She had gone through all sorts of part time jobs and had met all sorts of men. From her point of view, all men were the same—horny perverts. Mark was no different.If she could score Mark Tremont, she would be set for the rest of her life. She wouldn’t need to deal with all kinds of men. She could spend as much money as she wanted and wouldn’t be as stupid as Arianne, going out to work for no reason and acting like some sort of independent woman. That was just asking for trouble.Mark greenlighting her return to the company generated a lot of whispers. Naturally, she felt absolutely complacent. Wasn’t Arianne acting all high and mighty when she dismissed her? Who knew how she felt after Mark’s proverbial smack in the face?As she pushed the door open, she unbuttoned two buttons on the front of her shirt. She believed that she had the assets, a time-tested value to flaunt in front of every man.“Mr. Tremont… Is your wife gone?” She walked towards Mark in a sickeningly sweet fashion
The biggest mistake she made was to play her little tricks with Arianne. It was just as Mark had said—she was just his pawn, a pawn whose sole purpose was to test Arianne’s emotions. This was the only reason why Janice was allowed to return to the Tremont Enterprise.After a long while, Janice finally spoke. “Mr. Tremont… please don’t tell anyone else about my matters. The moment anyone else finds out, I’m finished. I’ll apologise to Mrs. Tremont and leave the Tremont Enterprise immediately!”Mark did not bother to even glance at Janice. “Save your apology and disappear from my sights. I’m sure Arianne wouldn’t want to see you anyway.”Janice left so nervously, she almost slipped, her heel on her high heels broke off and she looked embarrassing.Davy did not dare utter a word. All he could do was silently watch everything as it happened. Davy finally understood that no matter how bad Mark treated Arianne, it was all just on the surface. He was actually more caring towards her than
Mark rubbed his messy hair as he stood up and kicked one of the supports on his bed. It was time to get a bigger bed…Mark was still upstairs by the time Arianne finished her breakfast, so she caught her own taxi to the office. She figured it would be better for them not to confront each other for the time being, but she was still terrified that Mark would throw a set of divorce papers at her sooner or later. Arianne decided that no matter how hard Mark pleaded with her to get a divorce, she would never agree to it. After all, Mark was the one who had forced her to get married to him in the first place.What Arianne did not know was that Mark was also hiding from her. After confirming that Arianne had left, Mark went downstairs and teased Smore, “Are you full?”Smore smiled happily at him, which improved Mark’s mood. “What’s so funny?”Smore pulled a straight face as he mimicked his dad falling off of bed. “Thud.” Smore even mimicked how his dad had covered his head and groaned i
Arianne bit her lip. “You’re not trying to forget about the past, you’ve merely given up. Just give me some of the specialties you have here. I haven’t been able to have lunch this afternoon since no one’s here to help me after you’ve left and I’ve got to do everything on my own. Come over and sit with me, we’ll chat since there’s not that many people in here. I need… someone to talk to as well.”Robin nodded her head and walked into the kitchen, coming out momentarily and sitting opposite Arianne. “You don’t look so good Arianne. Has something happened? I hope you won’t blame me for disappearing suddenly. I don’t blame you for anything that has happened in the past, I only blame myself…”Arianne shook her head and smiled, “I don’t blame you. As for my problems, it’s difficult for me to explain it to you clearly and I feel tired every time I think of it. There’s even a possibility that Mark will force me to get a divorce…”Robin was shocked, asking, “Divoce? Why? Weren’t the two o
Mary thought for a moment before replying, “Nothing much. He left around 9am this morning. He was playing around with Smore before he left. Nothing seemed unusual.”Arianne was still worried, so she went to her room and rummaged through everything, but the divorce papers were nowhere to be seen. Arianne did not give up, continuing to search in the study, but she still couldn’t find anything. It seemed that Mark was actually full of empty threats and had no intention of getting a divorce. Otherwise, based on his character, the papers would’ve been completed and handed over to her to sign long ago.Arianne suddenly realized that something was not right. Something seemed to have changed in her bedroom. She went back to take a good look and found that the bed had been changed. It was much bigger than before, even the headrest having been changed. Had Mark gotten into a temper after falling down from the bed that morning? Did he think that the existing bed was not big enough?However,
Mark didn’t answer. Instead, he walked ahead, sat down, opened his lunch box, and began eating.In less than two minutes, the sound of a delivery man suddenly rang out from outside the office. “Sir, I have your take out. Are you Mr. Tremont? I need some verification…”Mark became upset. He had asked Davy to order takeout for him but had completely forgotten about it…Arianne took a long breath. “I wouldn’t have brought this over if I had known you had ordered takeout.”Davy was forced to take the blame. His voice rang crystal clear from outside the door. “That’s my takeout! I haven’t eaten yet, and I’m starving! I put in the wrong personal details. I’m so used to ordering food for Mr. Tremont, I forgot to change it!” He was obviously saying this for Arianne’s benefit.Arianne wasn’t fooled. “Eat whatever you like. Have your takeout if you don’t want this. It’s not like I made the food. The chef at home made it.”“Am I not eating now?” Mark indifferently replied. “How could
“But what if she didn’t want to trouble poor old Henry and took a cab today instead?” Davy asked, voicing his skepticism.Mark was taken aback. He had considered running after her but felt that the relationship between him and Arianne wasn’t completely at peace. So he decided against any further consideration. “No, she would have definitely asked Henry to drive.”Meanwhile, Arianne hailed a cab and went back to Tremont Estate. She was too exhausted to move, probably because the past few days had sapped all of the energy out of her. She hadn’t been able to sleep well either. She was very out of sorts.Mary filled a small tub of hot water for her, instructing her, “Soak your feet, you’ll feel much better. Mr. Tremont didn’t take you home? You should have asked Henry to drive you then.”Arianne was upset but forced a smile onto her face. “It’s fine, I’m not that fragile. It didn’t hurt to take a cab. Mark is busy and I don’t need him to drive. Henry’s back has been aching lately. Is
She turned her face to the side and opened her eyes. “Didn’t someone relieve me of my obligations? Sorry, I can’t bear having you touch me again every time I think of another woman tainting you. It’s a totally different matter. It was my mistake for loaning Will the money behind your back. Your scandalous relationship with Janice is your mistake. I don’t think my mistake grants you permission to sin wantonly.”His body stiffened in the darkness. “Who told you that I had a scandalous relationship with her? As for whether anyone has relieved you of your obligations, give it a try and you’ll find out.”A slight pain made her frown before she could react to his words. She let out a gentle groan.He had proved it very well. There was no ambiguity. His movements told her that there was no other woman!She watched as he focused all of his energy on “clarifying” himself and tried to shift his concentration. She didn’t want to lose face and admit that she was at her limit. “Why did you… b
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