Mark’s eyes had a meaningful look to them. With that, Arianne had a vague idea of the box’s content. She felt her face grow hot. She took the box with her to the bathroom and opened it. She had guessed correctly. It was a very special set of pajamas. To be more precise, it was black silk lingerie. The more she looked at it, the hotter her face burned.Naturally, she was not bold enough to walk out in just the lingerie. She wore a bathrobe over it, feeling uncomfortable. She had stalled for time in the bathroom, wasting forty minutes in there, before she finally emerged from the bathroom. If she were not afraid of incurring Mark’s wrath, she would have stayed longer in there.The moment the bathroom door opened, she met Mark’s gaze. She saw his eyes flashed in anticipation before it vanished immediately as soon as he saw her dressed in a bathrobe.“Take off your bathrobe.”She shook her head and refused, “I don’t… I haven’t worn this kind of apparel before, and I feel uncomfortable
He did. As expected, he had actually forgotten to give it to her last night. However, it seemed like not all of the presents were for her… She only found the necklace. The pair of earrings that signified a perfect love was nowhere to be found. He even left her a note. ‘I got this gift for you, but it slipped my mind, and I forgot to give them to you last night. I’d like to see you wearing it when I come home.’She did feel not happy, most likely because the earrings were not there. Should she ask him about it or should she feign ignorance?Mary strode over, carrying Aristotle, while Arianne was lost in her thoughts. “Ari, what are you doing? You didn’t check on the baby when you arrived. What are you daydreaming about?”Arianne regained her senses and took Aristotle into her arms. “It’s nothing. I’ll take Smore for a walk downstairs. Call me when it’s time to eat.”Mark video-called her during her walk in the garden.She held the phone with one hand, facing the camera toward Arist
Tiffany munched on the desserts as she sang Arianne’s praises. “Ari, your desserts are just as tasty as ever. It’s great to be smart, you learn everything much faster. It didn’t take you long to learn how to make desserts back then.”Arianne smiled as she poured Tiffany a glass of warm juice. “Slow down. No one’s going to take it away from you. I’ll make some more for you to take home later.”Jackson watched from the side, helpless. “Don’t eat too much dessert, or you won’t be able to eat your meals later. Desserts will make you fat.”“Pregnant women are supposed to get fat,” Tiffany whispered, “I haven’t gotten that fat, and you already despise me? Ari doesn’t make desserts every day. Of course, I’m going to eat more of it.”Arianne noticed that Tiffany had developed a fondness for eating the fruit on top of the desserts. The fruits were simply for decorative purposes, and the strawberries and kiwis were mostly sour this season. However, Tiffany did not even blink. She was growing
Arianne flashed Tiffany a ‘grateful’ smile. What a good friend she was.When Tiffany saw the peculiar expression on Arianne’s face, she finally realized her transgression. “Video call from Mark?”“Yes.” Arianne nodded with a forced smile. “He calls at this time every day.”Mark’s expression darkened. “What does Will’s departure have to do with you? You don’t need to know about it.”Tiffany stuck out her tongue, too afraid to speak.Arianne was having a headache. “I never said it has anything to do with me. Will and Tiffie are good friends. I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with Tiffie and I talking in our free time, right? Stop picking a fight, you big baby. I’m feeding your son.”This time, Mark ended the call very quickly, probably because he was upset. Arianne ignored him. There was no need to cajole him at this stage.“I didn’t notice that you were having a video call with Mark,” Tiffany said in a cute tone, “It was an accidental slip of the tongue. I was only making conversati
Mark was not paying attention to what Arianne was saying. Instead, he looked at her ears and said, “Why aren’t you wearing the earrings?”Earrings? Arianne looked confused. “What earrings?”“The earrings I gave you before I went on my business trip,” he replied with a frown.Arianne was getting increasingly confused. She pulled out the necklace from underneath her collar. “You gave me this necklace.”Mark’s body stiffened. “Are… you sure?”Arianne nodded confidently. “Yes. Your gift was a necklace, not earrings.” She would love to know where those earrings had gone. Who did he give them to?Mark did not reply to her. He carefully went over every detail of his business trip over the past few days. The necklace was meant for a client. The client was a woman, a Singaporean woman. The earrings were for Arianne. He had actually made a mistake. Despite the vast difference of meaning behind the two gifts, he had made a mistake because the boxes looked so similar. It was all because he w
The next day, Arianne went to the office as usual. Mark was still suffering from jet lag from his business trip so he was still asleep when she left. She did not ask him for a ride.Robin pulled her aside when she arrived at the office. “A client named Jessica has specifically asked you to be her personal designer. She says that she wants a gown. She arrived first thing in the morning. Mr. Yaleman is with her now. She looks pretty important. I’ve never seen Mr. Yaleman being this careful with a client before.”Arianne grunted in reply and was just about to go to the lounge when Robin pulled her back again. “Arianne, you better watch out. That Jessica doesn’t look like someone who’s easy to deal with.”Arianne smiled. “Don’t worry. It’s not like I haven’t dealt with these people before. She can always ask for someone else if it doesn’t work out.”At the lounge, Mr. Yaleman quickly dragged Arianne over with an expression full of flattery. “Jessica, this is the fashion designer you re
She did not hold back with her words, as if conveying that Arianne had no merits apart from her beautiful looks. Arianne resented her mentally but still put a smile on her face as she said to her, “It’s up to us whether we find each other suitable or not. It isn’t as shallow as judging based on appearances, but rather, whether both parties like each other, isn’t that right? So Jessica, when will we talk about the dress?”Jessica looked at her in silence before saying, “Mrs. Tremont, I will acknowledge that your designs have managed to be published in fashion magazines and you are quite experienced in the field. However, it isn’t up to my standards. Each and every one of my personal designers are even more renown than you are. We’ll put an end to this discussion here today. Until next time.”Arianne had the urge to curse at the woman, but she held herself back as she thought of Mr. Yaleman’s incessant ranting. She was afraid that she would ruin Mark’s business since Jessica was one of
Mark answered honestly. “That’s right. It is precisely because of this that I asked to meet you tonight. I wanted to express my apology personally. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.”Jessica’s love life had always been filled with a bed of roses. Faced with such a humiliation all of a sudden, she could not hold in her anger and her face turned. “Is this something that can be resolved with just an apology? Instead of realizing your mistake from the beginning, you had to wait until so many days had passed to tell me that it’s all a misunderstanding. So, I’ve misunderstood your intentions all along? I deliberately pulled my schedule ahead to arrive at the capital half a month early because I couldn’t wait to meet you. But now, I feel like a complete idiot!”Mark’s patience gradually dwindled as the situation got out of hand. He had already apologized sincerely to her, yet her reaction to his apology was less than acceptable. At that moment, Mark had already decided that their partners
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