Since she did not, Arianne shook her head. “No, haven’t come across her anywhere. She should make an appearance before the wedding starts, right? Both families have gotta show up by then, no?”Robin said, haltingly, “I… don’t think she’s coming.”That took Arianne by surprise. “Why is that?”Robin’s fingers closed around the fabric of her dress tightly. “Because she’s made it blatant and clear that she doesn’t like me—no, she hates me. When Syl told her about our wedding, she said, ‘Y’all already registered yourselves as married anyway; what’s the big fat point?’ She thinks our wedding is unnecessary. She thinks my family pressured Sylvain into planning one, because we somehow want stupid material things like a house or a car or whatever fancy-schmancy things only she can cook up,” she fumed. “She told Syl all of this on the phone. He thought I was already asleep, but I heard everything. The wedding has always been Syl’s idea—not my family’s.“To be frank, Arianne, I loathe his mot
Mrs. Cox was the first to recover from the nasty shock. With a practiced smile, she approached Ursula and invited, “Ah, Sylvain’s mother! The wedding’s just started—your timing is impeccable. Let us sit together.”Before Mrs. Cox’s extended hand could touch Ursula, the latter slapped it away curtly. With the air of superiority she had summoned, Ursula declared, “Don’t touch me! I’m way too ‘inferior’ to your esteemed family, innit? If you people really gave a sh*t about your in-law, then you wouldn’t have started the wedding before I’m here, would you? Miss me with that disgusting, fake-a** nicey-nice act, if you be sooooo kind!”Ursula was loud and shrill. Almost everyone heard her, and already the first batch of susurrus joined the room.Mrs. Cox, at her core, was a thin-skinned woman who valued her face; it was the biggest impetus behind her fiery antagonism against Sylvain and Robin’s relationship, after all. To be denigrated in public like this, right now, made her lose her fac
How could any of them recover from this imbroglio?Was there any way to mend what had been broken?How on earth would she be able to make her parents forget the sheer obloquy that had marred their image today? Her mother, especially—her thin-skinned mother, who cared about her face more than anything, who then suffered scathing humiliation right on her daughter’s wedding day.The light at the end of the tunnel—the light she had yearned for so much—was once again painfully out of her reach for God-knows-how-long.Her parents would force her. They would force her to part with him, to never enter the Trudeau household again.Her head would not stop imagining it—a million ways her parents could coerce and force and demand that she leave Sylvain. Then, on the far side of these agonizing thoughts, was Ursula Siebeech-Jaark, wearing the same twisted grimace she made whenever she saw her, the one that oozed utter contempt. It was an expression that had now extended even to her parents.S
Arianne was suddenly on alert. “What are you planning to do? Now that the milk is already spilled, we should clear up this mess first. Robin has already left—are you planning to let her look at your current state? I can understand what you’re going through; I’m also very confused at the moment. That’s why you should go back home, recollect your thoughts, and help Robin do a good job for her dad’s funeral. You're the Coxs’ son-in-law and also the only man in the family now, so you’ll have to do all of this yourself; their relatives will only be able to show up and not be of much use. As for the issue between you and your mom… Let’s talk about that after this is done. You should focus on driving safe, while I go to your house to see if there was any foul play involved. I’m positive that if this is all there was to it, Robin would not have died.”Although Sylvain did intend to end his own life, it was a good thing that he hadn’t actually done it and arrived home safely. Sylvain’s house
When the doctor told them the truth about the pills, both Arianne and Sylvain were shocked. ‘Those are actually antidepressants?! Robin had been fighting against depression, but no one even found out about it while she silently took her medications!’Sylvain’s hand trembled as he held the bottle. “I’m such an idiot… Why didn’t I know that she was sick…?”‘Was our relationship so straining on her that she’d been suffering from depression? If I hadn’t insisted on being with her, insisted on receiving blessings for a marriage that would never end well, and had instead given up much, much sooner, would things be different? It’s all because of me! I kept on pursuing her and now I’ve ended up becoming the reason for her death!’After leaving the hospital, Arianne had no idea what she should say at that point. ‘It all makes sense now. Robin jumped off the steeple because she was depressed.’Sylvain remained silent the entire journey, his thoughts unknown. Although Arianne felt really bad,
“Thud, thud, thud.” Smore ran and stood in front of Arianne. “Mommy, Granny said that I can go to school now. Is that true? Is it?”Arianne raised her hand and patted the little boy’s head. “Yes, you’re going to school from next month onwards. You’ve turned three years old in the blink of an eye, why do I suddenly feel like I’m getting old…?”Mark rolled his eyes at her before getting up to head upstairs. “Hurry up and take a shower. You laid on the couch directly the moment you came home.”Arianne casually picked up a pillow and threw it at Mark. “What’s that sudden look of disgust? Has our relationship dulled? What happened to the time when you hugged me and called me “baby”? Do all men change their character as quickly as they take off their clothes?!”Mark’s quick reflexes helped him catch the oncoming pillow. He looked at Arianne with a startled look. “When have I ever hugged you… And called you “baby”? Who have you been learning all of this from?”Arianne hugged her son and
When Ursula saw him, her eyes were startled for a moment as she sat upright out of a guilty conscience. “You… How did you get in here? Are you done with everything? I’m sure there are a lot of matters to handle at the Coxs’.”Sylvain was not furious because he had already vented all his helplessness and anger by shouting alone the night before. Instead, he walked towards Ursula and threw a debit card in front of her. “This is all the money I have with me that I can spare—take it. From now on, we’re no longer related, so don’t ever mention that I’m your son to anyone. I don’t have a mom like you.”Ursula glanced at the debit card on the coffee table and snickered. “Robin was the one who decided to die, so what does it have to do with me? Also, her father was the one who got a heart attack and died because he was all the while ill, yet you’re pinning that on me as well? If that’s the case, that family is really frail. If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have provoked them in the first p
Before Sylvain left, he transferred the sole proprietor over his villa to Mrs. Cox so that she could help sell it and keep the money for herself. That way, even if Sylvain wasn’t in the country, she wouldn’t have any problems surviving if she ever landed in any trouble.It was not known where Ursula had gotten her hands on that information, but she forcefully stopped Sylvain while he was on his way to the airport by getting the car to stop by the roadside. However, instead of getting out of the car, Sylvain merely locked the car door and opened up his window just a little.After getting out of her own car, Ursula rushed towards Sylvain’s car and tried to open his car door. However, when she realized that she couldn’t, she slammed against the car. “Open up this door and get out right now!”Sylvain looked at her expressionlessly. “Don’t make me miss my flight. You have two minutes. Say whatever you have to, but nothing unnecessary because I don’t want to hear it.”Ursula was now fr