“Arianne, I’m leaving,” Helen carefully called out. “Go to a doctor if you’re not feeling well. Don’t drag it out.”She couldn’t contain her disgust. “It’s not your place to concern yourself with me, Mrs. Kinsey,” she replied icily. “You should be more concerned about the members of the Kinsey family.”Helen’s body stiffened. She felt slightly embarrassed. Aery tugged on Helen. “Please don’t subject yourself to someone else’s cold shoulder, mother. You may want to acknowledge her as your daughter, but she doesn't acknowledge you as her mother.”Helen let out a sigh and quietly walked downstairs to leave. Aery was feeling completely disgusted. Once upon a time, she was the only daughter in Helen’s eyes. However, Arianne had now made an appearance all of a sudden, and she had the man she loved under her thumb as well. The thought of this angered her greatly!Not too long after, everything went silent outside. Arianne got up and went downstairs to find something to eat.Just as she s
Arianne was afraid that Tiffany might accidentally spill the beans, so she quickly interjected. “I’m fine. I won’t stop worrying if I don’t help you either.”Will smiled. “Wait for me. I have to go to the toilet.”Tiffany grabbed Arianne’s hand after Will left. “Your hands are so cold. The doctor told you yesterday to be on bedrest for a week, yet you’re still running around. Will can help me out. Why don’t you go home?”Since Arianne was already here anyway, of course, she wasn’t going to leave now. “Alright already. Don’t spout nonsense in front of Will. I’m fine.”On the other end, Will had arrived at the door to the toilet when he paused in his footsteps. His gaze met with a pair of cold eyes. After a brief silence, he spoke up, “Don’t tell me that you followed Ari all the way here?”Mark’s gaze darkened. “Ari? Looks like you’re pretty close to my wife.”Will felt a pang in his heart when he heard the word ‘wife’. “Mark Tremont, I don’t care how you managed to force Ari into
Will glanced at Arianne but didn’t reveal the matter involving Mark. “It’s nothing. It’s late, let’s call it a night. Tiffie, you should go home and keep your mother company.”Tiffany sighed. “You know what my mother’s like. Now that my father’s gone, she probably won’t be able to catch her breath for a few years.”Arianne nodded, “Then I’m leaving. Call me if you need anything.”Just as she had spoken, she noticed a black Rolls-Royce parked not too far away. She remembered the car plate number all too well—it was Mark’s car…It took Brian a quick moment to get down from the car, walk up to her, and take her handbag. “Time to go, Madam.”Arianne did not expect to see Mark here. She looked at Will and Tiffany then followed Brian into the car without another word.Mark’s expression in the car was difficult to read. “What are you doing here?” she asked.He looked out at the passing buildings. “Why can’t I be here?” he asked in a chilly voice.She was momentarily at a loss for word
Mark had requested for these to be prepared since yesterday. Coincidentally, Helen and Aery had paid them a visit today too. She wasn’t sure if he had prepared it specifically for Aery, but the ingredients ended up arriving late and Aery couldn’t wait until dinnertime, so she became the plug.Such high-grade prawns were hard to come by during this season. Mark had certainly gone through a lot of trouble to have them specifically air flown here.She had just stuffed a prawn into her mouth, with half of it hanging out of her mouth, when Mark arrived at the dining hall. When she saw the ugly look on his face, she thought that he was upset at her for starting the meal impolitely. Just as she was hesitating over whether or not to spit the prawn out, Mark pushed the entire plate of prawns in front of her and said, “No table manners.”Arianne suddenly remembered that he never ate prawns. Looks like she really would be the plug.Even though his tone wasn’t ideal, she couldn’t be bothered w
It had been a while since they had a meal together and spent time in the same house. He hadn’t taken the initiative to speak to her over the past few days, so Arianne paused in her footsteps when she heard these words. “I… don’t like the smell of smoke. You go ahead, I’ll sleep in the guest room.”She had never said anything about her abhorrence towards his smoking before… A complicated glint flashed across Mark’s eyes. He threw the cigarette box into the trash then got up and went to the bed. “Sleep.”Arianne was shocked. She couldn’t understand what this meant. Had he thrown his cigarettes away, just because she said she didn’t like the smell? It didn’t seem possible that he had done this out of consideration towards her feelings. The biggest possibility was that he was pissed off…She went into a momentary daze then walked over to fish the cigarettes out of the trash. The trash can in their room was always clean. After all, she usually only slept in the room. “I didn’t mean anyth
On the other end of the phone, Ethan suddenly popped into Tiffany’s mind. She didn’t tell the story of their breakup, but her tone became a little bitter. “Yeah… It’ll get better, and we’ll all be fine!”As soon as Arianne ended the call, she dove right back into the complicated work. The busy morning passed quickly. By lunch break, she thought of a Chinese restaurant nearby that served light food since that was what she felt like having today.In the Chinese restaurant, she ordered two dishes that she liked and started digging into it. By the time she left, she realized that it was already raining outside. The weather was always unpredictable in this season, just like Mark Tremont...The rain was pouring and showing no signs of letting up anytime soon. As time passed, she grew aware that she was stranded here. Even if her office wasn’t too far away, she couldn’t possibly reach it. There was an open space that served as a parking lot in front of a Chinese restaurant. Since she wasn’
Arianne was rendered speechless for a moment. “...You’re doubting me just like Tiffie. Alright, we’re here. You can pull up now.”She waited for the car to stop then left in a hurry after thanking Ethan.Ethan watched through his dark eyes as her figure left. It seemed like Tiffany hadn’t told her about their breakup...When it was about time to get off work for the day, Arianne received a whining text from Tiffany. ‘It’s too difficult to find a job! Not only that, it’s raining so much today. It’s annoying!’Arianne was almost done with her work at this time, so she replied to her text. ‘You have Ethan to support you, what’s there to worry about? You used to help him out, now it’s his turn to return the favor. Since he has a good job now and is driving a car that costs nearly a hundred thousand dollars, you can live a decent life. Just take your time in searching for a job.’After the text was sent out, Tiffany didn’t reply for some time. Arianne found that strange. After a long t
By the time Arianne came out, Mark was already sitting at the dining table. He was in his light gray loungewear with slightly damp hair. She could smell the after-bath fragrance on his body. Regardless of circumstances, Mark always paid attention to his bearing and manners. He kept his posture straight all the time and never seemed to relax, even for a moment.Since Arianne didn’t know what to say, she decided not to say anything at all.There were two plates of big prawns for dinner tonight. When Mary served up dishes, she purposely placed the prawns in front of Arianne. Arianne unceremoniously began to peel the prawn shells and feasted on them. On the other hand, Mark gracefully brought the small bowl to his lips and slowly sipped on the soup.He failed to see how someone with such a good appetite was suffering from gastritis and was starting to heavily suspect that there was something wrong with her.Arianne noticed his stare, then forced herself to ask, “What’s wrong?”Mark av