All Chapters of Purest Hearts : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

           “Hello Marianne, it’s nice of you to invite us for lunch. This is my fiancee, Melissa,” said Steven. This time he didn’t extend his hands, he had taken into account what Francois had said, that Marianne doesn’t do handshakes. However, he gets the vibe that Marianne doesn’t like him and is the reason for not accepting his extended hand last time.               “Hello, Steven,” said Marianne, with a cool composure. Then she looked at Melissa “Nice to meet you, Melissa.” Marianne smiled at her. She had met Melissa before and knows that she can be a really nice person but also can be a bad enemy. Melissa came from a nice family which made Marianne think that it’s one reason why Steven had stuck with her. 

Marianne was woken up to the sound of the landline's loud ringing tune on her side table.       "Who on earth would be calling so early in the morning!" she moaned as she put her hands to her ears. When the ringing stops, she takes off her sleep mask, but then she grimaces and squints her eyes because of the brightness of the room that is blinding her. She can hear Francois’s voice who is answering the phone from his desk. While adjusting her eyes to the light, her vision is focusing at the direction of Francois’ voice but is surprised to also see John there who is sitting in front of him. She sees John who is  waving at her with an amuse smile on his face. Marianne gives him an irritated look of ‘why are you here?’ which made John more amused. She turns her head to her side but is baffled to see the time on the clock.

In the dining room, it’s quarter past six in the evening on the big Victorian wall clock. The Williams’ household’s rule is to be on time for meal times which are eight in the morning for breakfast and six in the evening for dinner. At this time, everyone is at their seats and as usual Joanna is dominating the conversation.            “John, did you know that Marianne had invited mum and dad to stay here when they are back from their holiday,” said Joanna, chuckling and shaking her head.           “What!!?” John nearly spills his drink. He turns his vision towards Marianne trying to figure her out ‘Why would she do that

Francois looked at Marianne attentively, ‘I must have missed something?’ he thought. He notices the way she is sitting upright with her chin out, like she is ready for a battle yet there is also an indication of maturity and full of confidence in her look.  Carl looked at Marianne sharply, for he didn’t expect her to be saying this, especially with some other people around them. This is more of Joanna’s style, but not Marianne. From what he had seen of her, she would either tolerate things or be dependent on Francois' support. He was about to tell her that ‘the words came out wrong earlier’ when he heard Francois apologising.         “I’m sorry that I just agreed on what Carl had said earlier,” said Francois. He had programmed in his mi

Marianne notices the unseemly behaviour of the people in the room. John and Joanna look like they had been caught off guard, while Leonna looks relieved to see them.         "Err.. Is everyone okay...?” queried Marianne. She didn’t miss the anger on John’s face  which he masked out quickly. After a long silence, Joanna took a deep breath and said:        “It’s not been that long since I met you and Annie. I was warmly welcomed here even though you didn’t know me. Those days that I had been here have never been a boring day. My favourite times were when we were all gathered together. There were banterings and many arguments that I don’t even remember what it is about. Whe