Mateo laughed at himself. “You’re right, this might seem silly to you, but I’ve been holding onto this for all these years. Sometimes, I hate myself for my character, how I keep holding onto a person without being able to forget them. I remember the first time I met you; we were at the art studio in school. At the time, everyone was resting while you were the only one sitting there, drawing with a serious expression on your face as you sat in the sun… I tried to get close to you, but you would always reject anyone from approaching you. Apart from Tiffany and Will, you weren’t able to accept anyone else in your circle. Plus, I was going to leave for overseas anyway, so I didn’t intentionally try to get close to you. After that, I kept on thinking, if I had put in a little more effort, would I have been able to be like Tiffany and Will… One of your friends? At least, I wouldn’t feel so regretful.”Being liked by someone wouldn’t make them hateful or antipathic. The same went for Arianne
Arianne regained her senses and hurriedly went forward to pull them apart. “Mark! It’s not what you think! Please let me explain!”Mark instantly pushed her away. “Fuck off!”Arianne wore high heels, so the grassland already made her footing unstable. But after being pushed by Mark, she instantly fell onto the ground and her palm struck a rock, drawing out a heartfelt cry of pain from her.Both Mateo’s nose and mouth were bleeding. He raised his hands to protect his face as he tried to explain. “Mr. Tremont, it’s not what you think. It’s fine if you misunderstand me; I don’t care how you deal with me. But you mustn’t misunderstand Arianne!”When such protective words went into Mark’s ears, he only felt that it was more evident that there was definitely something going on between Mateo and Arianne. Any explanation at that point would only make things look even more grim.Arianne did not know what to do since there wasn’t anyone around. ‘If this keeps up, Mark will beat Mateo to dea
Arianne never thought that she would behave so upright because of this matter. She had thought of explaining things to him properly and hoped that Mark would be able to understand her. However, not only did he refuse to listen to any explanation, he even hit Mateo and threw her onto the ground twice. Most importantly, she hated being watched by others and also being followed; she had hated that since the very beginning!‘He says he hates betrayal the most, but I’ve never even thought of betraying him. I shouldn’t be stingy about giving a hug to someone who has been remembering me for so many years, that’s all.‘I also said that I hated being watched and followed, but he keeps doing so…’When Arianne thought of how calm Mark was before she left, she found it to be such a joke. ‘He clearly knew that I was lying, yet he was still able to calmly pretend as if nothing was going on. Was he waiting for the moment to “catch me in the act”? In his eyes, am I that kind of woman?‘I didn’t wa
“Anyone at all?”Mark coldly flung Arianne’s hand away as he said those words.Arianne stood her ground. “It was just a hug, that’s a very normal thing to do. Why are you saying ‘anyone at all’?”Mark walked towards the roof-to-floor window before sitting down and lighting a cigarette. “There are tons of women who fancy me. Should I hug them all as well? If that were the case, I wouldn’t be doing anything else anymore. Why couldn’t you not give it to him? You’re already married, and you didn’t even ask me first. Do I not have the right to be angry at all? Is it that hard for you to even admit to your mistakes?”Arianne finally fell silent. ‘He’s right. He does have a reason and right to be angry at me.‘Why I agreed to Mateo’s request in the first place was because he has done so much for me and has been thinking of me all these years that I couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed and think of it as a burden that needed to be resolved as soon as possible.‘Further, he is Melanie’
Arianne instantly froze and did not dare to move again. ‘We’ve only just had a big fight, yet he’s able to act all leisurely now. People have said that as long as men still breath, their brains are definitely filled with all kinds of inappropriate stuff. It seems like they aren’t wrong.’Suddenly, Arianne’s phone rang.Mark’s expression turned serious as he raised his eyes to stare at her. Obviously, he wanted to watch her answer the phone call himself. ‘I suppose Mateo’s the only person who would call at this hour, wouldn’t he?’Arianne felt a little frustrated. ‘What if Mateo’s really calling me out of concern? I’ve had to go through so much before finally being able to calm him down. I can’t stop him if he goes on another rampage.’After pondering for a moment, Arianne reluctantly picked up her phone. When she saw that it was Melanie who was calling her, she gently heaved a sigh of relief. “Melanie? What’s the matter?”On the other end, Melanie’s voice was very soft as she tent
Arianne glared at her. “What nonsense are you spewing? What do you mean that I went out to meet Mateo alone late at night? You sound as though there really was something between me and him! Do you think Mark would hit me? How? Based on my understanding of him, he would rather die from anger than hit me. Pushing me twice was considered his limit already. What kind of best friend are you? Do you wish for me to get beaten? If he really did beat me, that would be the end of us already.”Tiffany pouted her lips. “I suppose you’re right, but I do think that Mark has a reason to be angry about this matter. If there were a change of characters and it was he who had gone out with another woman, would you be able to accept him so much as hugging her? Mateo is pretty tragic; to be able to be so persistent and let his feelings control him for all these years ain’t easy. However, you didn’t handle this matter particularly well either. Now you’ve offended Mark. If you were to reject Mateo, you’d be
Mark said, “She wants to borrow some money. There’s a chance that Aery’s going to recover, but it’s going to cost a fortune for her follow-up treatment, and it’s going to be a very long process. There seems to be some issues with her company at the moment and she’s having some trouble with her cash flow, so she has no choice but to ask me for it.”‘Borrow money, you say?’ Arianne felt a little embittered. ‘Helen would actually rather look for Mark instead of her own daughter?’Arianne bit her lip. “You’re the one she’s asking for, not me. So, do as you please. You don’t have to tell me.”Mark walked to Arianne’s side and sat down before reaching out his hand to grab onto her shoulder. “Why would she look for me? Wouldn’t it be because of our relationship? It’s all the same, whether she looks for me or you, so is there a need to differentiate so clearly? I’m telling you to ask for your opinion; the person who’s asking for a loan is your mom after all. I know you don’t like Aery, so i
Tiffany adjusted her posture so she could look at him, face to face, and display the full glory of her love-smitten grin.“Will I ever get enough of looking at you, hon? Nope! I will never! Ever! Be bored of your handsome face, puddin’! See, you’re that one precious starburst I’ve gone through loads of bullsh*t in life just to finally find and make mine; do you really think I’m gonna deny myself from staring at my husband, looking damn fine every single day, hmm? Ha! People say that marriage is how you break the spell of love, but not for me, man, not for me. Because every day I spend with you just makes me fall even more maddeningly in love! I love ya so hard! Purrrrrrrrr…”Jackson could see his skin crawling in real-time as she rambled on. “What the hell…just happened? You were never this… cringey back then, r-right? The hell knocked you on the head and changed you, babe?”Scarily, Tiffany did not seem at all offended by his reaction. Even scarier, she simply continued leveling hi