Arianne happened to be at the cash counter at this moment. “How may I assist you, ma’am?”The woman tucked a lock of her curly hair behind her ear and asked in a secretive manner, “Does Naya Palmer work here?”When Arianne heard she was here to see Naya, she promptly replied, “Naya took the day off. She’s not here. You won’t find her here today.”The woman smiled. “I know she took the day off, she’s my daughter-in-law. My granddaughter had a fever last night. I’m just here to confirm if she works here. How much is her monthly salary?”Arianne’s impression of the lady plummeted once she heard that she was Naya’s mother-in-law. She examined the woman in front of her intently. She came off as the kind of woman who was not to be trifled with. She sported the popular ‘teddy bear curls’ and dyed it light brown. She even had semi-permanent eyebrow embroidery done. She wore high heels that were around four centimeters high, and the bag she carried was exquisite. With just a glance, one cou
Arianne’s phone, set on the coffee table, suddenly rang.She dashed to answer it and found Tiffany on the other side. “Yellow, Ari! How’s it been lately? Gotten used to living without me around yet?”Arianne feigned dolefulness. “No, I’m not used to it, and I’m still scared to tears living alone! Do you know I never walk if I could instead run to the café or back home every night? Oh, but when I think about it, there isn’t anything specific to be concerned about; I’m just a scaredy-cat. Say, how’re things on your end lately? Everything’s going well with Jackson, I presume?”It was one of those days when Tiffany could not spend the night with Jackson; this time, it was because someone had come to visit her. “Oh, it’s okay, I guess? …Alright, I’ll be honest with you — I’m like, a little bit insecure, okay? I read a lot of articles about relationships and love and stuff on the internet, and I’ve concluded that a guy like him should have his desires denied a few times, once in a while. Lik
Aunt Deborah came with the mission of matchmaking Tiffany and her nephew, and she would be damned if she did not sell him hard with a beaming smile. “Aww, don’t misunderstand me, hon. Everyone knows that your family owns this invaluable plot that if sold, could rake so, so much money! From the way I see it, you and my nephew are just the perfect fit for one another, so how about you get to know him first before you judge? Oh, in fact, I’m gonna arrange your date right now!”Lillian kept quiet. She was admittedly gung ho about marrying her daughter off as soon as possible in the past, but that was only because she was taking her sudden impoverished life very terribly, and she wanted out of it as soon as she could. But now, her outlook had changed. Good things come to those who wait, and since Lillian had a bit more money to support her patience, she was no longer desperate. Still, a casual meeting between her daughter and a suitor was fair, she thought.Tiffany, on the other hand, loath
Arianne took out Mark’s business suit when the dessert was ready. She had wanted to return it to him today, and Ellie was just the perfect deliverywoman.“Could you kindly help me return this?” she asked.His underwear had been tucked deep inside the suit before she packed it into a bag. Arianne reasoned that it was safe enough not to reveal itself suddenly, so she did not bother warning Ellie (she was too embarrassed to do that, anyway).Ellie seemed rather startled by the suit. “Does this… Does this belong to Mr. Tremont?”Arianne nodded. “Mm-hmm. It’s his.”Ellie said nothing more and brought both Mark’s takeout and the suit back to the office. Placing the items on his desk, Ellie explained, “Mr. Tremont, your wife asked me to return your clothes to you.”Mark’s eyes seemed to have darkened ever so slightly. “Put them aside. Anywhere is fine.”Ellie could see the quiet, dark clouds swirling in his mien and quickly got to work. Unfortunately, her graceless movement allowed Mark’s cle
Naya, recognizing her gaffe, held her tongue.Mark’s car soon came to a halt right outside the café. Brian disembarked from his driver’s seat and strolled through the entrance, requesting, “Two of the café’s recommended desserts and two Americano.”Two sets of food for Mark and Ellie.Arianne cocked an eyebrow. “Gee, who knew he could be so damn miserly that he would buy two sets of stuff for three people, huh?” she jeered under her breath, not recognizing the creeping sulkiness in her tone.Brian avoided her gaze with a silent and curt nod.His reaction rubbed Arianne off the wrong way. Brian used to address her as “Madam” or even “Miss” before she was married, yet here he was, putting a wide berth between them. As though she was no one but a stranger.Fine, perhaps it was technically correct for the Tremont retinues to treat her as a stranger now. But Arianne had not expected the bond they shared to be so… frail. If this was how Brian saw her, then she shuddered at the prospects of s
Naya saw the news as well. It made the headlines after all, anyone would have seen it. “Ari… I’m not being a busybody but… everyone has seen it. Is there anything on your mind?”Arianne turned off her phone indifferently. “No. I don’t care. My marriage with him has been an empty shell anyway.”Did not care? Naya did not expose Arianne, but she had ‘I care very much’ written on her face!A strange atmosphere loomed over the dessert shop the whole morning. No one dared to joke with Arianne like usual. Even when she tried hard to feign indifference, everyone knew she was pretending. After all, she was the best at keeping calm even if the sky was falling.A pretty woman suddenly entered the shop in the afternoon and Tanya’s first reaction was to step forward and nervously say, “Our desserts have sold out! No more!”Ellie glanced at the kitchen. “Most of your desserts are made in-house on the spot. There are still so many customers here, why are they sold out as soon as I came? Are you guys
Arianne lowered her gaze. “What are you trying to say? Since you want to be with him, you should hope for us to be divorced as soon as possible so you wouldn’t have to be his mistress. After all, it’ll only tarnish your reputation. This way, it’ll be a win-win for both of us, right? One more thing, I thought you’re married? Are you divorced?”At this moment, Ellie was annoyed. She had completely poured herself into her role as Mark’s lover during this period of time. Arianne had brought up her drag of a marriage, making her feel as though Arianne was pointing out her shortcomings. “That’s personal. You’re welcome to talk to me if you’re unhappy about it.”Arianne smiled. “Not at all.”Ellie gritted her teeth. “Since you’re not in love with him and have chosen to leave him, don’t leave him hanging. Isn’t it better to make a clean break? Then, you no longer have to waste each other’s time and can live separate lives.”Arianne paused for a moment before replying, “That’s private as we
She was about to scream when she heard the door lock, but a large hand covered her mouth. She dropped her phone on the ground. At this moment, she was frozen in fear. The lights were off so she could not see the man’s face. All she knew was there had been too many stories of break-ins in the news, and none of them ended well. She remembered that she did not have a lot of money on her. She had a few thousand credits on her credit card but did not want to hand it over. Would the intruder fly into a rage and kill her if she refused to give him money?The man flung her toward the living room couch. She could smell the heavy stench of alcohol on his body. She fearfully clutched the back of the couch to steady herself and seized the opportunity to bite the man’s arm. The pain forced him to release her mouth, and she cried out, “I don’t have any money! Let me go! I can give you a card number, and I’ll borrow some money tomorrow and send the money to you. Don’t kill me!”Strangely, the man d