Robin shyly glanced at Sylvain. “I still dare not tell my parents about our marriage. I suppose I’ll need to face the music anyhow tonight. However, I won’t be as timid as I was previously and will bravely face it. I was the one who made this decision, and this is my life. Therefore, the result is all my problem. It doesn’t matter if my mom is unhappy about this; it’s already decided.”Arianne nodded her head in agreement. “That’s true, it would have been better if you thought so earlier. Are you going to obey your mom’s wishes and stay in accounting? Have you ever thought of coming back to Tremont Enterprise and working together with Sylvain as a designer again? You’ve already chosen the man you love; you should be choosing the job you’re passionate about as well.”Robin hesitated slightly. “Tremont Enterprise has such high standards that I can’t hope to reach, so I should just remain as an accountant. However, I do want to be together with Sylvain. I could just work in another depa
Arianne was speechless. Arianne helped cover Aristotle’s tracks by disposing of the shirt before Mark was finished with work so Mark would not yell at him when he saw it. Mark was already in a bad mood after his documents were destroyed, it would not take much for him to lose his temper. Mark had a lot of clothes so he probably would not notice. It was soon proven that Arianne had been too optimistic. Aristotle had access to the shirt he had doodled on because Mark had laid it on the bed beforehand because he was planning to wear it tomorrow.As soon as Mark returned to the room, the first thing he asked was about his shirt. “Where’s my shirt? I plan to wear it tomorrow.”Arianne wanted to insist that she had not seen it but chickened out in the end. She mustered up her courage and said, “Smore doodled all over it. We couldn’t get the stains out so we threw it away. He’s your son, don’t be angry. You have money, we can always get a new one.”Mark rubbed his brows. “I… honestly g
Robin raised her hands and covered her ears. She could not stand her mother’s shrewish shrieks.She was not the only one, the neighbors could not stand it either. Their neighbors opened the doors, curious and angry from being started awake by the commotion. “What the heck is going on? Can’t you let us sleep? It’s the middle of the night!”Mrs. Cox was an educated woman so she had a good grasp of basic decorum. She immediately apologized and pulled Robin into the house. “Are you out of your mind? Are you? How can you be so reckless with something like this? You’ll regret this one day!”“Mom, I found him on my own. This decision was mine to make,” Robin said resolutely, “I don’t care if we get along in the future or not. You’re not the one to blame here. I’ll accept the consequences, if any. I love him, mom. Just accept him. Put your prejudice aside for now. We have plenty of days ahead of us, he’ll prove it to you and so will I.”Mrs. Cox was clearly at the peak of her rage. She ref
Robin’s heart ached upon hearing her mother’s words. It was certainly a good time for her to move out now. If she did, it was likely that she would never be able to come home again. “Mom! I will not leave until you put aside your prejudice. I have to go to work. You have a good rest at home, we’ll talk when I come home.”Mrs. Cox turned her head to the side and looked at the door when she heard it close. Tears brimmed in her eyes....Robin had updated Sylvain on what had happened at home. Now, they had to take things slow and steady or they would drive everyone up the wall.Sylvain felt extremely worried over this matter. He was a promising young man in every single aspect, why was it so difficult to obtain Mrs. Cox’s approval? He only had that huge scandal with Jessica to blame. Mrs. Cox had been honest her entire life and placed the utmost importance on reputation. That was a great obstacle to overcome.Arianne had heard Sylvain sighing more than ten times in less than an hour
Sylvain made an ‘okay’ sign. “I understand. You’re much better at this than I am. I’ve gotten so used to being alone for so many years, having a family now is a drastic change for me. Honestly, it’s kind of a headache dealing with elders.”Arianne’s ears were at peace once Sylvain left. She no longer had to put up with being startled by his sighs anymore. Just as she laid her head on her desk to take a nap at 1 PM, she suddenly felt someone sit down next to her. She asked without lifting her head, assuming Sylvain had come back early, “How was it? Were you beaten out of the house?”“Are you talking in your sleep?” Mark’s voice rang from the side.She immediately straightened up. “What are you doing here? I thought you were Sylvain. He’s gone to see his in-laws. I thought you had a wedding to attend? What are you doing back so soon?”Mark seemed to be in a bad mood. A conflicted expression could be seen on his face.Arianne asked tentatively, “What’s wrong? You don’t look so good.
Alejandro casually took a puff of his cigarette from the other end. “Seaton S. Bart? Are you seeing things in your old age? Didn’t we verify this? He’s dead. Are you implying that he somehow managed to escape?”Mark was annoyed. “I’m double-checking, just in case. It’d be great if it wasn’t him, but if it is, we have to find him as soon as possible. If it doesn’t matter to you, then, let’s pretend I didn’t call you. If someone kills you, don’t blame me for not warning you.” He ended the call immediately after that....Alejandro put down his phone, let out a puff of smoke, and summoned Jett. “I asked you to keep tabs on Seaton in prison. Did you manage to get a confirmation? Is Seaton still alive?”“He’s dead,” Jett replied confidently, “A man like him wouldn’t be able to survive more than a few days in prison with those hardened criminals. How could a businessman possibly use business tactics on those kinds of people? In prison, people communicate with their fists. Besides, we’ve
Smore stood at the base of the stairs, glum. He had wanted to present a picture he drew to Mark, only to have his father ignore him.His distress made Ariane’s heart ache. She hated it when unhappy feelings between parents were taken out on innocent bystanders, especially when Smore was one of them.She approached the hurt child and held him in her arms. “Daddy’s not in a good mood,” she cooed. “He didn’t mean to neglect you. I know, how about you show me what you made?”A smile broke out of Smore, who solemnly—as though it was a treasure—presented his art to his mother. Arianne examined it closely before praising with a smile. “This is amazing, sweetie! You’re really good at drawing! Alright, would you like to play with Granny for a bit? Mommy needs to coddle your Daddy now because he’s in a bad mood. He needs someone to be nice to him, like what I do with you when you’re upset, okay? It’s very sad, too, if everyone ignores Daddy, right?”Smore nodded in understanding and ran away
Mark raised his head and gazed at her with faint but undeniable wildness in his eyes. “He can wait a little longer.”Arianne’s eyes linked to his, and her heart fluttered. “C-Can we not? Dinner’s still waiting for us… Why is it that you always get the kick anytime, anywhere? God, can we please just talk about this later?”He refused by catching the edge of Arianne’s sleeve with his teeth and yanking it away, exposing the latter’s chiseled collar bones. His lips swooped down on her neck.A jolt of a soft but warm sensation rocked Arianne’s mind, and her arms automatically wrapped around his neck—When the two exited Mark’s study, the scarlet flush on her face had yet to recede, though Mark looked as though he had not just answered his carnal calling. He quickly picked up Smore after descending the stairs and before taking their seats around the dining table.Kids say the darndest things, and Smore, too young to know fear, called Mark out right to the man’s face. “Daddy wants coddli
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