Alejandro immediately lost interest after Mark left. He got up, straightened his collar, and left as well.He returned to Smith Manor, reeking of alcohol. The silence in the manor was unsettling. He was drunk, and his mind was muddled from alcohol. He stumbled his way upstairs, calling out Melanie’s name.Melanie was startled awake. Afraid that the baby would wake up, she put on a robe and hurriedly got up to investigate. She found him at the staircase, drunk beyond comprehension. She was instantly annoyed. “Why did you drink so much? You’re causing a huge ruckus in the middle of the night. Aren’t you afraid of waking the baby? Come on, I’ll help you into the room. How could you possibly feel good after having this much to drink?”As she reached out to grab his arm, he suddenly straightened up and pulled her into his arms. The strength in his grip was unprecedented. She stood on her tiptoes, astonished and unsure if she should push him away or let him hold her. He must have thought
He was the one who left Tiffany. Why would he regret it when things would never return to the way they were? Such regrets were laughable. It was because he was unable to leave his old relationship behind that Melanie’s existence was considered a hindrance. It did not matter if he was Ethan or Alejandro, Melanie had appeared at the wrong time.It was not known how much time had passed before Alejandro fell into a deep sleep.Melanie withstood the pain all over her body as she got up and walked into the bathroom to wash off the tear stains on her face. She knew very well that Alejandro had taken her love for him for granted. Was there a point in hoping that he would come to his senses and love her one day? He was never Alejandro Smith. He was Ethan Connor, and he had unrequited feelings for Tiffany. How was he going to love her with another woman in his heart?After she had showered, Melanie had trouble falling asleep. Her eyes reddened as she looked at her daughter who was sound asle
Soon, Jett had arrived at the airport as well. Fortunately, Jett had brought a few men with him as well. The men scoured the airport and covered as much ground as they could. They seemed like a drop of water in a sea of people. Would they be able to find Melanie and Melissa?Jett was on high alert. After he checked when the next flight to Ayashe was, he walked toward the direction of the departure hall. Soon after, he found Melanie carrying Melissa in the waiting area. Melissa was sound asleep in her mother’s arms. Melanie looked surprisingly calm. She did not look like she was about to leave Alejandro. He sighed in relief and walked up to them. “Madam.”Melanie was startled. She looked at the person who had called out to her. “Did Alejandro… ask you to come?”Jett nodded. “Yes, sir’s here as well, but I managed to find you first. Why are you leaving? If you intend to visit your hometown, you should’ve informed him beforehand. He seems to be… in a bad mood this morning so please don
Jett grabbed Melissa and handed her to Alejandro before forcefully taking Melanie with him and left the airport.When they got into the car, Melanie’s face was stained with tears. “I’m divorcing you!”Alejandro remained silent with a darkened expression as Jett drove them home. Jett broke out in cold sweat. What was happening with the couple? He knew the couple would break one day, but he always thought Alejandro would be the one to leave Melanie. He did not expect the 180-degree turn. Logically, Alejandro should easily agree to the divorce since he had another woman in his heart. Alejandro had unwillingly gotten married after all. Why was there a need for them to argue about getting a divorce? Could be that Don Smith had allocated money for Melanie to inherit after he passed away? That was the only logical explanation he could come up with.Melanie broke down in tears and repeated her words when faced with Alejandro’s silence, “Did you hear me? I want a divorce!”Jett grew tense w
Alejandro’s calm demeanor was the exact opposite of Melanie’s stormy rage. The calmer he was, the angrier she became. “I told you I’m divorcing you. End of discussion!”His expression was calm as he looked at her from the corners of his eyes. “Reason?”Melanie clenched her fists and said through gritted her teeth, “I’ve had enough of this life. It's that simple.”Alejandro scoffed. “In the past, no one heard my pleas when I said I didn’t want this marriage. Now, I’m supposed to accept that you’re tired and let you go? Give me a better reason. Make it more believable. I’ll grant you the divorce if you’re able to give me a convincing reason.”Melanie trembled as she said, “First, you’re still thinking about Tiffany. Second, you don’t treat me well enough. You’re always ignoring my feelings, and I’m thoroughly disappointed in you. Lastly, I refuse to let my daughter grow up in a loveless family. The two of us will never be able to provide her with the family she deserves. I don’t see
Melanie chuckled through her tears. “It’s… nothing. I’m just disappointed in him. He doesn’t love me and never will. I’m exhausted and have lost all will to keep going. I’m not going to change my mind, all I want is my daughter. However, Alejandro refuses to let me have her and says he wants to keep Melissa with him. I will never agree to that.”Tiffany was slightly furious. “Relax, I know how you feel. I understand how important your child is to you since I’m a mother as well. Why don’t you talk to me to clear your head? You’ll feel better. I’m here to listen.”The women continued chatting until Tiffany had to hang up because she had some business to attend to. Tiffany was still in the office after all.While Tiffany was working, she kept thinking about Melanie wanting to divorce Alejandro. After she was done with her work, she mulled over it for a moment before she called Alejandro. “Are you free in the afternoon? Let’s meet up. I have something to tell you.”On the other end, Al
Jett noticed the tears in his eyes when he returned to the car. His jaw dropped. Only Tiffany could reduce him to this.“Drive,” Alejandro ordered, “Back to the office.”Jett quickly turned the car around, too afraid to say another word. At that moment, anything he said would put him on the chopping block.Tiffany watched as Alejandro’s car drove off and heaved a sigh of relief. She hoped that he would listen to her. She was not sure if she made the right decision by meeting him. However, it seemed like she had developed the courage to face her past. It was a great feeling. All of her sadness had turned into a heavy weight, and she would have to let it go at some point. Letting go would be the sign of a new turn for her.She slowly walked away after finishing her cup of coffee. However, when she arrived at the café entrance, she panicked. Jackson’s car was parked at the side of the road near the café! Did he catch her in the act? She was sure he was not there just a few minutes ago
Alejandro stared at Jett for a few seconds. “If only you were a woman. Perhaps, I’d feel some sort of comfort. Stop dawdling here. I don’t need you to watch over me.”Jett was firm in his decision and did not leave.“I’m not that nice to you. Don’t you hold a grudge against?” Alejandro remarked in a self-mocking tone, “Don Smith is gone now. You probably want to leave as well, don’t you? If you really want to leave, I’ll set you free.”“I’ve considered it before,” Jett replied seriously, “But, I’ve changed my mind. You’re not exactly nice to me, but you’re not bad either. Who’s to say that I won’t end up in an even worse predicament if I switch bosses? Why would I want to go through that? Besides, I’m used to staying with you.”Alejandro stroked his chin and stared at him calmly. “I never would have thought that you’d have such steadfast loyalty to me.” Then, a sense of loss welled up in his heart. “Hey Jett, tell me, am I destined to have bad luck with women? Did my sins sever my
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