”I’m curious,” Arianne said mockingly, “You’re pinning your hopes on me instead of Aery?” She certainly remembered how her wonderful mother had allowed Aery to remain as Mark’s lover, despite knowing that he was her husband. She even tried to persuade her to leave him. How disgusting!Helen felt embarrassed. “Ari, I know that you hate me. I had no idea that you and Mark were married when Aery was with Mark. I may have brought up an inadvisable request to you, but I’ve stopped Aery from any further intimate communications with Mark. They haven’t been contacting each other too often lately. You’ve probably realized this, right? Help me, just this once and I guarantee that Aery will never mess up your lives again. I can also guarantee… that I won’t appear in front of you again!”Arianne laughed in spite of her rage. “Are you negotiating with me? As long as I help you, you’ll help me get rid of my husband’s lover and you’ll never show your face in front of me again? Have you ever gone to
Arianne stood in front of the French windows in her bedroom, looking out into the night. Her heart was in disarray. At some point, it started drizzling. When she saw the bright car lights from a distance, she tugged her lapels with her long, slender fingers, turned around, and walked downstairs.A few minutes later, Mark walked in, slightly wet. She grabbed a towel and approached him. “It’s chilly and raining. Don’t get sick, hurry and get in the shower.”Mark didn’t take the towel. He didn’t even look at her. Instead, he walked straight upstairs.She wasn’t embarrassed by this either. She sat down and hung the towel on the sofa. Shortly after, Mark arrived downstairs again, freshly showered. His jet-black hair was shimmering with crystal-like water droplets. As he walked past the sofa, he picked up the towel and dried his hair. This small action from him gave Arianne the courage to approach him.“Why did you reject the collaboration with the Kinseys?” she asked bluntly.“Beca
Arianne lowered her head silently. She had secretly reached a decision—starting tomorrow, she would ask Mary to add two more dishes to the table in order to prevent awkward situations from a lack of food…Mark went into the study after the meal. She, however, shut herself in her room and examined “Mr. Sloane’s” letter. She had gone through the letter countless times, but it served no other purpose aside from provoking her emotions.Just as she was plagued by a myriad of thoughts, she suddenly received a message from Tiffany. She opened it and sniggered.“I’ve heard that women pregnant with baby girls have amazing complexions, but the effects are completely opposite if it’s a boy. Pregnancy also causes weight gain. How much fatter have you become? Can you tell if it’s a boy or a girl?”Honestly, these things never crossed her mind… However, her curiosity was piqued now.She got up and looked at herself in the mirror. There wasn’t much of a difference in her complexion. Then, she we
The other party turned a deaf ear to her pleas as he punitively imposed himself on her. Arianne felt like a lone boat that was threatening to capsize at any time on the raging sea.She had no idea how long the storm lasted before everything finally calmed down. Mark got up and went into the bathroom without even looking back.Arianne laid on the bed motionlessly like a broken puppet while listening to the sound of a running shower. Her heart felt like it was going to explode. She felt pain and sorrow...Soon after that, Mark left Tremont Estate. She could clearly hear the sound of his car engine until it faded into the distance.The same scene had replayed countless times in the past, and every time she was left feeling like her world had fallen apart yet again. However, the intensity this time was much worse than before.The next day, Arianne showed up at work on time as usual. The nightmare she had from last night’s incident caused her complexion to look worse than ever.Eric w
Arianne hesitated slightly. After all, she was already married and there was a scandal about them in the past. It was best to keep their distance. “Um… Is there something important? I still have work… You can just tell me here.”Will lowered his head slightly, unable to hide the disappointment in his eyes. Looking at the outline of his profile under the sunlight, Arianne could see his sad emotions flowing out. “I didn’t expect there to come a day when we have to worry about just sitting down and having a chat with each other.”Arianne bit her lips then opened his car door and got in. “Nothing like that. I… I just don’t want to skip out of work for too long.”Will didn’t pursue the conversation. He started the car and drove forward. All of a sudden, he changed the topic. “Ari, do you love Mark Tremont?”Arianne was slightly taken aback. She didn’t understand why he would suddenly ask her such a question.Will was already engaged and she was married, with a baby in her womb. No matt
Arianne breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone had moments when they needed to be comforted during an emotional breakdown. She guessed that Will was going through it right now and was eager to get some emotional support. Everything would return to normal when his mind was no longer clouded. She didn’t have much to worry about.At this time in the Kinsey Estate, Aery was having a confrontation with Helen. “I’m not leaving Mark dear! Don’t you even think about helping that bitch Ari get her way. You were the one who allowed me to stay with Mark dear before. So you'll treat her like a daughter but not me?”Helen had already run out of patience at this point. She delivered a slap across Aery’s face. “That’s enough! Are you capable of asking Mark Tremont to save the Kinsey family? If you can’t, then stay away from him! I’m not going to let an idiot like you ruin all my previous efforts. How could I have a daughter like you?”She had promised Arianne that she would keep Aery away from Mark a
When Arianne woke up, she was in the hospital. The sky was dark outside and the air smelled of disinfectant. She could see the white ceiling and the IV drip hanging above her...Her mind was blank until memories came flooding back to her. It was Aery Kinsey who hit her. She had obviously done that intentionally!Will was also in the car at the time. She tried moving her body as she struggled to recall the rest. However, the pain from her body, especially from her lower abdomen, caused her to instantly break out in a sweat.She pressed her abdomen lightly and was about to press the call button to get a nurse when the door to her ward was suddenly pushed open. It turned out to be Will. Other than some cuts on his forehead that had been bandaged, he looked fine.When Will noticed that she was awake, he had a look of joy on his face before it was replaced by a conflicted expression. “Ari… You… had a miscarriage.”Arianne’s body stiffened as she clutched her clothes, a hand on her abdo
Arianne was sweating bullets. She tried getting up a few times but failed. When Brian saw this scene, he couldn’t help but remind Mark. “Sir… Madam is…”Mark turned his gaze to Arianne then begrudgingly let go of Will while glaring at her. “You owe me an explanation!”Will’s first reaction was to go and help Arianne up, but Brian hurriedly stopped him. “Mr. Sivan, please leave now. The rest is the Tremont family’s affairs, which don’t concern you.”Will understood what Brian was trying to tell him. He cast a worried glance at Arianne then reluctantly exited the room.He wanted to say something but didn’t know if he should. Any wrong move would end up causing Arianne to suffer.Brian exited the room too and shut the door, leaving only Arianne and Mark behind in the ward.After a brief silence, Mark spoke up. “You really are a disappointment…”Arianne sat on the cold floor with her gaze lowered. The corners of her mouth lifted. “I’m sorry… I have never been able to satisfy you sin
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