He was feeling slightly helpless. He promptly stopped teasing her. “I did. Did you really think that I wouldn’t? I’ve ordered some desserts for you. You enjoy munching on desserts, don’t you? You can try them. They are the most interesting desserts I’ve ever had.”Then, he walked back to his desk and made a call. “You can send them over now. Bring two cups of americanos while you’re at it.”After the call, he noticed that Arianne’s head was still lowered, and she was blushing. He stared at her thoughtfully and asked, “You can’t possibly be feeling shy, right? We’ve known each other for more than ten years now. Isn’t it a little strange for you to feel shy around me?”“I am not!” She denied vehemently with a red face.Although he knew she was lying, he did not expose her. Instead, he said reassuringly, “We have many more days ahead of us. I really don’t want you to be timid around me every single day. Relax. It’s not like I’m going to do anything to you.”Soon after, Ellie knocked
Arianne felt slightly helpless, “That’s not what I mean. I’m just making casual conversation. Has your office desk always been here?”Ellie smiled and nodded. “This floor is pretty quiet. It doesn’t really matter where my desk is. Mr. Tremont is really nice. He doesn’t like having people around him when he’s working, but I have to be ready to assist him at any time. So it’s best that I work here.”Arianne could not understand what Ellie meant when she called Mark ‘nice’. She thought Mark had been harsh with Ellie. “How much is your monthly salary? Working as his secretary must be a tiring job.”A question about salary was a highly personal subject, no matter the occasion. However, since it was Arianne who had asked the question, Ellie did not avoid the subject. “My basic salary is 3500. It’s not so bad, and there’s a year-end bonus too. It’s pretty good, and it’s not a tiring job.”Upon hearing the numbers, Arianne no longer felt that Ellie had been treated harshly. A secretary’s s
Ethan gave Tiffany a half-smile and asked her coldly, “Are you sure you’re not just trying to get me to grovel until you’re satisfied to get back at me? I’ve made it very clear that I admit that I have mistreated you in the past. I’m wearing my heart on my sleeves now when I’m around you. What else do you want me to do? You can torture me or do whatever you want. I wish to have a home. A home that belongs to us. My only condition is to get married. I can’t wait that long. You can do whatever you want, I can agree to anything you want. All I want is for us to get married. I don’t want to fight with you today. I just want to have a good chat with you about this. Think clearly before answering me. I’m afraid I won’t be able to control myself.”Although Ethan had softened his attitude slightly, Tiffany could still feel how forceful he was behind his compromise. Her only condition was to not get married too early which clashed with his only condition of getting married. She mulled over it
Mark’s expression grew unnatural. “As for the rest… Well, he was more or less involved. If I were him, I might have done even more horrible things. What are you trying to say?”Arianne thought Mark sounded as though he was like he was defending Ethan, which again, made her feel that he was not being his usual self. Even so, she did not voice her suspicion. “I’m just thinking that… if you can forgive his actions, then, I can as well. It’ll be fine as long as he truly repents and turns over a new leave after he gets back with Tiffie, lives his life well, and treats you like his elder brother.”Mark did not say anything else and returned to his study after dinner. The expression on his face turned grim. After thinking for a moment, he sent a message to Jackson. “Tiffany Lane will be moving in with Ethan Connor.”When Jackson received the message, he was dining at the West family residence with his mother. After reading the message, he set his phone aside quietly. He must not reply! Rep
Jackson’s expression remained neutral. “You’re really planning on moving in with him? Living together is more troublesome than being in a relationship. You guys will face all the trivial matters that you’d face as a married couple. Not only that, but it’s easy to lose the spark when a couple lives together too soon. That can lead to higher chances of breaking up. Young people nowadays are really rushing to experience married life. When the time comes, you’ll all realize that it isn’t as amazing as you think. Most people even regret getting married too early.”Tiffany was annoyed by his tone. “Can you not talk to me like you’re much older than me? It’s your business if you don’t want to get married despite your age. If girls like us don’t get married by your age, we’ll be called an old maid. Alright, let’s drop this topic. I won’t be able to come out for a drink and meal with you next time.”That was right. If she moved in with Ethan, she would not be able to hang out with Jackson any
Tiffany felt Ethan was being rude, but she knew speaking up now would only worsen things. Therefore, she could only look at Jackson apologetically.Jackson narrowed his eyes and spoke coldly, “There’s no need for you to repay the favor she owes me. I wasn’t doing you a favor in your absence since both of you were broken up back then. It’s not very nice of you to speak in this manner. God is always watching. Sometimes, you have to forgive others to forgive yourself. A mistake can be forgiven, but repeated mistakes will only prove that a leopard never changes its spots.”Tiffany was taken aback. She did not expect Jackson would talk back to Ethan. After all, that man never took things personally. She had expected him to leave with a smile on his face.Ethan clenched his hands into fists when he heard the underlying meaning in Jackson’s words, but he wore a mocking smile on his face. “You seem to have a huge problem with me. What is it that you want to say? Just say it to my face, ther
“I’m sorry, Tiffie. I lost my composure. Please don’t say that kind of thing, okay? I want to stay with you…” Ethan compromised for the very first time in his life, and it was with her.Although Tiffany was always indecisive, she would never waver once she had made her decision. “Forget it, Ethan. I just realized that I shouldn’t have been this indecisive from the very beginning. You shouldn’t come back looking for me again; it’s what’s best for both of us. Now that you have everything, you can have any woman you want. Ever since the day we broke up, you’re no longer mine. And now, I belong only to myself. I can’t lie to myself, I’m no longer in love with you.”After saying that, she opened the car door and left without looking back. Under the dim street lights, her figure faded into the darkness. Ethan didn’t get out of his car to chase after her and just watched as she slowly disappeared from his view. His heart grew cold with every step she took, gradually reverting him to that or
About ten minutes later, Mark was done changing and headed downstairs. “Let’s go.”Arianne went up to him in delight, while Mark bent his arm naturally and gestured for Arianne to hold his arm. With a slight blush, Arianne wrapped her hand around his arm.She called Tiffany as soon as she got into the car, asking her, “Tiffie, where are you? Send me your location. I’m coming for you right now.”Tired of walking, Tiffany had been sitting on the side of the road for some time. Mark stepped on the pedal after receiving the location, his focused look while driving attracting Arianne’s gaze. She had never imagined that there would be a day when there would be no ill feelings between the two of them. Did the act of her heart thumping mean that she liked him then?“If you continue looking at me like that, I’ll have to in the middle of the road,” Mark teased when he noticed her heated stare.“You’re annoying…” Arianne peeled her eyes away from him and looked through the car window in feigned s
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