Sylvain shot her a questioning look. “Wait, how did you know?”“Robin had a row with her mom after she went home,” Arianne said, “She ran out of the house and stayed in the park alone in the middle of the night. I was the one who found her. Did you call her after you woke up?”Sylvain shook his head. “No. I mean, what am I supposed to say if I call her? It was my fault for being rash last night… Well, I bet she told you what happened between us, too. Heavens, my head’s a mess.”Sylvain’s words made it seem like he was not planning to develop his relationship with Robin. However, Arianne kept her cool. She only wanted a clear answer from him. “Yes, I heard. But why are you confused? If you’ve got the guts to do it, then, you have to have the guts to deal with the consequences. What? Are you planning to shirk the responsibility that comes after?”Sylvain appeared quite agitated by his confusion. “It’s not what you think at all, okay? I don’t know what to do because I’m well aware the
Robin called Arianne when the night fell. During the conversation, the young girl told her that Sylvain did not call her. Through her voice alone, Arianne could feel her moroseness.Arianne was quiet, inwardly debating if she should tell Robin that she had met Sylvain earlier. However, she was hesitant because she was not certain if Sylvain’s explanation about his reluctance was a white lie. Was he lying about not liking Robin or was he telling the truth? In the end, she decided to let it remain a secret. She seamlessly changed the topic. “Say, are you at home now? Are things better with your mom?”The young girl sighed. “No, I told my dad I’m not coming home for a while. I’m going to be staying with my aunt for two days or so. I mean, just thinking about my mom makes my stomach churn. I mean, I don’t hate her, but I feel suffocated whenever I look at her. This feeling has accompanied me as I grew up,” Robin muttered. “Well, since I’ve made up my mind to escape her claws, I might as
Mark took a seat and poured himself a glass. “Alright, spill it. What happened between you and Tiffany that she allowed you to come to a place like this alone?”Jackson sank back into the couch and sighed. “Goddamnit. In the end, I’m right about the benefits of staying unmarried! Now, now, before you call me an a**hole for thinking like that, hear me out. I’m so done with that new kid at home! Seriously, that kid never! Stops! Yapping! All day, all night. It doesn’t matter, he yaps until no one gets to sleep. I swear, I’m gonna die out from extreme exhaustion if this keeps up,” he ranted, “You know what’s worse? Tiffany’s extremely patient with the little rascal. However, all her bad mood is vented on me! She exhausted all her patience with the kid and has none left for me! As if I have anything to do with it! Seriously, Mark, have you ever been so frustrated when you first started this whole being-a-father business?”Mark thought for a second before he replied, “Uh, actually, I’m ok
Janice looked at Mark and noticed his silence so she sat next to him. “I do part-time jobs because I don’t have anything else to do after work anyway. I get paid very well in these places. I’m paid by day so I don’t think it’s too bad…”“Are you short of money?” Mark asked casually. He believed that her family must be in dire straits since she used to receive financial aid from him. She had to work part-time, likely because she lacked funds.Janice lowered her head. “I’m fine. I’m not particularly short on cash. I’m out in society now so it’s different from when I was a student. I spend a lot more now so I have to work a little harder. That way, I can live with a little more dignity and won’t need to feel so out of place among the people around me.”Jackson was slightly tipsy so he had grown chatty. “That’s a good idea. You have to earn money through legal means, regardless. There’s nothing shameful about it. You’re not feeling this way because you met your boss, are you? Don’t worr
Mark rose to his feet and straightened out his clothes before he bluntly replied, “You should avoid fanciful thoughts and just do your job. It doesn’t matter if I’m distancing myself from you, I’m your boss. That’s our only connection. I’ve provided financial aid for a lot of people. I’ve never considered asking for repayment.”Then, he left the bar at once. He lifted his hand to sniff his collar when he entered the car. He made sure the smell of alcohol on him was not too strong before he relaxed. He could sense that Arianne disliked him drinking. The thought of her pulling a long face gave him a headache. He was truly helpless whenever that woman was involved....As expected, Tiffany burst into anger the moment Jackson arrived home reeking of alcohol. “Aren’t you supposed to be working overtime? So you went drinking instead?” Her chest was heaving heavily from her anger.Jackson felt his scalp tingle. “My mom says that breastfeeding mothers shouldn’t get angry, it’ll spoil the m
Jackson grabbed her wrists. His eyes were filled with exhaustion. “I only went drinking with Mark. I didn’t do anything else, that’s the truth. Forget it, I’ll be honest with you. This isn’t the life I want. I only planned on having you in my life, not my mother living with us or a kid. I can’t accept having two additional people in the house all of a sudden. It’s so noisy every day. It doesn’t feel merry to me, it’s uncomfortable. It’s torture. Every time the baby cries at night, I’ll wake up and can’t go back to sleep. I’m close to dying from exhaustion.”Tiffany stared at him, taken aback. “If you love me, you should love everything else about me. That’s our baby, not some ba*tard I had with someone else. You’re his biological father! One more thing, that’s your mother. Why are you so uncomfortable? It’s not like you didn’t agree to have the baby. What are you talking about?”Bolstered by liquid courage, Jackson took a deep breath and gave voice to his feelings. “Yes, I didn’t dis
Jackson was helpless. “I don’t think you’ve read the doctor’s recommendation after you’ve been discharged. You need to wait for two months. Just give me a moment, I’ll come to bed after my shower. Go to bed first, it’s late. You won’t have any milk if you stay up too late. You don’t have much to begin with.Tiffany watched him walk into the shower skeptically. She thought she would be fine in a month. However, the breast milk production issue was strange. Arianne was so frail, and yet, she was able to feed Aristotle. She was much healthier than Arianne, but she had to supplement her baby with milk formula. Regardless of the nutrients she had taken, it was futile....The next day, Tiffany brought the subject up to Summer while Jackson had gone to the office. “Mom, you can bring the baby home with you. I’d like to go back to work. I’m getting bored. We’ll have dinner at your place after work to visit the baby before coming home. We’ll take the baby out for some fun during the weekend
Tiffany nodded and released Summer. Actually, she really could not bear to part with Plato. The thought of it made her anxious. Most women would put their babies at the center of their universe after having a baby. However, she could not ignore Jackson who was clearly distressed.Two hours later, Atticus arrived in a car. Tiffany watched her son taken away from her with tears streaming down her face. As the saying went, ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained.’ This was probably the case.Her home suddenly felt empty. She could not stay at home any longer and called Arianne. She found out Arianne was sketching outside and immediately drove over to meet her. She needed to rant and would die if she continued to hold it in.She arrived at a park with a lake where Arianne was. Her eyes brimmed with tears when they met up. “Ari, Jackson’s mom is raising my baby.”Arianne took out her earphones and asked, “What’s going on? This is so sudden. I thought you were going to personally take care of
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