Tiffany stretched her hand out and pinched his cheek. “Are you jealous? You do know that he’s disabled. You’re a rich young man from the West family. Why would you be uncertain of yourself in front of a disabled person? I’m not blind. Certainly, I know that you’re the most handsome, considerate, and gentlest man ever. Why would I fall for another man and abandon you? Mr. Smith is nobody to me. Even if he’s extremely handsome, he’s still a disabled person. Besides, he only gave me a business card. What kind of nonsense are you talking about now?” Jackson remained quiet. He was thinking about the reason why Alejandro gave Tiffany his business card. Why would a person like him want to befriend Tiffany? Did he do that just to approach Jackson? It seemed quite ridiculous. If Alejandro wanted to expand his business, it would be easier for him to meet Jackson directly. Why did Alejandro have his mind on a woman instead? When they reached the company, they carried out their respective respon
Alejandro did not deny it. “It’s something like that. Please take your seat. Feel free to order anything you like to eat.”She glanced around. “I promised to treat you to a meal. Why does this place seem like your manor house? Are you treating me to a meal instead?” Alejandro gave her a meaningful glance with his deep-set eyes. “It doesn’t matter much as to who’s paying for this meal. I just want to have a meal with you. Now that I’ve gained what I want, it doesn’t matter much.” What he said made her slightly uncomfortable, especially the way he looked at her. She became nervous for an unknown reason. Why did he stare at her? To ease the tension, she took the initiative to start chatting with him. “Mr. Smith, may I have the liberty to ask why you helped me? We’re not from the same world. It seems unlikely that we’ll ever belong to the same world. You gained nothing by lending me a hand. Besides, you’re a businessman. Certainly, you wouldn’t do anything disadvantageous to you.” Aleja
She stopped walking and looked toward where Lynn was. At the same time, Lynn walked toward her too. The last time she met Lynn was at the dessert shop. She didn't even know where she had gone. Surprisingly, she met Lynn here. Lynn threw her a glance calmly before continuing her work. Alejandro asked, “Are you acquainted with each other?” Tiffany nodded. “Yes. We were colleagues once. I still need to get to work in the afternoon. I need to excuse myself now. Thank you for your hospitality.” Alejandro did not try to detain her. “Alright. See you around. Let Lynn see you off to the door since you know each other.” Then, he addressed Lynn. “Lynnie, see the guest out.” Lynn stopped her work and walked toward Tiffany, who did not linger there for long. She then walked toward the entrance of the manor house directly. When they were alone, she asked Lynn, “Are you working as a bodyguard for Alejandro?” Lynn said without any facial expression, “What? Are you such a busybody?” Tiffany cou
Tiffany became slightly anxious now. “No… I just felt that it was quite embarrassing. That’s why I didn’t tell you about it. I thought that I would be able to resolve it by myself, but it never occurred to me that Alejandro would help me… I didn’t even have any contact with him; he only gave me the business card after he resolved that issue for me. I certainly had to take the business card from him under such circumstances. I wasn’t thinking about what his intention was. I just wanted to return him the favor and be done with it. We won’t have any contact with each other from now on, so…” When she said those things, she asked him, “Did Lynn contact you? She’s working for Alejandro now. I ran into her there…” Jackson walked toward the window and turned away from her. He sounded cold. “So you’re allowed to have a meal with another man, but I’m prohibited from receiving a call from another woman?” She felt like she was being treated unfairly. “Didn’t you claim that you’re no longer keepi
Just the reminder of how Lynn had bedeviled her caused Tiffany’s flames to flare. “Frickin’ Lynn Brooks! According to Jackson, all they ever had was sex. God knows if they were ever beyond physical.”Mark looked a little stunned because admittedly, he did not know Lynn quite well. “I don’t really know much about this,” he said. “You should probably chat with Ari instead.”Mark retreated to his study unprompted after dinner, tacitly providing the girls with their space. Immediately after he left, Tiffany was like a stuffed box kicked open — nothing, from Grant’s issue to Alejandro Smith’s dramatic debut, was left out. When her account arrived at the part involving Lynn, Tiffany was evidently gritting her teeth. “Sh*ts between me and Jackson have never blown out to this proportion before! He frickin’ smashed things! The tone he used in the office, Ari, you have no idea just how… how much it stung. I was so — so angry that I could almost burst into tears right there! And then he gotta’ ru
Mark hung up the phone and ordered Mary to prepare the guest room. By this point, he was fairly sure that Tiffany was not going away tonight. It was nearing eleven, yet his Arianne did not look at all like she was packing up for bed.He stood on the end of the stairs and called out, “Ari, it’s getting late. Time for bed, yes?”Arianne eyed the clock on the living room wall. “It really is late. Why don’t we head to bed, Tiffie?”A veil of moroseness still hung over Tiffany, who found it hard to smile when she remembered that Jackson had not given her a call or text even now. “Okay. But… I don’t wanna sleep alone. Sleep with me?”Mark almost choked himself on how accurate his prediction was. He knew it; Tiffany would definitely dish out this card — it was always moments like these when he was forced to reckon with the women’s creed of “sistahs before mistahs.”Surprising absolutely no one, Arianne said yes without batting an eyelash. “You got it, sis. Come, I’m gonna show you to the gues
Mark’s breath seemed to halt for a second before he lurched, his lips closing onto hers.Arianne welcomed him. Her fingers changed position and dexterously laced around his neck.When their breathings started to race, Mark stopped himself and released her from his grip. “I know Tiffany’s still waiting for your company, so go. I’m satisfied with this.”Arianne lowered her head with a soft chuckle. “Right. Nighty-night.”She had always known the wiles to endear herself to him, or exactly what to do to please him. In the past, her goal was to ingratiate on him. But now, these little things had become bona fide seasonings in a relationship.After all, a genuine bond between two people required both sides to be pleased and to be willing to practice endearment.Tiffany spent her weekend cooped up with Arianne in the Tremont Estate. After days of bad weather, the sky finally turned blue today.Unfortunately, a snowstorm was waging in Tiffany’s chest. This would mark the first time the rhubarb
Jackson was silent for two whole seconds before answering, “Home. Was asleep. What?”Tiffany turned red right there and then. It was only nine at night — since when did Jackson West ever go to sleep this early?! He was either working overtime or goofing around, having his fun. He never slept this early!The worst offender, however, was that Tiffany’s implicative absence did not at all worry him — to the point that he found no problem slumbering!Even Arianne found words failing her. After a brief albeit glaring silence, Jackson’s nonchalant voice came. “If it’s nothing important, I’m hanging up.”And he hung up without waiting a second more.Tiffany bit her lips. Tears broke out of her eyes and wetted her cheeks like a deluge from two broken levees. Nothing Arianne said soothed her, so she ran upstairs and went to the one person she hoped could help. “Mark! I called Jackson for Tiffie’s sake, and Jackson was sleeping, and he just hung up the phone without even asking how Tiffie’s doing