Smore nodded like the confused boy he was. “Okay, Mommy... Um, I will listen to everything Mommy says, so please, no more being mad?”Arianne ruffled Smore’s hair. “Oh, Mommy isn’t mad at you, silly. But! I would love it if you play with Granny and be nice to Granny more often from now on, okay? I know Grandaunt has been treating you very kindly, but it would hurt Granny a lot if you stop hanging out with Granny just because of what happened right before. Granny would feel so hurt and even cry in sadness, you know?”While they were talking, Mark pushed open the door to their bedroom and greeted, “Hello! Giving Smore the washing, huh?”Arianne, who was denied the freedom to blow up in Aunt Shelly’s face, instantly decided that Mark was to be the proxy recipient of her fury. She shot him a nasty stink-eye without answering him.The poor man was perplexed. “What the—? What did I do this time?”She sneered. “Oh, you didn’t do anything, alright. Your beloved aunt did it for you. I didn
With a smile, Aunt Shelly rose from her seat and climbed the stairs.Arianne interpreted her approaching footsteps as Mark returning. She was about to call out to him to grab Smore’s towel from outside when she espied Shelly’s white fluffy indoor slippers falling into step before her.Shelly noticed Smore nearing the end of his bath and grabbed the boy’s towel herself before personally wrapping him with it. “Who’s all cleaned up and fragrant, hmm?” she cooed. “Come, let Granny inspect you and see if you’re as squeaky-clean as you look! Sniff, sniff—oh, you smell downright wonderful, sweetie! Smore is the cutest, best-smelling-thing in the whoooole wiiide wooorld!”Smore did not laugh or break a smile. Instead, he looked at his mother, watching her expression closely.It honestly stunned Arianne a little. Who knew that a child this young could so early learn how to read other people’s faces before acting?After her little play with Smore, Shelly turned her attention back to Arianne
Mark’s action had been slight, but Shelly noticed it. For a split-second, despondence flitted across her eyes—and then it was no more, gone before anyone could catch it.All that was left instead was her voice turning as sharp as a knife when she bristled. “What did I tell you? I’ve told you, you cannot be the sort of simpleton who lets a woman lord all over him! What she’s doing right now is just beyond the pale! This house belongs to the Tremonts. And she? She’s just an orphan adopted and raised here thanks to your magnanimity. How dare she treat you like this? She can put on airs around me, but she has no right to do that to you. Honestly? I’ve been putting up with her for your sake all this time, but she thinks she can do whatever she likes because Mr. Tremont loves her soooo damn much, isn’t it? Well, enough’s enough! I’m gonna teach her a lesson—if someone has to sleep in the guest room tonight, it’s gotta be her and not you!”Mark deadpanned. “Aunt Shelly, stop. This is how we
Arianne could not even be angry. It was a misunderstanding, after all, and one that might require a lengthy explanation at that.In resignation, she dragged a chair and sat. “With all due respect, Aunt Shelly, methinks you’re reaching,” she began. “You’re right. My dad was an innocent victim who didn’t need to die in that plane tragedy. But the burden and pain that incident brought weighed more on Mark than it ever did me, and it would be unreasonable of me to judge him as the sinner and take him out as my revenge. And also, I call him ‘Mark’ out of deadset habit! Doesn’t mean I don’t love him.“Frankly, you shouldn’t be making these baseless, paranoid accusations. I’ve been with him for years, Aunt Shelly. Smore’s already past his second birthday. If my intention had always been to murder him, I have had many, many chances. For goodness’s sake, he sleeps with me every night. What’s keeping me from seizing the chance the first time it presents itself? A simple slit across his neck, a
Shelly trembled in fury. She stormed out of the room and slammed the door on her way out.Arianne plopped down on her bed and let out a long breath that she had been holding. If she were to be honest, Shelly raising her hand at her had been a pretty terrifying moment. Had that woman went through with it, this debacle would immediately escalate beyond a simple tiff right there and then. Being the middleman, Mark would then face one of the most knotty quandaries in his life yet.It seemed that the only reason why Shelly stopped herself was to save Mark from the storm her action would have incurred. In a way, it proved just how much Mark meant to Shelly.Aunt Shelly’s absence during breakfast the next morning was conspicuous.Arianne ordered their babysitter to check on her upstairs, but the girl came down alone a few moments later. “Mrs. Leigh said she’s skipping both breakfast and work today. Um… her eyes are kind of puffy, Mr. and Mrs. Tremont. I think she might have just recently
“I didn’t feel a tinge of sadness when my husband died. In fact, I just felt elated; I was emancipated. There’s nothing I wanted more than to flee there, and I stopped for no one and nothing until I finally made it home. But then I realized something—I can’t stop hating him. He’s dead already, and yet I can’t cease to hate. Hell, I wish I had defaced him and crushed his bones into powder. And that’s when I learned, you can’t dissolve and let go of real hatred so easily; it’s nigh impossible. So, how could Arianne stop hating you? How is it possible for her to not only transverse hate but to come to love you? I don’t understand. I don’t believe it…”By this point, Shelly seemed to have lost control over her emotions, devolving into a crying mess.Mark took a piece of tissue for her. “I understand now, Aunt Shelly. It’s alright, trust me. I’ll talk to Arianne about this, and she’ll definitely understand you—she’s very rational,” he comforted gently. “Aunt Shelly, you should let go of t
Mark let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, so that’s why! In that case, it’s fine. Go ahead and rest. I’ll be off to work.”Everything added up—Shelly’s fib about her buddy-buddy relationship with his mother excluded, of course. Everything else made enough sense, and if Mark was being honest, he did not care to dive deep into the age-old drama between his mother and his aunt. Whatever that was, it was a feud of a generation before him. There was no need to drag it out from under the dust.Besides, what sort of catastrophic enmity could possibly be bred between an ordinary pair of sisters like them?En route to the Tremont Tower, Arianne asked while in the car, “So, what did your aunt tell you? If it involves anything that I’m not supposed to hear, you could skip that part.”Mark turned to face her. “Why do you think there’ll be such a thing? You’re entitled to hear everything, Arianne. Anyway, it turns out that her capriciousness and predisposition for extreme actions are all products of
Arianne scanned the room while gesturing to Tiffany to shut up. “Are you crazy? We’re in the office here! Don’t shout so loudly at a moment like this. What’ll happen if someone overhears you, huh?”Tiffany’s sensibilities finally caught on, and she lowered her voice. “Oop! I was just a little too shocked, okay? Like, I was so surprised, I forgot to control my volume. But come on! Being together in a room with an aunt like that? It really is a brand new hell every day… Sucks to be you, girl. Guess no one could beat Jackson’s mom in being The Best Mother-in-law Ever, huh? She has never so much as raised her voice at me, let alone rage at my face.”Arianne pursed her lips. “Okay, okay, I concede! Your mother-in-law is the best in the whole wide world! Honestly, all I’m asking her right now is to let me live every day in peace. I just want Mark’s aunt to stop being so hostile with me, and let everyone carry on with their lives without any more fights. I really can’t stand how much she lo
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