Eric carefully thought back to previous events. Tanya’s wound certainly did not come from doing chores at home. This meant it happened in the office. He knew that apart from cleaning, Tanya would also make and serve tea to her colleagues. He knew she was being friendly since she wanted to learn fashion design from her colleagues so he did not put much thought into it. After all, there was nothing strange about it. However, upon second thought, he connected all the events and resignation and realized the situation was not as simple as it seemed. He asked sternly, “Did someone in the company bully you? Be honest!”Tanya bit her lips, refusing to speak.Tiffany was so enraged that she began spouting profanities. “F*ck! Is that even a question? They must have bullied her! Eric, I put her in your care. She’s with you most of the time, can’t you even look out for her? Tan, what happened? If you refuse to tell me, I’ll tell Ari about this. You know what she’s like. If she finds out about this
Before Tanya could respond, Tiffany had pulled her out of the room.When they passed by the front desk, the woman who had been cracking nuts asked, “So, you’re won’t be staying then?”Tanya nodded. “Sorry, I won’t be staying here!”“Why on earth are you greeting someone like that?” Tiffany grumbled softly, “Do you have any idea what kind of place this is? My god, this isn’t a motel. This is a place for pimps and prostitutes. You’re like fresh meat in the den of a pack of hungry wolves! Who knows what might happen if we didn’t find you today?”Tanya shuddered in fear. “Are you serious? I didn’t know…”Eric threw her luggage into the car. “You’re seriously naive. Let me tell you this; just because you’re nice to people, it doesn’t mean that they’ll reciprocate it. Some people will take you for granted no matter how nice you are to them. You have to be more assertive and learn to stand up for yourself. Being overly kind won’t do you any good.”Tiffany’s phone suddenly rang at this moment.
Based on the pictures, Jackson had been meeting up with this woman at all sorts of places. It looked like a lovers’ rendezvous. The woman was smiling joyfully in every picture. Moreover, apart from going to the office and coming home, every time he was out, he had met with that woman. Most importantly, he had even visited that woman at the hotel a few times. One of the visits was from this morning. Tiffany had entered the office first while Jackson took his time. He had gone to see that woman to deliver breakfast to her at the hotel. Five-star hotels usually provided breakfast, and yet, it seemed he doted on the woman so much that he even personally delivered breakfast to her. Then, as an afterthought, he had probably brought an extra set and gave it to her in the office. To think, at that time, she had been moved by his gesture. What a joke!Tiffany was too afraid to examine these things in detail or read it again. She turned off her phone, pretended as though nothing was wrong, and
The woman simply did not think Eric would do anything to her for Tanya’s sake. After all, she had been working for Eric for two years. Her work was not terrible either. “You can say whatever you like. You’re not really good at anything except for tattling and selling your sob stories. We gave you the money for food and everything else on that day, and now, you’re trying to extort us for more money. Thank goodness none of us taught you anything, it would’ve been a thankless task. Mr. Nathaniel, please beware. Don’t just pick up any rotten thing that comes your way. A woman without any relatives must have an ulterior motive for clinging onto you.”Tanya burst into tears of anger. It was bad enough that they were twisting facts. It was even more insulting to hear them speak of her this way when she had never harbored any intention toward Eric!Eric’s face turned ashen from anger. “Should I teach you manners? You’re lucky I’m the one dealing with this matter instead of Tiffany Lane or Aria
The Tremont Estate.Arianne slept until she naturally woke up. Mary carefully supported her as she walked downstairs.“Madam, Mr. Tremont is in the dining room, waiting to have breakfast with you. He says he’ll be accompanying you to your prenatal examination later.”Arianne felt Mary was being too careful. However, when she remembered how she had miscarried twice, she remained silent. It was better to be safe than sorry. This was no time for her to be fussy.When she sat in front of the dining table, Mark pushed a bowl of porridge in front of him toward her. “Eat it while it’s warm.”She stared at the prawns in the porridge, not having the appetite to eat at all. All the food she used to enjoy made her nauseous now. She was rather upset by this. “I… don’t feel like eating this. Plain porridge will do.”Mary was surprised. “Aren’t prawns your favorite? These prawns are fresh and have been peeled for your convenience. They’re really large as well. Plain porridge doesn’t have any nutrien
Following her nose out of the window, Arianne’s eyes wandered before veering into a halt at an Italian eatery. “I… I want lasagna!” she declared.Lasagna?! Mark was nonplussed, his mind mulling over how appropriate a dish that would be for pregnant women.The craving on her face said it all, however. He had to admit that this was better than her not eating anything. With a sigh, Mark wrapped his neck with a scarf and disembarked from the car. “Sit tight. I’ll get one for you.”Unthinkably, Arianne was at her most docile yet. She beamed at Mark with a sweet smile, “Okie-dokie!”Brian watched Mark’s towering frame disappear into a crowd made up of old people and let out a sigh. “Mr. Tremont truly treats you like a crowned jewel, Madam.”All Arianne could think about was lasagna. “Huh… what? Oh, uh, he’s alright.”Mark returned with a large-size lasagna that Arianne wolfed down within minutes — honestly, she could gobble down even larger sizes had Mark bought them.Pregnant women who were
Tiffany shot the man a questioning look before her periphery vision espied a flitting but striking silhouette: Bernadette Legrand, the twenty-nine years-old artist renowned in international art scenes. She had found this company after all!Aye tightened her hand around Tiffany’s. “Okay, calm down, Tiffany. Calm. The. Eff. Down. Now that she’s here, Mr. West will have no choice but to give you an explanation now, right? Or else, he would reeeeally cross the line —”Tiffany, however, was not one to silently bear. The fact that she had been patient up to today belied how much she loathed the entire debacle. Admittedly, she might be able to continue the role of an observer as she monitored the affair before any action, but if this woman had the audacity to appear right by their doorstep, hell was she going to play blind!With a glower, Tiffany followed them out of the door. Worried about her wellbeing, Aye sprung behind her after mustering her courage.Soon, the two arrived at the lounge o
Tiffany turned around and took off. Unlike the past, her eyes were dry this time. Her tears had run their course when she was waiting for him to come home…“—She’s not my mistress. She’s my dad’s!”Tiffany’s heavy footsteps screeched to a halt. She definitely, positively, absolutely did not expect that.She turned and faced Jackson with an expression of abject disbelief. Her first thought was that this was yet another lie, but to push his own father into the pyre would be a little too unscrupulous, even for him. That was not counting the fact that it sounded too downright ludicrous to be believed. Ironically, this meant that Jackson was telling the truth… right?“Your dad’s mistress? Why would your dad’s mistress keep grinding herself on you, huh?” Tiffany questioned skeptically. “Why do you keep visiting her in her hotel? Why wouldn’t she take a five-star hotel's breakfast buffet instead of insisting that you personally deliver breakfast to her, which, holy sh*t, you actually did as 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