Arianne thought that the name was familiar. She pondered for a long time while looking at Ninaâs pretty face, which was caked with makeup, and finally recalled where sheâd heard it. âI know you, youâre Uncle Moranâs daughter.âThat was right. She was Charles Moranâs daughter, Nina Moran. When she ate with Charles during the business trip with Mark, the older man had mentioned Nina at the table.Charles and the Tremonts went way back. He was someone Mark respected, somewhat of an elder figure.Nina smiled easily. âGreat. The guards at the gate wouldnât allow me to go in. I could only wait here. I tried calling Mark, but the call didnât connect. Heâs probably busy.âArianne asked the guard to open the gate while Nina hauled a large suitcase from the trunk without anyoneâs help. Arianne thought that it made her like the girl a little more. Ninaâs figure was wonderful. She had the proportions of a super model and was half a head taller than Arianne.When they entered the house, Nina left h
When it was time for lunch and Nina had yet to come downstairs, Mary could not help going up to check. She promptly came down with a long face. âAri, is this Nina Moran girl here to snatch your man? Itâs forgivable if she showered in the room, but whatâs up with her sleeping on the bed while wrapped in nothing but a towel? In all the years that Iâve worked for the Tremonts, Iâve never met a woman so immodest here! Sheâs even using sirâs towel! Revolting! Iâll throw everything out after this!âArianne frowned. She would be lying if she said that she did not mind. Even if it wasnât Markâs room, it was still also her personal room. She would definitely mind a stranger using her bathroom and bed, plus sleeping in just a towel. Moreover, she was further repulsed when she recalled Mark wearing that towel. He had used it. Even if it had been washed, it was stillâŠâMary, wake Nina up for lunch. She needs to get up. Let her sleep in the guest room after lunch. Clean the master bedroom after thi
Nina mumbled an agreement and went to the kitchen for food. After that, she got changed and went out.Mary complained as she cleaned the master bedroom. The moment Arianne lay down, she felt incredibly content. She used to hate sleeping on this bed, but she hadnât expected to have gotten used to it now.No one knew how long it had been when loud noises came from downstairs. There was the sound of the door being slammed and the click-clack of heels against the floor. Arianne was woken up, with her head feeling like a mess. Unhappy, she checked the time and saw that it was four in the morningâŠShe did not have to guess to know that Nine was back, not that she could say anything. She could not even throw a tantrum. Covering her head, she went back to sleep.She got up at ten the next morning and Mary grumbled to her once she did. âNina came back at four in the morning and was so drunk, she vomited all the way. Downstairs, the staircase, everywhere. Itâs disgusting. Sir will be mad if he f
âItâs windy today. Donât stand here. Go back and lie down. Ask Mary to send your meal to the room.â Mark went to Arianne and stuffed Rice Ball into her arms.Arianne was stunned once more. He had disallowed her from eating in the room, citing improper manners in the past. Now, he was the first to suggest it.In the heat of the moment, Arianne asked, âCan Rice Ball come into the room? It hasnât seen me all day, Iâm afraid thatâŠâMark halted his steps slightly. âDonât ask for too much. If I see it, Iâll throw it away.âHis tone was not stern, but rather, casual. There was a ghost of a grin on Arianne. Did he mean that she could bring it in as long as he did not see it?Arianne did not have her dinner in the room out of self-consciousness. It wasnât like she couldn't move.Nina was chattering at the dining table ceaselessly. âMark, youâre still the same after so many years. I thought men turn fat and ugly when they reach thirty, but youâre growing the opposite, still as charming as ever e
The door pushed open the next second, and as expected, Mark appeared.Arianne hung her head somewhat guiltily. Her cheeks were flushed from her nervousness, and her heart was beating wildly. Fortunately, Rice Ball didnât move.Mark seemed to be in a particularly good mood. Although no one else was around, he was still smiling and even asked her, âAre you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?âArianne was so nervous right now, she couldnât be bothered about the unpleasant things between them. âNo, Iâm feeling quite good. I think Iâm well enough to go back to work tomorrow,â she replied smoothly.Mark became displeased. âStop joking. You should rest at least a month at home. Donât go pissing me off in the future. Itâs not beneficial to you. Canât you just⊠learn how to please me like other women?âArianne lifted her gaze to meet his. âLike who? Aery Kinsey?âHis breathing stagnated, and his face sank. He changed his clothes and ignored her. Arianne always managed to annoy him, anytime an
Arianne suddenly blushed. Why did she suspect that he was referring to something else? Was he making a dirty joke?In order to dispel the strange atmosphere, she opened her mouth and took a bite. With much difficulty, she swallowed the food. âI canât take another bite. Can you take it away? The fruits will leave a smell in here.âMarkâs eyes slightly glazed over while watching her slightly trembling lips. Then all of a sudden, he leaned over and kissed her on the lips.Arianne could hear her head ringing. What was he doing! They still had many unsolved problems between them. Werenât enemies supposed to be annoyed at the sight of each other? Why was he kissing her?âUmph⊠NoâŠâ She tried to resist him. As soon as she opened her mouth, he took advantage of it. He pressed his whole body up against her to stop her from struggling. With only a layer of blanket between their bodies, she couldnât even budge an inch under him. But of course, he didnât put all his weight on her.She passive
Arianne straightened her back and asked bluntly, âWhat do you hope to achieve by telling me all this? Youâre only acquainted with Mark through both of your fathers. I donât think itâs your place to say any of this. Our marriage doesnât concern you. You are being too much of a busybody, Miss Moran.âNina smiled then headed back to her room without saying another thing.Arianne pushed open the door and entered the bedroom. Mark seemed to be sound asleep so the room was quiet.She laid down quietly with a chaotic mind. Every time someone mentioned the plane crash, she would feel suffocated by an overwhelming pressure. It fanned her desire to find Mr. Sloane as soon as possible so that she could uncover the truth.Early next morning, Mark got ready to go out.Nina rushed out of her room in a hurry. âMark, Iâm going out too! Give me a ride! Iâm too lazy to drive.âArianne, when hearing this, reflexively jumped out of the bed and cracked the bedroom door open a bit to carefully observe
In the afternoon, Mark came back with Nina. Not only that, but they also came back earlier than usual. It wasnât even the time for Mark to get off from work. Mark had always been meticulous at work; he would never come home early unless it was under special circumstances.Nina was carrying big and small bags of ingredients. Markâs hands were full too. As soon Nina entered the door, she shouted for help. âMary, come help take these things!âMary slowly came out of the kitchen. When she saw the ingredients, she said, âWe donât lack these at home. Why did you buy so much?âNina grinned at her. âI donât wanna be a freeloader! I wouldnât feel good doing that if Iâm staying here long. These are all the things that Mark and I love, so just use the stuff I bought for dinner tonight.âSeeing that Mark didnât say anything, Mary had no choice but to take all the stuff into the kitchen.Despite hearing the commotion downstairs, Arianne didnât try to participate. She just continued reading her
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 womanâs hair was now grey and white all over.When someone was near death, one could stand to forgive all of the history between themâeven the dark ones, even if the ledger was brimmingâfor good. So, Arianne replied, âIâll go with you. No matter what happened, sheâs still your mother.âMark did not expect that answer from her at all. In his surprise, he bent down and left a kiss on her lips. âI knew I picked the right woman as my wife. I thought you wouldnât agree to let me accompany her for the last of her daysâŠâArianne 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. âYou confused, little thing. I wouldnât 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 meâthe last one failed. Hard. I can guarantee that youâll leave us in the span of three days. If I lose, you can stay here forever. Wanna bet? I dare you.âShe 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, âYo, everyone! Letâs toast to Cindy becoming my cousin-in-law!âThe crowd answered enthusiastically with their cups in the air and a roarâexcept Raven, who remained seated. âI have a sickly constitution. I canât drink. Iâm sorry.âHer smile was so mechanical, her face too ashen. Something flickered in Arianneâs eyes before she replied, âSure.âAfter 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 Maryâs 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, âNothing beats being home.âRa
Arianne grabbed the two beauties by the hands and smiled. âThank you! Gosh, to me⊠itâs like you two have grown older in the blink of an eye! How gorgeous the two of you are! Cindy, whereâs your brother? Plato hasnât come home yet?âMentioning the name of her dear brother made Cynthia pout. âHe said he was coming home half a month agoâthatâs what he said. Who knows what heâs actually doing, though? Anyway, who cares about that no-good. Heâs always like this anyway. Oh, um, the weather is quite hot. We should probably get inside.âArianne 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. âMillie, is this your younger sister?âMelissa quickly sprung to correct her. âWhat? Noooo. This is Aresâ classmate or something
Aristotleâs 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, âWhen⊠When will they be back?âJackson closed the distance between them and gave the young man a light, comforting pat on the shoulders. âNot 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 sheâs recuperated enough for a whileâŠâ he answered. âWeâve waited for nineteen years for this, right? Whatâs 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. Thatâs the way to not disappoint your fatherâs expectation.âAristotle
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 ânaughtyâ, she was not taken aback by him. Instead, she even felt a little moved, which was amazing.It wasnât 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. âLetâs sleep, good night.âCynthia 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 flowâŠThe 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. âThereâs no⊠no need. Iâll 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, Iâll ask Agnes to help me clear one up.âAristotle walked up to her and squatted. He grabbed onto her arm with one hand while the other closed the luggage. âJust sleep with me here and stop tidying already.âCynthia 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. âY⊠Youâre kidding, arenât you, Ares? Although we used to sleep with each other a lot when we were kids, weâre all grown ups now, so wouldnât that be a little inappropriate?âAristotle said with a straight face, âI wasn't joking.âCynthia panicked a little and recalled Melissaâs words once again. âWould Ares, whom Iâve known for so
Melissa knew that Aristotle had kissed Cynthia, so she knew what was going on. Hence, she very naturally boasted, âOf course, theyâve 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 wouldnât this make it even better? From the way I see it, your illness isnât 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, youâd be better off moving back to France as early as possible. Donât worry, youâve saved Aristotleâs life before, so he wouldnât be stingy with you financially.âRaven 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 Melissaâs grasp. Melissa was startled for a moment. âAre you crazy?âAfter that, Raven regained her senses and took a deep breath. âIâm sorry⊠I was a little unwell just n
âYouâre not that worried?â Melissa was so furious that she laughed. âAm I the only one whoâs being worried for nothing? I thought you loved my brother, didnât you? The man youâve been dreaming of every day has returned from France but brought a woman with him, yet youâre actually not that worried? Letâs put aside your parentsâ intentions for a moment. Do you dare to say that you donât love him? Iâm only helping you because youâre my best friend, so could you not be so relaxed, as if Iâm helping you for no reason?âCynthia shook her head and lowered her volume as she said, âHe⊠might have confessed to me. We also⊠did that already. So, I think he doesnât feel that way towards Raven. Itâs purely because she saved his life once. I trust that Ares will be able to handle the situation properly.âMelissaâs eyes opened wide. âWhat? Heâs only returned for a few days, yet the two of you have already had sex? That fast?! I never knew it, but youâve really got it in you!âCynthiaâs face flushe