“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
Not only did Ursula not move aside, but she actually took a few more steps forward. “I have every right to know about my son’s whereabouts, don’t I? I’m doing this out of concern for him. Is there a problem with that? Even if you have some bias against me, you can’t strip me off my rights. All you have to do is tell me and I’ll be out of your way. Otherwise, I’m sorry, but no one’s leaving here today!”When Arianne recalled the scene of Robin’s death, she became extremely angry. “How are you any different from a common scoundrel? Are you trying to find out where Sylvain is headed to continue tormenting him? You’ve already tortured him to this stage already, so what more do you want to do to him? Don’t you clearly know why he’s leaving you? Isn’t he doing it to avoid you? Can’t you leave him be already?!”Then, Mark grabbed onto Arianne. “What’s the point of talking to someone like her? I’ll call the security over, don’t worry about it.”When Ursula saw that Mark was really making th
After finishing the processes required at the hospital, Tiffany was unable to stop as she paced around excitedly.In comparison, Jackson was overly calm as he sat on the bench by the corridor, completely silent.When Tiffany noticed that, she unhappily said, “How are you not even a little excited? Isn’t she your daughter? My goodness, am I the only person who’s excited here?”Jackson had another attack of his overly straightforward character right at that critical moment. “Who said you’re the only one who’s excited? Isn’t my mom excited as well? She wanted to come, but you insisted on her not coming in order to take care of Plato at home…”Tiffany was so angry that she rolled her eyes at him. “She’s your daughter, not your mom’s, so there’s no use if anyone else misses her when her own dad doesn’t! Try not getting her to call you dad if you can!”Jackson was unable to smooth talk his way out of the situation since his thoughts were filled with something else, so he remained silent
Summer took a deep breath and pushed Jackson. “You should go out first while I make them something to drink.”Just as Jackson turned around to open the kitchen door, he saw Tiffany standing right by it. Her eyes were completely red and she was slightly trembling.Jackson was startled for a moment. He reached out his hand to embrace her. “Tiffany…”Summer was shocked for a moment. “Tiffany? You… Did you hear everything?”Tiffany hid in Jackson’s embrace and wiped her tears. “Actually, you don’t have to hide the truth from me like that… I can handle it. So what if she won’t be smart? I’ll take care of her forever, it’s no big deal. But… We won’t be able to be in-laws with Ari anymore.”Jackson did not know what to say, so he could only console her by gently patting her back.Tiffany had gone to the kitchen with the intention of making some milk; her baby had not been by her side for so long that she did not have any breast milk to feed her at all. However, she did not expect to hea
Tiffany looked at Arianne and felt embittered. “If my daughter hadn’t had any problems, I would’ve really just given her to you. However, it’s a pity… that things didn’t turn out as expected. I’ll take care of her myself.”When she saw Tiffany’s reddened eyes, Arianne shot a glance at Jackson and knew in her heart that Tiffany knew about everything. “Tiffany, don’t say things like that. If they’re fated to be together, I don’t have any complaints, so why don’t we see how the kids develop? Mark and I still want to have a daughter as well, but it’s a pity that we won’t be able to do so in this life.”Smore was slightly disappointed. “Why? Why can’t Mommy give birth to a sister for me?”Arianne had no idea how she should explain it to him. “You go along and play with Plato and stop asking so many questions. Little kids shouldn’t interfere in adult matters.”Smore took Plato’s hand and headed outside to find Little Bean to play with after leaving with a “hmph”. When Tiffany looked at
Jackson could not control himself and laughed hysterically, causing everyone to shoot glances at him. Hence, he forcefully stifled his laughter. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hold it in for a moment there. Please ignore me and continue…”That night, at Alejandro’s manor.Melanie paced around in her bedroom. She was waiting for Alejandro to return home. She kept on calling and texting him, but Alejandro replied to neither. It had been a few days since Melanie had seriously told him she wanted to have a divorce, yet he had no intention of showing up at all. She no longer wanted to delay the matter; she had steeled her heart for it.However, when she finally received a call, Melanie did not expected it to be from Mrs. Lark. ‘I suppose the only reason they’re calling me now is because they want money. They’ve been used to living extravagantly in the past, so now that the Larks have no more capital, they’re bound to fall short of money sooner or later. Therefore, they’ve now thrown everything o
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