a lazy potato sack!

As she laid on the bed with Felix tightly embracing her body, she planned what to do to get more resistance and stamina and say goodbye to her sluggish body. Her current lifestyle did not allow her to continue being a weak bean sprout.

Walking was a perfect first option to gain stamina. Going to and fro town without resting was one of the first goals she had to achieve! Then, to get strength, she could start carrying things. First, not too heavy ones and then increasing the weight until she could move the tub on her own!

With those plans formed, she happily fell asleep.