Had Arianne not worried about ruining Tiffany’s engagement ceremony, she would have swung her fist right there and then.Honestly, even Arianne was boggled at how cantankerous she had become. Ever since the Aery Kinsey incident back then, it seemed to her that the best way to solve a problem that might require her fists was, indeed, to use her fist without saying another word. Sometimes, actions do speak louder than words… literally.She gulped a deep breath to calm herself forcibly. “Tell me: did you or did you not hit an old man on the eighth floor earlier? And before you insult me by trying — no, I’m not gonna buy your crap. I have CCTV footage with me, and honestly, I want this solved today, or you’re not going anywhere. Wanna bet?”A hint of consternation from being exposed flitted through the woman’s eyes. Still, she quickly regained her composure. “What the hell are you yammering about, b*tch? That old man started it by bumping into me!” she rebutted. “Besides, I can’t stop wond
Mark glanced at Tanya’s grandfather and had an inkling of what happened. He curled his lips into a faint smile when he thought of Arianne’s ‘wildness’. He was surprised by this new facet of his woman. She was like a… tiny wild cat?Naya pushed the medicine box over to Mark. “Mr. Tremont, Ari is hurt as well. Please take care of it for her.”Mark used an alcohol cotton swab to disinfect Arianne’s wound.Arianne felt a piercing pain on her wound but was too shy to give voice to her pain. Mark’s handsome face was magnified before her eyes. His aura was stronger with his close proximity as he dabbed the cotton swab on her cheeks. His expression was solemn and focused. She did not know the thoughts that ran through his mind and wondered if he was humiliated by her actions.“Ari, don’t you think your rebellious stage arrived a little too late?”He was blaming her, right? Annoyed, Arianne avoided his hand. “I’m not being rebellious. I tried negotiating with that woman, but she refused to reso
Tiffany stepped forward and handed Chloe’s money to Tanya. “Keep it. Don’t refuse free money. Consider it a bite from a dog. There’s no point in being calculative with people like her. Do you have a place to stay? Let me book a hotel room for you. Try and cheer up. Let’s have fun for the next couple of days.”“Stay in this hotel,” Jackson suggested, “I’ll tell the front desk to prepare a few rooms for you. The hotel belongs to my family so there’s no need to be modest.”Tiffany looked at Jackson in shock. She was still quite in the dark about the West family’s wealth. They actually owned such a big hotel. The Wests seemed to have their fingers in every pie.Mark suddenly grabbed Arianne by the shoulder. “Let’s go. Come home with me.”“I don’t want to.” Arianne shook him off. Mark lowered his head and whispered into Arianne’s ear. “Mary has been unwell recently. Don’t you want to see her? She used to dote on you so much.”Arianne gritted her teeth. “Fine. I’ll go. I’ll see Mary and Hen
Arianne felt slightly guilty now that her thoughts were exposed. She was too afraid to meet Mark’s eye. “I… I won’t stay. That’s not all, I’m taking my grandmother with me. Even if my grandmother insists on staying, do you dare to confess everything you’ve done? You’ll give her a stroke if she discovers the truth one day! Don’t burn the bridges. Please be kind and leave my family alone, okay? I won’t pick on what had happened in the past, but let’s just draw a clear line between us, okay? I really… I really don’t see any way for us to be together…”Although Mark was long aware of Arianne’s promise to return to the Tremont Estate was only a half-hearted one, he was still provoked by her words. They could not draw a clear line between them. He was already at his limit for letting her leave his side for so long, and yet, she would jump at any opportunity just to leave him. A chaotic mix of complicated emotions swirled in his mind. He took off his glasses and threw them on the floor before
Arianne didn’t answer. She turned her face to the side, shut her eyes and gripped tightly onto the covers. Her cheeks were blushing furiously, which spread throughout her entire body, a bright red as clear as day.He kept on mumbling to himself, then collapsed on top of her and stopped moving.Arianne finally realized that something was wrong with him. His body felt extremely hot! She panicked instantly, then soon relaxed. She picked up the clothes on the ground and put on his pajamas for him. Then, she called the Tremont family doctor.The doctor quickly rushed over. After a simple check-up, he concluded, “Mr. Tremont has been over exhausted for a long period of time. Furthermore, he’s caught a cold, which has caused a fever. His body has been overtaxed, so he’s lost consciousness. The temperature has gone down lately. It’s pretty normal to catch a cold under such capricious weather.”Arianne heaved a sigh of relief after determining the cause behind Mark’s collapse. A cold was nothin
She struggled away from his grasp, “Alright. Didn’t I promise not to trick you? I haven’t made up my mind… You’ve been asleep for so long. Isn’t your germaphobia acting up? Mary has prepared some porridge for you. I’m exhausted from looking after you over the past two days. I need to sleep.”Before she could finish speaking, Mark began feeling uncomfortable. He got up and ran into the bathroom. Arianne heaved a sigh of relief, closed her eyes, and allowed her thoughts to gradually enter a state of peace. She soon fell asleep.The next day, Mark went to the office as soon as he woke up. She went straight to Tanya and Naya’s hotel. Naya and Tanya were still around, so she couldn’t just ignore them. She was the one who brought them over, and they were not familiar with anyone in the capital.Naya was a domesticated woman. She did not plan on having too much fun in the capital, because she could not afford to spend too much money. She simply wanted to take Lulu around for some sightseeing.
Eric patted her on the back, “No need to be calculative over such a small sum. Consider it my honor as your host. Let’s go. I’ll take you to the beach. It’s pretty close by from here.”The old man suddenly smiled when he saw his reaction, “Grandson-in-law…”Tanya and Eric were stunned at the same time. Tanya blushed, “Grandpa! You can’t just say these things! Ricky is a friend. Not… Not my boyfriend…”Eric was feeling awkward too and walked out first.In the old man’s mind, any man who touched his granddaughter was her boyfriend.In the car, the old man spoke seriously to Eric, “Tan is a good girl, very obedient. She’s a good girl.”Eric couldn’t deny this, “I know.”The old man looked very proud, “You must take good care of her.”Eric was having a slight headache, unsure of how to explain this to the old man. Tanya was embarrassed, “Ricky, you know how my grandfather is like… You touched my shoulder; he has misunderstood. Please don’t mind him…”Eric shook his head and smiled bitterly
“Tiffie, stop teasing me, okay?” Arianne said helplessly, “Jackson’s been pretty generous with your allowance too, hasn’t he? I’ve noticed that your clothing style has changed after the engagement party. The clothes you’re wearing right now are this season’s latest from a luxury brand. They cost at least a few thousand. How lavish!”Tiffany had no choice but to confess, “You’re right, I’ve been on a budget ever since my family went bankrupt. Of course, I’m going to relive my princess-like days, now that I have someone who’s willing to spend on me. You’re the silly one here. You have money, but you won’t spend it. Mark has given you $150,000, yet you’re frightened by it. $150,000 is like spare change to him. You should at least see if the other party has the money to spare. It’s perfectly logical for you to hesitate like that if he’s not rich. With someone like Mark, on the other hand, it feels silly for you to save money for him.”Naya felt slowly alienated from the conversation. Arian
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