Alejandro suddenly moved forwards and held up her chin. He spoke in a very cold tone, “If I hadn’t wanted you to give birth, this child would’ve been long gone instead of being kept till now. You’ve never believed me and have always had your guard up against me, thinking that I would get rid of you and your child the moment the old man died. How absurd!”Melanie was in so much pain, tears filled up her eyes. She was slightly startled as well. Could she have overthought it? She was uncertain of how things would turn out but did not dare put both her and her child’s life on the line. If she lost, the child would be gone for sure.Alejandro impatiently released his grip when he saw Melanie’s tearful look. “Don't you dare cause me any more f*cking trouble! Come home with me at once!”As Melanie lowered her head, her tears fell from her eyes and stained the white quilt. “I won’t go back with you. I have all the more reason to do this since you already think that way. This is grandpa’s on
Alejandro sat in his chair and said expressionlessly, “The old man has ordered me not to leave your side. Besides, it’s better that I stay, as I get to have some peace and quiet. Further, I don’t feel like serving him anyway.”Melanie lowered her head and kept quiet. She knew that he did not actually feel that way. Whatever the reason, the moment Alejandro realized Don Smith did not have much longer to live, he’d been serving by his side constantly. Even if Don Smith threw a fit and lashed out at him, Alejandro neither complained nor retaliated; he was not even able to take care of his leg. Melanie thought that this was a good chance for him to relax.It was also a blessing in disguise for Melanie as well—how else would Alejandro stay by her side in the hospital willingly?The next morning, the doctor brought over the consent papers for Alejandro to sign as Melanie laid on her bed nervously. She had never even gotten a scar in her life, let alone entered an operating theatre. It was
The nurse thought that it was strange that two men were guarding outside the theatre, but she did not ask anything about it. She instead said, “Both mother and daughter are fine. Although the baby was born prematurely, she was still very close to her due date, so she does seem to be fine from the looks of it. Once she’s cleared after her checkup, she won’t need to be placed in an incubator.”After Jett and the nurse walked off with the baby, Alejandro came back to his senses. It’s a girl…? Would the old man insist on them having a second child before he passed on… The nanny brought over some nutritional food just as Melanie was being brought out of the operating theatre. However, she was still under the effects of the anesthetic and her face was very pale. It was the first time that Alejandro did not have an impatient look on his face, despite having stood guard at the hospital for such a long time.When she did not see the baby, the nanny whispered softly, “Has the baby been taken
Once Melanie was at ease, she looked at Alejandro and said, “We won’t be able to hide the truth from grandpa. I believe we should just tell him since the child has already been born. The reason we had this surgery was so that grandpa would be able to see his grandchild earlier. As for my family… I’ll tell them about it after I’m discharged.” Melanie was worried that her family would head over to the hospital and cause a scene the moment they found out. Just thinking about the scene gave her nightmares. All she wanted at that moment was some peace and quiet.Alejandro nodded his head. He took out his cell phone and recorded a video to send it to Don Smith, informing the latter that the child had been born and which hospital they were at. As Alejandro was recording the video, he took a good look at his child’s face. She could not be considered to be pretty; her skin glowed red and was rather thin, unlike other babies, who would have fairer skin. However, Alejandro actually thought that
During the return journey, Don Smith stared at Alejandro for a moment before asking, “Did you stay at the hospital since last night? Were you the one who signed the consent papers for the surgery as well?”Alejandro had an annoyed look on his face and turned to look out of the car. “Yes.”Don Smith had a look of relief on his face. “It seems that I over-thought about the matter; you wouldn’t bear to kill your own flesh and blood. My only wish now is for you and Melanie to live together. You should be able to settle down, more or less, now that she and you have a child together. Forget about your past and focus on who you are now.”…When the sky began to turn dark, Alejandro returned to the hospital.When he arrived at Melanie’s ward, he realized that Jett was sitting just outside at the corridor and asked, “What are you doing here?”Jett was slightly embarrassed. “Melanie is… breastfeeding. Normally, the doctor would need to check her wound after breastfeeding and clear off what
3AM in the capital. There was barely anyone on the streets, but it glittered with neon lights anyway. This wasn’t his first time admiring the scenery in Ayashe, but it felt different for the first time tonight.He returned to the Smith Estate and walked into Don Smith’s room. That sly, strange-tempered old thing would never climb out of bed to torment him again. He laid there quietly, deathly still.He stood in front of the bed in silence for more than half an hour. The pain in his legs graduated into numbness, yet he showed no reaction. Jett had driven him back from the hospital. He watched him as he stood there and knew that his legs wouldn’t be able to take it. “Sir, don’t stand too long,” he reminded him, unable to help himself. “Your legs haven’t fully healed. Be careful, it might get worse.”Alejandro took a deep breath. “Tell everyone. Start funeral proceedings, make it grand. The old man has had a lustrous life. We can’t possibly give him a depressing ceremony.”Jett grunte
She sat down and waited for more than ten minutes before Alejandro finally arrived. “My apologies, there was traffic on the way here. I left early, but I ended up late anyway. Sorry for making you wait.”Alejandro’s leg wasn’t well enough to allow him to drive, so Jett had to come along. Tiffany smiled at Jett in greeting and looked at Alejandro too. “Long time no see. I’ve heard that Melanie’s given birth. Is it a boy or a girl? I guess it was a premature birth?”Alejandro was just about to reply when he suddenly noticed the potted plant on the side. His pupils shifted. “A girl. She’s very healthy. You wanted to talk to me?”Tiffany took a deep breath. “You don’t mind having other people around, do you? If not, I’ll be frank.”The “other people” that she was referring to was Jett. After all, this matter was considered a shady scandal for Alejandro.The corners of Alejandro’s lips curled and he smiled calmly. “It’s fine.”Tiffany paused and said, “Back when you gave me this flowe
By the time Jett emerged from the washroom, Tiffany was already gone. All that was left was the potted plant and a downcast and silent Alejandro.This side of Alejandro felt like a stranger to Jett. He was usually firm and cold-blooded in the Smith household, but he was reduced to a petty state when faced with Tiffany. It was true, everyone could be vanquished, one way or another. Even the most untameable man would be no different when met with the woman he loved.Before his arrival, Alejandro was elated when he received Tiffany’s phone call. He would never act like this with anyone else. That’s why the outcome of this meeting caused him such disappointment.A bolt of lightning flashed across the horizon, followed by the deafening sound of thunder. The people on the streets hurried to avoid the rain. This thunderstorm had arrived all of a sudden.“Shall we go home, sir?” Jett asked.Alejandro’s thoughts were pulled back to reality. He got up and said, “Let’s go. Take the plant alo
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