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
“Tiffany’s about to pop too, isn’t she?”Arianne turned to the side to look and found Jett holding a lunch box. Looks like Tanya had checked in at the hospital to wait for her birth too. After all, she conceived around the same time as Tiffany. She nodded. “That’s right. Tanya’s almost due too, isn’t she?”“Mm,” Jett replied. The elevator door opened then. He stayed in his spot and let Arianne go in first. Then, he followed.Now, it seemed that everything Tanya had gone through was for nothing. Jett was the father of her baby, and a meticulous and chivalrous man. Tanya would have a good life with him.Arianne and Jett weren’t close, so they simply exchanged a few conversational words.However, bumping into Jett served as a reminder for Arianne that there was a ticking time bomb in the form of Alejandro, lying in wait. Who knew when he would decide to explode?Smith Manor.At the dinner table, Don Smith took meticulous care of Melanie. The table was filled with an array of nutrit
Alejandro frowned at the mention of Tiffany’s name. “Stop fixating on other people’s business and take care of yourself.”“You’re worried that I’m paying Tiffany too much attention, aren’t you?” she asked. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to her. That’s not who I am. I’m just giving you an update on her condition. You’d be keeping an eye on her too, even if I kept my mouth shut, wouldn’t you?”Alejandro didn’t deny it. It’s true, he had been paying close attention to everything about Tiffany, including her checking into the hospital to wait for her delivery. He knew all about it.At that moment, Melanie truly felt exhausted. It was an exhaustion that stemmed from her mental state. Alejandro was like a rock, a rock that would never warm up. No matter how much she tried, she would only ever have a cold reception from him. His occasional display of warmth was simply to put on a show for outsiders.She didn’t want to live the next half of her pregnancy in depression. After a long paus
Seeing her rise in emotions, Don Smith had no choice but to soften his tone. “Melanie, you’ve misunderstood me. That’s not what I mean. I’m not asking you to shield Ale in front of your family members. I’m well aware of how he’s been treating you, and it’s his fault. I’m just worried that separating from this conflict would only estrange both of you further, instead of solving the problem. If you really want to go, have Ale take you there. You have to smooth things over before you leave, understand?”Melanie didn’t want to waste her energy on guessing what Don Smith was thinking. It didn’t matter if everything wasn’t what it seemed. Having to deal with conjectures all the time was too tiresome. She didn’t feel like caring anymore, and did not want to try reading his mind. All she wanted to do was to deliver this baby, safe and sound. “I understand.”Upon returning to her room after dinner, she realized that Don Smith had an ulterior motive in asking Alejandro to take her back to Ayas
Robin looked at her and felt that she wasn’t joking. Thinking that something might have happened, she asked worriedly, “What’s wrong, Arianne? Are you alright? I’ve never seen you so panicked before…”Arianne took a few deep breaths before regaining her composure. “My friend is going into labor right now. I’m both happy and excited! I need to head over there now, so I’ll leave the sketch to you. I’ll buy you a meal when I get back!”Robin sighed in relief, asking, “Is it the lady whom we had lunch with the other day? Tiffany, if I’m not mistaken. I hadn’t expected her to go into labor so soon. No worries, I’ll take care of the work around here, you go on and head out. I had thought you were in some kind of trouble… If it’s a child about to be brought into this world, that’s a good thing.”Giving birth was definitely a good thing, but had Arianne concerned was Tiffany’s safety, hence why she was more worried than happy.When Arianne arrived at the hospital in a rush, Jackson’s famil
Tiffany’s words made everyone laugh hysterically, Arianne approaching her and saying, “It’s fine, you can work on your second child when you’ve recovered. It takes at least three years to recover from a C-Section, so you’ll need to wait until then before you can try to get pregnant again. By that time, Smore would be around four years older than your daughter, which is a good thing anyway. Don’t rush it and get some rest first.”Tiffany felt relieved after hearing Arianne’s words and went into a deep sleep almost immediately. Jackson, on the other hand, was shocked when he saw Tiffany sleeping. “Doctor! What’s wrong with her? Even if she went to sleep, it shouldn’t have been so sudden, should it? Has she gone unconscious?”The doctor, following behind them, twitched his eyes. “No, she hasn’t… She’s still under the effects of the anesthetic, so it’s normal for her to sleep it off. The surgery was a complete success. Your wife’s doing just fine, so you shouldn’t get shocked and end u
After getting into the car, Mark asked about the situation and Arianne showed him a picture she had taken earlier of the baby boy, saying, “It’s a plump little baby, weighing over 3 kilograms. He’s very healthy and looks a lot like Jackson.”Mark did not say anything, as if he had something on his mind. Arianne asked, “What are you thinking about?”He paused for a moment before saying, “Now that Tiffany has given birth to a baby, I’m afraid that Alejandro won’t stay put any longer.”The joy on Arianne’s face was wiped clean instantly. “That’s right, I believe Alejandro was already at his limits by letting Tiffany safely give birth to her baby. Who knows what he will do next? I’m sure Jackson’s worried about this as well. The secret that Alejandro is Ethan probably won’t stay a secret for much longer.”Mark suddenly told Arianne some interesting news, exciting her by saying, “Alejandro just sent Melanie back to Ayashe today. Melanie is a few months pregnant now. I believe Alejandr
Mark stared at her for a few seconds. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I gave to Brian?”Arianne pursed her lips. “What’s there to ask? It’s most likely money. Although you seem cool on the outside, you’re actually quite nice to the people around you, especially those who have been with the Tremonts for many years like Brain, Mary and Henry. Brian’s expenses are going to shoot up and become much higher than they used to. The moment he decides to get married, he’s going to have to figure out how he’s going to buy a house and other problems; he’s going to have to spend money constantly. Therefore, apart from money, I can’t imagine what else you could give him. Now that he’s got half a family now, you should readjust his working hours instead of asking him to be on standby 24/7. Mark grinned. “I’ve already discussed with him about his working hours, and he has agreed to it. Also, giving him money would seem too common; plus, he wouldn’t accept it even if I gave it to him. It would be t
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