Arianne offered Mark the millet porridge. “Here, have some porridge. It's good for the stomach.”Mark didn’t look at her. “Get out.”She didn’t budge an inch. “Uncle Henry is packing as we speak. Is there really no room to talk this out?”Mark massaged the place between his eyes, and his voice filled with impatience, “Don’t make me repeat myself.”Arianne silenced herself but didn’t leave.Mark directly ignored her and got up to change his clothes. It was then that Arianne felt pressed. “Mark, the case revolving around Tiffie’s family has been solved. The person who took away the jewelry’s raw materials is dead, and there’s no way the materials can be recovered again. Tiffie was upset by the turn of events. I only went out to comfort her! It was me who insisted on going. This has nothing to do with Uncle Henry! You can direct your anger at me.”Mark put on his suit and his watch, then conveniently glanced at the time. “I’ll give you two minutes. If you fail to convince me, then t
Mark Tremont was negotiating a contract with a partner over the phone when he was disturbed by the ringing of his cell phone. Feeling rather annoyed, he turned off his cell phone without looking at the screen.Only after the contract was signed and he was back at the hotel did he turn on his cell phone again. His expression turned serious when he realized that the missed call was from Arianne. She usually never took the initiative to call him.He returned the call. After a long busy dial tone, a cold robotic female voice came through. “Sorry, the number you dialed cannot be reached at this moment. Please try again later.”Mark redialed to Tremont Estate, and the call was picked up by Mary. As soon as the call was connected, he asked, “Where’s Arianne?”Mary glanced upstairs and explained, “Madam isn’t feeling well. The light in her room was on all night yesterday, so I guess she is sleeping now since she didn’t get a good amount of sleep last night.”A sigh of relief involuntarily
Aery was already depressed. So when she saw Helen standing up for Arianne, her anger exploded in full force. “Last time you slapped me, it was because of her, and you prohibited me from scolding her. To put it harshly, she’s merely a piece of trash that you’ve discarded. She can’t be considered your daughter. Why are you protecting her so much? Is it out of guilt? You never fulfilled your responsibility as a mother to her before, so what’s with the hypocrisy?”Helen’s expression sank. “Aery Kinsey, if I ever hear you speak of such things again, I will disown you!”This wasn’t the first time they fought over Arianne. Aery simply couldn’t be bothered to argue with her mother. “Fine, I’m not your daughter. She is! Are you happy?”Helen turned around and left with a dark face, locking Aery in her room. “You’ll stay in this room until you’ve calmed down. Don’t cause any more trouble for me!”…By the time Arianne woke up, it was already night time. Mary, seeing how moody she was, didn’
Half an hour later, Mark finally emerged with Mr. Yates. Mr. Yates’s secretary followed closely behind, along with Brian. Arianne stood in front of the car and didn’t approach them. She waited until Mark and Brian were alone before stepping forward.Mark was taken aback when he saw her. “How long have you been here?” he asked in a seemingly casual tone.She put her hands, which had turned red from the cold, into her pockets. “I just got here. Right when you were walking out.”Her cheeks had grown red from the piercing cold wind. He wasn’t blind. He didn’t believe a word she said. “Get in the car. We’ll go to the hotel first.”The first thing Mark did upon returning to the hotel was take a shower. Arianne took advantage of his cleansing habits to think of the best way to broach the subject with him. The bathroom door opened before she could come up with anything. He lit a cigarette as he put on his bathrobe, took two puffs, then put it out. “What is it?”She was struck by nervous
What did he mean by “I know what to do”? Arianne had a sneaking suspicion that he was “starting his engine”, but the stern look on his face told her that that was not the case… As a result, she was beginning to suspect that something had gone wrong with her mind.He fell asleep as soon as he lay down; perhaps he was over exhausted.Arianne carefully lay on the bedside after her shower. She couldn’t sleep but was too afraid of moving too much. That feeling was really unbearable.Suddenly, Mark’s phone rang. As it happens, it was left on the bedside cabinet next to her. She got up and stole a glance. The lit phone screen showed one part of a message: ‘Mark, darling, are you asleep? I was wrong, I miss you. Can you come…’The next part of the message wasn’t shown, but she could guess what it contained—Aery wanted to see him!If she had to make a distinction, her hatred towards Mark was considered helpless and weak. However, her hatred towards Aery and Helen was as overwhelming as the
Arianne’s body promptly stiffened. These kinds of things scared her even more. “I can sleep. It’s just that I slept too much in the daytime. Go to sleep, I won’t bother you anymore…”Mark didn’t reply, and his hand didn’t continue wreaking havoc. She heaved a sigh of relief and stared emptily up at the black ceiling. Unbeknownst to her, his eyes were open as well and his gaze was sober and calm, unlike a few moments ago when he had just woken up…Early morning, the very next day.Arianne woke up from a nightmare and was sweating all over. The heater in the room was too warm, and she wasn’t used to it. She got up and turned down the heater. The skies were only just brightening outside, but Mark was still asleep… She sat on the sofa across the room from the bed, unlocked her phone, and read the news. Tiffany’s family’s factory had collapsed last night. The news was flooded with reports of the capital’s third best jewellery processing plant’s bankruptcy. They had even published the e
Mark seemed pretty free in the afternoon, so he didn’t go out, but sat on the sofa, working on his laptop.Arianne yawned incessantly. She couldn’t help but try to find a topic to talk about so that she could stay awake. Somehow, she ended up slipping into the matter that Charles had previously talked about. “Do you really have a younger brother?”Mark’s hand stiffened. His expression turned gloomy. “Do you think that’s possible? If that were true, he would have come knocking on the door for a share of the family fortune long ago.”Realizing that she had put her foot in her mouth, she was now too afraid to say anything more. Drowsiness was slowly taking over when her phone suddenly received a message: ‘I’m in Jolague City.’Jolague City was the city that she and Mark were currently visiting. Who sent that message? How did they know that she was here?Her heart raced. After lining up all possibilities, she came up with a bold guess. The person behind that number was Will...She gl
“He’s pretty nice. At least, no one can spot his flaws.” Arianne lowered her gaze to her fingers when she said that.“True… Everyone thinks he’s nice, but I hope he genuinely treats you well too.” The inexplicable sadness in Will’s words made Arianne hang her head even lower.She could feel the heaviness of this topic and she just had to change the subject. “Do you already know what happened to Tiffie’s family? There’s nothing I can do…”Will nodded. “Yeah, I do. I can’t do anything either. The amount is simply too huge. All their family’s properties will be seized within half a month to repay the debt. Taking out bank loans and other things, the only debt left is… what they owe Mark Tremont. My estimation is that there’s still at least a million dollars’ worth of debt that they won’t be able to pay. It all depends on how Mark Tremont will handle it. Based on his personality, I don’t think he will resort to violence. But even if they are going to slowly pay it off, it’s going to be
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