Melanie’s pretty face changed and turned pale. “Haven’t we already discussed this? I won’t get rid of the baby. If you really do not wish to admit that it’s yours, then I’ll announce to the public that it’s not your flesh and blood. After all, you're the one who rather have yourself look like a fool whose wife cheated on him, than to claim your own flesh and blood!”He turned his wheelchair towards her. “Why must you insist on keeping the child? I don’t want it now. We can talk about it later.”Melanie insisted. “This is my first child, I must have it. You’re not the only one who gets to decide about this. Shouldn’t you ask for my opinion as well? Can you not be so selfish? This is a life, it’s our… Two people’s child, can you get rid of it just because you don’t want it?” As she finished, her voice choked and slightly trembled.She had hoped that Alejandro would provide her the warmth she desired, even if it was just a little bit. However, she really could not understand. How could
Tiffany curled into a ball as she hugged her knees on the couch and cast him a sidelong glance. “It’s been one full day and one night. Are you awake now? Have you thought of a good script to cheer me up? You haven’t answered me. You’ve had fun being with a few women behind my back. If you tell the truth, we’ll have something to talk about. If you’re going to lie, forget it.”He looked at Arianne pleadingly. Arianne shrugged, holding Aristotle in her arms, indicating that she was at her wit’s end too. He had no choice but to surrender. “I did not. Really. Last night was the first time I’ve brought a woman to a party. We didn’t do anything else. I don’t even know that woman. She’s a last-minute female date that I’ve asked a friend to help rent out. I didn’t even give her my contact details. Mark and I had one each. If you don’t believe Mark and me because you think that we’re in cahoots, you can ask the other woman. That woman’s name is Janice Bell. She’s from Mark’s company. Ask her if
Jackson laughed thoughtlessly. “Are you really the kind of person who’d be scared of his own wife? I’m going stir-crazy. Why can’t I have a smoke? Just spray it off with some perfume or something later.”Nevertheless, Mark did not put out Jackson’s cigarette. He lit one up for himself since no one else was looking. “Is it settled? Tiffany didn’t tear you to pieces?”Jackson exhaled. “No. I got lucky, I guess. My arms and legs are still attached. Pregnant women have terrible tempers. In the past, I would have faced her straight-on. This time, I had to wait one day and one night for her to calm down before coming over. She’s having a baby, and I have to suffer with her too. It’ll be fine once this baby is born.”Mark, who had experience, shook his head confidently. “Nope. It only gets worse after the birth, trust me.”The corners of Jackson’s lips twitched. He put out his cigarette. “Don’t scare me. By the way, you really aren’t going to hesitate at all with Alejandro? He’s Ethan, an
Arianne took Aristotle for a bath after a short rest. Mary was old, so Arianne would take care of Aristotle’s needs whenever she was home. She was exhausted but happy to do it. Childhood only happened once, and it was fleeting. She did not want to miss out on Aristotle’s growth.Heavy snow was falling outside, but the house was just warm enough. After a tiring time in the bathroom, Arianne emerged, drenched in sweat. However, the sight of the fresh-smelling Aristotle brought her a sense of fulfillment. She carried Aristotle back to the room, put on his clothes, and put him in his cot. “Mommy’s going to take a bath. Have fun with daddy, okay?”Aristotle grinned at her as he ate his fingers. She smiled back.Mark walked to the cot and looked at Aristotle. “Do you want me to treat you like how Jackson treats Tiffany?” he asked her.Arianne was taken aback. Then, she answered seriously, “I do, and I don’t. Women like being taken care of, but everyone is different. You and Jackson are v
Suddenly, Aristotle woke up, probably because of the sudden noise. He crawled up from the side of his bed with his tiny arms. “Yaya…”Mark stiffened. He shut his eyes helplessly, surrendered, and got up to coax his son. “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep? If you’re going to sleep, stay asleep. Why are you crawling up?”Arianne wanted to laugh but held it all back. “Then I’ll leave Smore to you. I’ve got work tomorrow, so I’m going to bed.”The next day, Brian took the day off, saying that he had to go back to his hometown for a blind date. Thus, Mark drove himself.“Wait for me, I’ll pick you up after work,” he said after dropping off Arianne at the office.Arianne nodded. She was just about to open the car door when he pulled her back in. He didn’t say a word and simply stared at her. His gaze was slightly begrudging.She carefully planted a kiss on his lips, and he finally let go. She noticed that he had become extra clingy since last night. Not only had he personally helped dry
Arianne didn’t like being patient. She did not want to shoulder such baseless accusations. Her intention was to teach Robin, not just to order her around. She got up and deliberately raised her voice. “Robin, I haven’t looked into how the sample got destroyed. Even though we salvaged it in the end and there was no particular setback, we can’t just let go of something like this. I’m going to request for the surveillance footage from Mr. Yaleman. You take care of these sketches. Thank you.”Robin knew that Arianne was going to kick up a fuss, so she carefully replied, “Mm.”There were surveillance cameras in every corner of the office, including the workshop. Everything was clear once they checked the footage. The staff who usually bossed Robin around had been the ones behind it. They hadn’t known that it was Arianne’s sample and had to use the mannequin the next day. Thus, they had taken out the sample straight away. That would have been fine, except that they had cruelly planned on m
Janice’s expression froze slightly into that of uncertainty. A few moments later, she recovered and held her palms together, bidding farewell. “If you’d excuse me…”After she left, Mark yanked Davy into his office and lambasted, “You’ve got one job, Davy—just one! Your seat is right outside my office door, and you can’t even guard my door? Since when have I ever allowed anyone to enter my space without my explicit permission? This floor is a restricted area, and unless it’s something urgent, no one would be able to come in, got it? This is my last warning, Davy. If I see Janice Bell inside my office without my knowledge, you’re fired!”Davy was dumbfounded. “B-But, Sir, I’ve never seen you express any problem with this? A-And the two of you always seem so close, and so I thought you wouldn’t mind something like this,” he explained. “Then there’s the fact that she has this charismatic way with people and knows the exact right word at the exact right time. It’s not easy resisting a cha
Outside an abortion operation studio in the hospital, Alejandro sat on his wheelchair and waited quietly with Jett loyally standing beside him. Melanie was in the middle of the surgery.The little thing which came without his blessing would soon be removed. Alejandro had thought that he would be unperturbed by the entire process, and indeed, that was the case when they arrived at the hospital in the morning or when Melanie was doing a series of pre-surgical checkups.Then his wife was sent into the studio, and he suddenly became restless and troubled. He thought of how Tiffany and her large baby bump looked like. He remembered Smore’s cute little face. He did not hate kids—he just hated the idea of fashioning posterity from his unsightly, ignoble blood.“Mr. Smith, what if Don Smith found out about this? I mean, he might be able to tell from tiny details of Melanie’s recovery, since we’re all living under the same roof, which makes it very hard to conceal the effects of this abortio
Arianne had not heard that name for so long, she had to reel back in bemusement for a few seconds before finally remembering her face.Shelly-Ann Leigh… She must have spent all those years in the mental institution, right? God knows if the woman’s hair was now grey and white all over.When someone was near death, one could stand to forgive all of the history between them—even the dark ones, even if the ledger was brimming—for good. So, Arianne replied, “I’ll go with you. No matter what happened, she’s still your mother.”Mark did not expect that answer from her at all. In his surprise, he bent down and left a kiss on her lips. “I knew I picked the right woman as my wife. I thought you wouldn’t agree to let me accompany her for the last of her days…”Arianne replied nothing. She was not so obtuse that she would try to win over a woman whose days were numbered. No matter how much of an a**hole Shelly was, Arianne was still the one who came out on top. That victory was all she needed.
Arianne sneered. “You confused, little thing. I wouldn’t be daft enough to anger the mother of the man I like if I were you, girl. I would especially not say anything as low IQ as that, too. Let me be completely frank with you: no one who bears the surname of Leigh will ever get the better of me—the last one failed. Hard. I can guarantee that you’ll leave us in the span of three days. If I lose, you can stay here forever. Wanna bet? I dare you.”She left her threat hanging at that and turned her wheelchair away, leaving the scorned young woman behind.Rage came out of Raven as waves of quakes all over her body. She was lurching close to hyperventilation, but right before it became impossible to stop, she came around and battled herself to calm down. She had a feeling that even if she fainted right there and then, no one would discover her, would they?Now that Arianne and Mark had returned, the Tremont Estate had recovered its vivacity and life. It had become merry.And Raven Leigh
Melissa was the type who always pushed things to go as festive as logically possible. She leaped to her feet and raised her cup, “Yo, everyone! Let’s toast to Cindy becoming my cousin-in-law!”The crowd answered enthusiastically with their cups in the air and a roar—except Raven, who remained seated. “I have a sickly constitution. I can’t drink. I’m sorry.”Her smile was so mechanical, her face too ashen. Something flickered in Arianne’s eyes before she replied, “Sure.”After the revelry faded, Arianne steered her wheelchair to the courtyard. The outward appearance of the Tremont Estate seemed to have frozen in time, which was why being here made her feel so… safe.Of course, that was despite Henry and Mary’s passing. In the end, time passed and things changed, characters and objects came and went, and all these missing years left lingering regrets in their wake.Arianne espied the silhouette standing alone at a distance and approached her, sighing, “Nothing beats being home.”Ra
Arianne grabbed the two beauties by the hands and smiled. “Thank you! Gosh, to me… it’s like you two have grown older in the blink of an eye! How gorgeous the two of you are! Cindy, where’s your brother? Plato hasn’t come home yet?”Mentioning the name of her dear brother made Cynthia pout. “He said he was coming home half a month ago—that’s what he said. Who knows what he’s actually doing, though? Anyway, who cares about that no-good. He’s always like this anyway. Oh, um, the weather is quite hot. We should probably get inside.”Arianne nodded and shot a brief, uneasy look at Aristotle. Not once did he look like he wanted to talk to her… Could the boy be counting his grievances in his mind? Mark and Arianne had stayed in Switzerland for so long; life must have been hard for him all alone.It took until she reached the living room to finally notice Raven. “Millie, is this your younger sister?”Melissa quickly sprung to correct her. “What? Noooo. This is Ares’ classmate or something
Aristotle’s entire being stilled.He had waited for this news for nineteen years. As time passed, the flames died little by little, the heart grew more numb, until the very thought of it was no different from a pipe dream. But today, news of it coming true reached him and plunged him into a torrent of feelings.A long while later, he finally muttered under his breath, “When… When will they be back?”Jackson closed the distance between them and gave the young man a light, comforting pat on the shoulders. “Not so soon, I bet; not when your mother has just woken up and is in need of some time to recover. She did sleep for nineteen years, you know. So maybe after she’s recuperated enough for a while…” he answered. “We’ve waited for nineteen years for this, right? What’s waiting for just a little bit more compared to that? The most important thing for you to do is to manage the company to the best of your abilities. That’s the way to not disappoint your father’s expectation.”Aristotle
Cynthia had never had a relationship before, so she did not know what love was. However, one thing was for certain. She loved the feeling of being with Aristotle and how he had protected her since they were kids. Even though Aristotle had become a little domineering and “naughty”, she was not taken aback by him. Instead, she even felt a little moved, which was amazing.It wasn’t known how they ended up in bed, with their breaths synchronized. Apart from the final step, they had done just about everything else that could be done.Just as they were about to hit the final step, Aristotle suddenly stopped and helped pull the covers over Cynthia. “Let’s sleep, good night.”Cynthia was still lost in a daze from before. She did not know why Aristotle had suddenly stopped, nor did she have the courage to ask him. She had struggled for so long before having persuaded herself to go with the flow…The next day, when Cynthia woke up, Aristotle had already long gone to his company.She took a
Cynthia heard what Aristotle said, but her hands did not stop doing what they were doing. Her head was in a complete mess. “There’s no… no need. I’ll be able to be done with these now. Go ahead and get some sleep first. By the way, where am I sleeping tonight? There are so many rooms here, I’ll ask Agnes to help me clear one up.”Aristotle walked up to her and squatted. He grabbed onto her arm with one hand while the other closed the luggage. “Just sleep with me here and stop tidying already.”Cynthia suspected that she might have misheard. She took a look at the big bed behind him in a daze and suddenly felt her palm, which was held by him, burning up. “Y… You’re kidding, aren’t you, Ares? Although we used to sleep with each other a lot when we were kids, we’re all grown ups now, so wouldn’t that be a little inappropriate?”Aristotle said with a straight face, “I wasn't joking.”Cynthia panicked a little and recalled Melissa’s words once again. ‘Would Ares, whom I’ve known for so
Melissa knew that Aristotle had kissed Cynthia, so she knew what was going on. Hence, she very naturally boasted, “Of course, they’ve been engaged to each other since they were born. Coincidentally, the both of them felt the same way about each other as they grew up, so wouldn’t this make it even better? From the way I see it, your illness isn’t going to recover for the rest of your life and the both of them are probably going to have to wait until Cindy graduates before they get married. So, you’d be better off moving back to France as early as possible. Don’t worry, you’ve saved Aristotle’s life before, so he wouldn’t be stingy with you financially.”Raven wanted to control the unhappiness she had in her heart very much, but her emotions refused to follow her will. Hence, she fiercely struggled to wring free from Melissa’s grasp. Melissa was startled for a moment. “Are you crazy?”After that, Raven regained her senses and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry… I was a little unwell just n
‘You’re not that worried?’ Melissa was so furious that she laughed. “Am I the only one who’s being worried for nothing? I thought you loved my brother, didn’t you? The man you’ve been dreaming of every day has returned from France but brought a woman with him, yet you’re actually not that worried? Let’s put aside your parents’ intentions for a moment. Do you dare to say that you don’t love him? I’m only helping you because you’re my best friend, so could you not be so relaxed, as if I’m helping you for no reason?”Cynthia shook her head and lowered her volume as she said, “He… might have confessed to me. We also… did that already. So, I think he doesn’t feel that way towards Raven. It’s purely because she saved his life once. I trust that Ares will be able to handle the situation properly.”Melissa’s eyes opened wide. “What? He’s only returned for a few days, yet the two of you have already had sex? That fast?! I never knew it, but you’ve really got it in you!”Cynthia’s face flushe