Mark did not insist and waved his hand towards the camera, “Good night.”Arianne clutched her chest as the call ended. She could feel her heart beating wildly against her chest. She had initially thought that she wasn’t boy-crazy in any way and would not be bowled over by his magnetic voice or that face that she had been staring at for more than ten years. Had she gone mad?In Mark's opinion, every time they spoke, they had grown a step closer to one another. It assured him too. Just as he was about to go to bed, his phone rang again — it was a call from Charles Moran.This man who had a good relationship with his father would never contact him for no good reason. The first time they met up after his return to the country was for Charles ask him if he was aware of his father’s b*stard… He frowned and picked up the call, “Hello? Uncle Moran.”Charles answered him, “Mark, I’ve heard that things between you and Arianne are a little delicate now. I was momentarily distracted and lost s
Nina seemed completely oblivious to the cold edge in his voice, “Haha… Are you really going to throw me out? Is our relationship that shallow? I was under the impression that we were close enough to share everything. Can’t I sleep on your bed?”Mark did not give an immediate reply. He emerged from the closet after changing his clothes and immediately headed downstairs. The only words he left her with was, “Our relationship isn’t as intimate as you may think. My house, my rules. I will only say this once.”Nina waited for his car to leave the Tremont Estate before climbing out of his bed.Her face no longer seemed casual and nonchalant. Deep down, she knew that this man was not to be trifled with. Nevertheless, this drove her even crazier. She was forced into giving up back when she saw how in love Mark and Arianne were. Now, they had finally separated. She refused to be satisfied and wanted to try again.This room was filled with Mark’s unique scent, which filled her with fond long
Never, throughout Charles Moran’s long and storied life, had he ever slapped his daughter across the face.The sharp crack of a wallop faded, revealing a stupefied Nina with her hand swinging to a gradually reddening, puffing cheek. Her eyes, trained on her father, were strewn with earnest bemusement.“Why… Why did you hit me?! Was I wrong?” she demanded. “There’s only our people in this room, so why are you acting like I shouldn’t have said that?”Charles gulped down the pill his bodyguard had passed to him. When his nerves finally settled a little, he answered, “This — this is the same man who killed his half-brother without batting an eyelash. Who are you to think that he would go easy on you? If he likes you, you’ll become the ruler of his heart. Otherwise, no amount of ingratiation will save you from his wrath!“You are my only daughter, Nina. Do you think I can stomach watching you go down a path of self-destruction? Arianne Wynn may look like some unimpressive, nondescript l
Mark paused thoughtfully, “Actually, let’s not go out to eat. It’s a little late and there’s only the two of us. We’ll go to your place and cook up whatever’s available. Don’t you know how to make ramen?”He still remembered the ramen she made? That was the only meal that she made very well. Furthermore, it was only delicious by her own standards and it would largely depend on whether it turned out good or not, “Okay… It doesn’t taste that good anyway, so you’ll have to put up with it. I’ll free up some time tomorrow and buy you a meal to thank you for the present.”Mark frowned but did not respond. He could sense her refusal to owe him anything. This made him upset. However, when he remembered that she would return to him in a year, he did not quibble with her.Arianne turned on the air-conditioner in the living room when they arrived in her condo then immediately went into her kitchen, “Wait here, I’ll make some ramen for you.”However, Mark did not sit down and wait for her. Ins
Jackson’s father? Arianne had never heard of him and felt curious, “Of course, I’m going. His dad? I’ve never heard of him…”Mark did not explain too much, “His family situation is complicated, very complicated. When you come back to the capital, stay at the Tremont Estate. You can see Henry and Mary too.”He didn’t give Arianne any chance to refuse. He knew that she wasn’t a fickle person, and probably missed Mary and Henry. Hence, he used them as an excuse for her to go back to the Tremont Estate. She shouldn’t have any reason to refuse if it was only temporary… right?“We’ll talk about it when the time comes. I’m tired. Good night,” Arianne closed her eyes after that. She really was exhausted. After all, she had been working throughout the day.Mark did not say anything more. His vision was clear despite the darkness, as though he wasn’t sleepy at all. His woman was lying right next to him, but he couldn’t touch her. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to sleep. A small flame flicker
Tiffany’s patience was nearly at an end. What gave her the right to make her do overtime work that wasn’t supposed to be hers in the first place? Henrietta had clearly been yapping on the phone during working hours and watching anime. That’s why she couldn’t finish her work. She swallowed her anger and amicably said, “I have something to do too. I can’t help you with your overtime work. You’ll have to take care of it yourself. I’ve gotta go.”Henrietta dumped the heavy pile of documents on Tiffany’s desk, “You’ll have to do it, either way. Or do you think that the office is just a place for you to enjoy the air-conditioning? You should at least make our money’s worth for the air-conditioning bill. Shouldn’t you consider your contributions to the company for the day and give the company some worth for your existence? I’ve only asked you to photocopy some documents, yet you’re dawdling away. Total newbies are the most difficult to teach!”Was it really her intention to not do any tangi
After some thought, Tiffany began to think that it was impossible for her to have a secret engagement. After all, the Wests were an affluent family. Jackson’s parents were still alive as well. If Mark’s parents were around, they would never have had such a quiet marriage. The elites require dignity. She couldn’t be selfish, “Alright… I’m sorry. That never occurred to me. You can do whatever you like. I’ve got to go home after dinner, and I have to get up early for work tomorrow. I’m not like you, I can’t sleep whenever I want to. I’m so busy that my feet practically don’t touch the ground. Sigh…”Jackson felt a little resentful, “We mentioned moving in together… Looks like we’re not going to be discussing it at all? Am I some kind of stepping stone to you? It’s not like you can’t go to work if you live with me. I can even drive you to work in the morning…”Tiffany shot him a fierce glare, “This wouldn’t have been a problem if you would actually let me sleep at night, but you won’t. I
Just before her shower, Arianne was taken aback when she noticed an extra toothbrush in the cup on her sink. Mark had used it before. After some thought, she decided not to throw it away. There was no harm in leaving it there anyway. She refused to admit that she had unconsciously acknowledged the possibility of Mark staying the night at her house from time to time. That’s why she left the toothbrush alone…She checked her phone after stepping out of the bathroom and found a missed call from a strange number. It could have been a spam call if it had only been one call, but this number had called her seven times. She didn’t hear it, as she had been in the bathroom.Suspicious, she returned the call, and it was soon answered. A familiar-sounding middle-aged man’s voice spoke from the receiver, “Miss Wynn, what took you so long to answer the phone? I’m a condo security guard. There’s some people here to see you, claiming to be your family members. I wasn’t sure if I should let them in,
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