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
Tiffany’s resolve began to waver. In truth, she very much wanted to go home. She was just looking for a way to admit it without losing her face.Catching the hesitance in her friend, Arianne pressed on. “You are his fiancée, not his mistress. What’s wrong with you going back to his place and shoving your worst grimace at him every day? None whatsoever. Now, if you still can’t take it, or if he continues to sting you with his pigheadedness, well! You could always pack up your clothes and move back to your mom’s. Let’s see if he stops you. If he doesn’t, you go, free and guiltless. If he stops you? Mission accomplished. So here’s what you should do: you’re gonna leave your car at my place and I’ll have Mark send you home. If you decided to move out, you won’t have a car to take you, which means he — if he’s man enough — has to yield and be your driver. He can’t let poor Tiffany go to her mom’s all alone in the middle of the night, can he?”While Tiffany nodded vigorously, Mark sank into
She glared at him. “None of your business!”He kicked her luggage away. “You’ve said it. You’ve apologized and explained, so now the ball’s in my court, okay? Can we stop talking about this? It’s late; let’s get some sleep.”The very mention of sleep made her boil over with rage again. Back in the Tremont Estate, when she couldn’t eat a single bite, he ate as if nothing had happened and slept as if everything was fine. He looked as if he had simply moved on. At this point, she felt as if chopping someone up alive would be the most cruel thing, but he was quiet, he said nothing and simply stared at her with a cold look on his face. Who could possibly stand that? They had obviously parted on bad terms on Friday, and he never made a single move to contact her — for two days! Suddenly, she felt as if he didn’t care about her at all!“You might be able to sleep, but I can’t! You have no heart, you don’t hurt, you feel nothing, but I’m not like you!”Flying into a rage mixed with her own gri
Tiffany stopped whatever she was doing, got up, and faced him. “Who said that I could have a meal with Alejandro, that you contacting Lynn shouldn’t be a problem? Do you know nothing at all? You’ve got a lot of tolerance. I’ve been away for two days and you never called or texted. Am I still important to you? Am I? Did you even think about coming down to open the door for me when I got home just now? I probably wouldn’t have been able to get in if I came here on my own!”Jackson went silent again. As expected, it was useless to have a reasonable conversation with a woman. He had known that she was staying at Arianne’s, which is why he didn’t call. If she wasn’t going to come home, wouldn’t they just end up quarreling if he called? Wouldn’t it be better to quarrel in one’s own home? He had been waiting for her to come home so that they could solve this together… Who would have thought that she would stay away for two days?He was wondering why she didn’t open the door herself when she a