Isabelle had avoided serious relationships ever since she could remember. It wasn't worth it, she used to tell herself. It wasn't worth the heartbreak and the pain. Trust and loyalty is hard-found. Her parents were the first and foremost examples of that.
Simon Lewis wasn't special, in the way he first drooled after her, in the way he was dazed by her, in the way he seemed to hang on to her every word. But then Simon Lewis was special, in the way he protected her family, in the way he comforted her after Max, in the way that he listened to her, in the way he read her perfectly, in the way he seemed to understand the turmoil storming and raging inside of her- and never judged.
The prospect of falling in love was terrifying, and as it happens, she can't seem to recall the exact moment she had made the conscious decision to explore this avenue of uncertainty and unfamiliarity. If she could, Isabelle would have thought she'd have the sense to put an end to it right there and then. But, would she?
It had been little over a year since she, Alec, Jace, Magnus, and Clary had returned from the other dimension after the war with Clary's brother Sebastian. Simon, who had sacrificed himself to a demon to save Magnus, had reverted to a life he thought he always had, having no memory of his true identity or anyone or anything from the Shadow world.
Not even Isabelle.
It was difficult to imagine a life where Simon had a path different than hers. He would go on to apply for college and become the musician he had dreamed of being. Undoubtedly, he would eventually find someone, fall in love, and get married. As a Mundane, his obliviousness of everything allowed him to continue with his life acting as if she had never existed. To the only person mattered, she never existed. Even after months and months, thoughts like these continued to pierce through her like icy knives, reminding her of everything that was and everything that could have been.