Mark had brought his own bodyguards this time. Just as his bodyguards were about to get into a scuffle with her security, Sylvain stepped out. “Here to make a public denouncement? You move really fast. Jessica has left instructions—we’re not allowed to let you in immediately. She holds grudges. Wasn’t she barred from entering your office when she went to see you?”Mark stared at him with contempt. “Does she really think that I won’t be able to get in?”A flippant smile hung on the corners of Sylvain’s face. “She’s stupid. I’m not.” Then, he waved the security guards at the door away. The security guards immediately stood aside.Mark led his bodyguards inside with a deadpan look on his face. It was clear that Sylvain’s relationship with Jessica was more than “inappropriate,” as he could do whatever he pleased in her office. It must be very special too.Sylvain casually followed Mark into the elevator. “What are you planning?”Mark didn’t answer. His expression turned even more grim
Jessica flexed her feminine assets with a sweet smile. “Aww, pity. I wonder, what would you do to solve a naughty little knot like myself, hmm? The straightforward way is to sleep with me, of course. All of this would instantly cease to be a problem. And yet, you men are wired to complicate even the simplest of things. The minds of the opposite sex are so unfathomable.”Mark had enough of her uncouth teasing. He leaped to his feet with an icy scowl and announced, “If we cannot come to a mutual agreement, then there’s no reason to continue this discussion. As for how I’d solve a knot like you… Well, a mite of patience will soon reward you with an answer.”With that, he spun on his heels and left.Jessica’s fervid eyes traced his retreating silhouette until he disappeared into the distance. Then, when her attention returned to her surroundings, she espied Sylvain beside her appearing to be deep in thought.“Curious, curious. I’m literally offering myself to another man right in front
He had bound himself to the fame and expectations of a “renowned fashion designer,” and he knew that Jessica could easily ruin him through that. Either Jessica falls alone, or he dies along with her—it was high time that Sylvain made a decision.He might still wear the glorious façade of prestige in public, but he knew better. His current life had ceased to provide him with even a shadow of design inspiration, and he had not produced any exceptional work for at least half a year. He had become nothing more than a useless parasite leeching off a woman.Jessica was right to suspect his ulterior motive for returning. Yes, it was because of Robin Cox—the girl with a name most befitting of her character. She was a happy, chirping robin in a bright, sunny day. Whenever Sylvain was with her, he also felt his personhood acknowledged. He felt as though he was slowly reanimating, and his creativity—stifled for half a year—began to see signs of life.The one thing Sylvain wanted the most was t
Instead of turning red in frustration and slamming down the phone, Mark simply placed his hand on top of the folder and replied calmly, “Oh, is that so? You’re that confident that I won’t ever dig up your secrets, huh?”Jessica was sure that her secrets were secured. “Do I sound like I have doubts? So, are we gonna meet up?”Mark’s lips twisted into a smirk. “No, I don’t think I will. In fact, if you’ve got nothing to say now, I’ll hang up right away.”After that, he hung up. To Mark, the victor in this battle had already emerged.The next day started with multiple major international media websites breaking all kinds of intimate photos between Jessica and many different men. Eyeball-popping as they were, they instantly became viral both within and outside the country.The bombshell news then escalated into such drastic levels that many prominent media sites had censored much of the details even before Jessica could personally conduct damage control. Unfortunately, the censors wer
Jessica’s raging fit eventually died, but in its wake, pure spite and malice lingered in her eyes.Quickly, she booted up her laptop and disseminated the story between her and Sylvain out into the public. If her world was going to crumble, then she might as well drag someone down with her.A few days later, the most recent development in Jessica's scandals made headlines back home. The strength of the gathered evidence, along with her affront to legality and common decency, effectively cemented Jessica as guilty. She was sentenced to three years of imprisonment.The case’s ripple effect then passed onto famous male fashion designers who had worked closely with her. Since many of their illicit relationships with Jessica were also publicly outed, their future was more or less doomed.Arianne was one of the last persons to have heard about the entire debacle. In fact, she only caught wind of it because her co-workers were engrossed in the discussion the scandal had sparked. Sure, Mark
Arianne was stunned for a second before relief overwashed her. “Ah. So Sylvain still has a conscience after all. I know his betrayal was more of a self-preserving gambit than anything, but hey… he made a good choice.”‘And, at least, Robin didn’t fall in love with the wrong person,’ she added in her head.“Sylvain sent you home once, didn’t he?” Mark suddenly took a sharp turn in their discussion. “You don’t happen to think I knew nothing about it, do you? And also, what’s with this relief in your voice, huh? What, happy that some other guy isn’t a complete douchebag?”Arianne pursed her lips. “Oh, so someone’s installed security cameras on the entrance gate and spied on me, huh? ‘Cause I know for a fact that Mary wouldn’t have told you that. But to get to your question: yes, he did send me home once. That was before I knew him well enough!—Scrap that; I still don't know him well enough even now. And didn’t he get close to me out of an ulterior motive? I was the one who received him
Of course, Mark denied the request. “Don’t even think about it. My face is not your torture device. I will not look like a sissy.”The more he protested, the more Arianne wanted to do it. She pulled out a facial mask and forced him down on the bed. “Don’t move. It’ll be over soon. You’ll love it. Your face will be all soft and fragrant by the time I’m done. Isn’t that wonderful? Come on, let’s try.”Mark vehemently objected. He twisted his head around. “No!”He began to give up when he noticed droplets of water from the facial mask on his body. He was now too afraid to make any more big movements. “Take it away. I don’t need it!”Realizing that his struggling had lessened, Arianne swiftly pasted the facial mask on his face. “See, isn't it better to listen to me? You just had to struggle, didn’t you?”Suddenly, Arianne’s phone rang. She already had her way, so she got down from bed to answer the call. She reminded him, “Take care of that yourself. Don’t leave it all scrunched up or
Once she sensed his slightly stiffened body relax, Arianne went to sleep in peace.…The weather was getting warmer in spring. Warm winter wear was shirked off and Aristotle was now crawling even faster than before. Not even Arianne could keep up with him, let alone Mary. She usually ended up drenched in sweat from chasing him around. Furthermore, Aristotle had begun showing signs of learning to walk and would prop himself against a wall to take two steps, then stumble and fall on his bum. Even so, he didn’t cry. He was a strong baby.Tiffany was getting ready for the birth and would call Arianne every day lately, asking her questions on what the baby would need and what to prepare. She would ask the same question countless times, over and over again. She was getting overly worried.Jackson had completely let go of work too. He stayed with Tiffany every day, refusing to leave her at all.Tiffany checked into the hospital during the estimated time of her birth. She had initially de
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