The elevator arrived on the ground floor with a ‘ding’.Arianne was the first to step out of the elevator, and Tiffany ran to catch up to her. She discreetly gave Arianne a thumbs-up and said, “Ari, that was f*cking awesome. So cool!”A hint of exhaustion could be seen on Arianne’s face when they entered the car. “Today’s sketching session failed again. Tiffie, when are you going back to work?”Tiffany strapped on her seatbelt. “Tomorrow, I think. My baby isn’t with me anyway, and I’m getting bored. I should make sure my schedule is packed so I don’t get lazy. Where are you going? Wanna go shopping?”Arianne shook her head. “I’m a little tired. Let’s call it a day. We’ll meet up again when you have the time. Drop me off at the office. I have something to deal with.”Tiffany was concerned when she saw the absent-minded expression on Arianne’s face. “You’ve already fired Janice, maybe you should drop the matter? Or… Are you planning to confront Mark again tonight? It doesn’t seem li
Sylvain smiled. “I know. Regardless of how great my designs are, no one would dare to accept them. There’s another reason why I asked to see you. Can you sell my sketches on my behalf? Money is a little tight right now.”Arianne was surprised. Sylvain had actually asked for her help. This was equivalent to baring his naked soul before her. Sylvain was willing to beg her, and yet, he would not show his vulnerable side to Robin. In all honesty, his decision was right. No one would suspect a thing if she sold the sketches. After all, the buyers would think they bought it from Mrs. Tremont. They would not think that it was Sylvain’s designs. After considering it, she agreed. “I’ll give it a try. How much do you want to sell them for? Only established companies would buy these designs, and big companies would be able to pay the right price. However, it won’t be much. If it weren’t for Jessica’s scandal, there’d be plenty of people trying to hire you…”Sylvain shrugged. “I can accept facts
After that, Mark finally returned to his senses. He turned around to discover Aristotle standing next to him, tugging on his shirt. He called out in faintly discernible pronunciations, “Papa! Papa!” Upon seeing this, the frosty expression on Mark’s face melted away and was replaced with a gentle expression. He scooped Aristotle into his arms. “Why are you looking for me? Dinner will be ready soon. Are you hungry?”Aristotle suddenly wrapped his arms around Mark’s neck and kissed him on the cheek, leaving trails of saliva on his face. Mark was surprised. “You’re rarely so affectionate to me. Did you drink spoiled milk today? You’re acting out of character.”The corners of Arianne’s lips twitched. “It’s not that. He just drank milk, and his mouth hasn’t been wiped clean. He couldn’t stand it so he wiped his mouth on your face. There’s a stain on your shirt as well.”Mark’s expression darkened immediately. “And I was wondering what’s wrong with him. Forget it. You’re my son so I’ll for
“That’s great,” Arianne replied, “Your mom finally admits that you’re not a kid anymore.”Robin smiled like an innocent child. Even her eyes were shining. “Arianne, you can have whatever you want. I just received my salary so there’s no need to hold back.”Regardless, Arianne only picked two dishes. The two of them could not possibly eat that much anyway.In the midst of their casual conversation, Arianne suddenly asked, “About Sylvain, did he clarify things with you when he contacted you?”Robin shook her head. “He only contacted me to give you the money. He didn’t mention it at all. It’s his first time contacting me since that night. It’s fine. He didn’t force me to help him. I still think he’s an amazing person even though everything had blown up in his face. I don’t think I deserve him anyway. It’s good as long as we can stay friends. I’m doing my best to become as amazing as he is! If he ends up with someone else, I’ll give up and stay away from him.”Arianne sighed. “You sil
Brian parked the car and walked forward. He sincerely praised Aristotle. “Aristotle is so cute! He’s going to be a heartbreaker when he grows up!”“Do you like kids? Hurry up and get one,” Arianne said teasingly, “When’s your wedding? You’ve moved out for so long now, any new developments?”Brian, a fully-grown man, blushed. “Don’t tease me, madam. It’s still too early for me. There’s no rush to get married so I’ll take my time. You’ll be the first to know if anything good happens. I’ll be on my way now. I’ll come over tomorrow morning.”After entertaining Aristotle for a while, Mark said, “I’m going to shower. You play with him. I didn’t intend on working overtime, but I changed my mind when you told me you didn’t need me to pick you up.”Arianne took Aristotle and mumbled, “Even if you’re busier than me, Smore still likes you better. I spend more time with him. Is he attracted to members of the same sex?”Mark raised his eyebrows and wryly said, “Probably. Unfortunately, you’ll
He looked at Aristotle who was in her arms and paused for two seconds before he called out to Mary who was downstairs, “Mary, take Smore downstairs for a while!”Arianne knew what Mark was thinking. However, she still let Mary take Aristotle away for some strange reason.Once the door was closed, he reached out and pulled her into his arms. He looked into her eyes passionately. “What? It’s already come to this, and you’re still so aloof. Try to take the initiative sometimes… Okay?”His scent enveloped her, and her breathing quickened. “Mary can’t coax Smore at night. He’ll be looking for me soon…”Mark lifted his hand and gently brushed her lips with his thumb. “Based on your tone, you see this as an obligatory chore. Haven’t you thought of it before?”Her arms and legs refused to listen to her. Her mind was in a haze. Her heart pounded against her chest as she looked into his eyes. “I… No…”He gently curled his lips before he lowered his head and caught her lips. He liked the he
It was clear that Robin had something on her mind. She said through gritted teeth, “My mom was lying when she said she’ll compromise. She was just trying to get me to go home so she can find out about Sylvain. She even went as far as looking through my phone when I wasn’t looking. She looked him up online and even found a picture of him. When she found out about the incident with Jessica, she actually called him up and scolded him! She called him a disgusting womanizer and warned him to stay away from me… We argued until midnight. The entire family had little to no sleep. If my dad didn’t step in and help me because he thought my mom was going too far, I doubt I would’ve been able to leave the house.”Arianne could not imagine the amount of hurt Robin’s mom had inflicted on her. Moreover, Robin’s mom’s actions also hurt Sylvain. The already-weak ties between Robin and Sylvain had probably weakened even more because of this. It might even be completely broken at this point. “If that’s
Robin was slightly disappointed. “Alright, then... Arianne, you… you’re not avoiding me because of what my mom said about you, right? I didn’t mean for that to happen, I really couldn’t stop her from saying those things.”Arianne hastily said, “It’s nothing like that. I’m not trying to avoid you. You’re overthinking things. Go for lunch, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”Robin nodded, and both of them left the office together.Arianne truly did not expect Sylvain to drive to the office and wait for her at the entrance. She looked around and sighed in relief when she saw Robin was nowhere to be seen. “Hurry up, let’s go. Robin’s right behind me. It won’t be good if she sees us here. She invited me to lunch, but I had no choice but to refuse since you don’t want to see her.”Sylvain nodded and drove off with Arianne.Unbeknownst to both of them, Robin had seen everything. She had quickly hidden herself when Arianne turned back to see if she was around. She did not understand why Arian
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