There was a slightly bleak wind blowing that night, making the surrounding temperature just right during that season.As Arianne leisurely strolled through the busy streets, she looked at the shops within her vicinity. The street she was walking on was very prosperous and bustling; every item they were selling was luxurious. ‘I used to pass by here everyday previously, but I never stopped or had the chance to shop around here. I’ve told Mary that I’ll be back a bit later and won’t be eating at home, so I could take this chance to shop around leisurely, since there’s no hurry for me to go home.‘Smore is getting older and naughtier now, making a mess of the house, with his toys lying around everywhere everyday. Although Mary cleans up after him countless times, I still have to clean up when I get home after work as well. However, things should get better soon after Smore starts to attend kindergarten during the summer. Wow, so many years have passed in the blink of an eye. Now that I
‘Mark bought me chocolate? Is there poison in it? I don’t know why, but I get the chills whenever a cold person like him goes all sweet on me.’Smore had a serious expression on his face and said, “Daddy said that he bought it for you. He refused to let me eat, but I insisted, so he only gave me one piece. Stingy daddy! I’m holding in my saliva to control myself from eating it!”Arianne could not help but laugh. ‘This chocolate is definitely custom made, the price is probably enough for me and Tiffany to get something nice to eat together.’ Arianne was not a person who liked chocolate because it was too sweet for her, but she would want to try it if it was given by Mark.Mark could already hear the sounds of laughter before he even walked up to the door. He quickly walked forwards and asked while he was changing his shoes, “What are you guys laughing about? You actually didn’t wait for me and came upstairs by yourself first. I was your private chauffeur, you know? How could you do t
Arianne covered half of her face as she mumbled, “My tooth hurts…”Mark got closer to her. “Open your mouth and let me see.”Arianne obediently tried her best to open up her mouth. After looking at it for a while, Mark said, “We’ll go to the dentist tomorrow, you’ve got a rotten tooth. This couldn’t have happened because of a piece of chocolate, could it?”Arianne was in so much pain that it showed on her face, but she could not help but laugh. “Why have I never noticed that you have the talent of being a dentist? I’ve always had toothache issues, but I was always too lazy to bother. I suppose I haven’t got the luxury of enjoying sweet stuff, not when I’m having issues from just one piece of chocolate.”Mark got out of bed to look for some painkillers for her. “Take some medicine and get some sleep. I’ll take you to the dentist when you wake up tomorrow. You had pretty nice teeth when you were young. Your teeth looked like white snow when you smiled.”Arianne deliberately smiled t
Mark adamantly grabbed her by her wrist. “You’re already a mother, yet you’re still so cowardly. It’s just a trip to the dentist, nothing else, so don’t try to run away. Are you as busy as I am? Even a busy person like me is willing to spend some time to accompany you to the dentist, yet you still dare to run away? Even after so many years, you haven’t changed a bit. You were always like that when you had to visit the doctors’ when you were young, but you’ve never been to the dentist before. What now? Do you even have a phobia towards that? Hurry up, it’s almost your turn. I’ve asked Brian to line up and get you a slot early this morning.”The moment he said that, the nurse called out Arianne’s name. Arianne surrendered to her fate and entered the dentist’s ward stubbornly. The dentist was a woman in her 30s. Although she was wearing a mask, she still had a gentle look on her face. Otherwise, Arianne would definitely have been so terrified that she would have run away on the spot.
When they arrived at the entrance of the elevator, Mark suddenly pushed Arianne against the wall with both his hands beside her, trapping her in between the wall and himself. Mark stared at Arianne straight in the eyes. “Have you and Sylvain always been on such good terms? I allowed you to get close to him so that you could pick up some skills, not so you could have a lover’s argument, especially during working hours.”Arianne firmly denied it and said, “Who’s had a lover’s quarrel? How am I supposed to explain things to Robin if she heard what you just said? We were just fooling around, isn’t that what friends do? Are you jealous?”Mark slightly turned his head to scan his surroundings. When he saw that no one was around, he lowered his head to kiss Arianne’s lips.Arianne’s first reaction was to push him away. ‘I’m still recovering from my trip to the dentist, so wouldn’t kissing make it even worse? Furthermore, we’re at the office’s elevator entrance; somebody could show up anyti
Tiffany was like a happy child, burying her face with food and eating very quickly. By the time she was full, Arianne had only just taken a few bites. Tiffany then put down her cutlery. “I’m full already, Jackson. You should eat some yourself instead of feeding me. Not only are you like this at home, but you’re like this when we’re outside as well. Others might misunderstand and think that I’m torturing you.”Jackson slowly removed his disposable gloves and laughed as he said, “What do you mean by torture? This is entertainment, but it’s too bad that you will never get to understand the joy from this entertainment. There’ll never come a day when I need you to take care of me.”Arianne suddenly realized that Jackson was slightly dazzling in her eyes. ‘Who wouldn’t fall in love with a man like him? Not only can he manage business on the outside and cook at home, but he’s even able to pamper his wife until she is over the moon. Not only that, he’s handsome as well. Tiffany must have sav
Tiffany was laughing so hard that she almost slid from her chair. “Haha… I bet you never saw this coming. Do you feel anxious, Mark? It’s good that you’re feeling anxious. Let’s see if you still dare to make Arianne unhappy. You’ve never courted her properly in the past, but it’s not too late for you to court her all over again now. In fact, I really do want to see how you court girls. No matter how cool a man is, he still has to bow his head down in front of the woman he loves, he still has to… Like how you are now… Haha… This is so funny!”Arianne brought over some food and placed it on Mark’s plate. “All right, I know you aren’t actually angry. I was joking as well just now. How could I possibly bear to give you Smore? Come on, let’s eat.”Mark was slightly cajoled before he took up his cutleries and began to eat again, deliberately ignoring what Arianne said. Jackson saw an opportunity and butted in. “Mark, since when did you become like a sunflower? You brightened up as soon as
Jackson bobbed his chin slightly to mean “okay”.Watching Mark vanish into the distance, Tiffany could not help but grumble under her breath, “His goddamned aunt again? For Christ’s sake! Honey, you have the patience of a goddess to tolerate this bullsh*t to this extent!”Arianne flashed her a faint, slight smile. “Trust me, it’s alright this time. He always does what he promises me, and honestly? If I had no problem enduring this for so long, enduring this a little bit more is nothing.”…As soon as Mark returned to the Tremont Estate, he sprung up the stairs to where Shelly was.Henry was in the middle of wrapping the woman’s hand with bandages. He had been the one to call Mark about what happened—apparently, in a desperate bid to avoid being institutionalized, Shelly had slit her wrist when none of the retinue was watching.Although her gash had been properly addressed and was now wrapped snugly by rounds and rounds of bandage, there was still a bit of blood staining the outer
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