Janice’s expression froze slightly into that of uncertainty. A few moments later, she recovered and held her palms together, bidding farewell. “If you’d excuse me…”After she left, Mark yanked Davy into his office and lambasted, “You’ve got one job, Davy—just one! Your seat is right outside my office door, and you can’t even guard my door? Since when have I ever allowed anyone to enter my space without my explicit permission? This floor is a restricted area, and unless it’s something urgent, no one would be able to come in, got it? This is my last warning, Davy. If I see Janice Bell inside my office without my knowledge, you’re fired!”Davy was dumbfounded. “B-But, Sir, I’ve never seen you express any problem with this? A-And the two of you always seem so close, and so I thought you wouldn’t mind something like this,” he explained. “Then there’s the fact that she has this charismatic way with people and knows the exact right word at the exact right time. It’s not easy resisting a cha
Outside an abortion operation studio in the hospital, Alejandro sat on his wheelchair and waited quietly with Jett loyally standing beside him. Melanie was in the middle of the surgery.The little thing which came without his blessing would soon be removed. Alejandro had thought that he would be unperturbed by the entire process, and indeed, that was the case when they arrived at the hospital in the morning or when Melanie was doing a series of pre-surgical checkups.Then his wife was sent into the studio, and he suddenly became restless and troubled. He thought of how Tiffany and her large baby bump looked like. He remembered Smore’s cute little face. He did not hate kids—he just hated the idea of fashioning posterity from his unsightly, ignoble blood.“Mr. Smith, what if Don Smith found out about this? I mean, he might be able to tell from tiny details of Melanie’s recovery, since we’re all living under the same roof, which makes it very hard to conceal the effects of this abortio
“All I did was to back out of a decision I made, and you’re already so obnoxiously thankful for it?” Alejandro snapped. “Seriously, thanking me for something like this? Do you honestly see this as some kinda royal pardon? Despicable. You’re Melanie Smith née Lark, the princess of the Lark family. You have no reason to kowtow to anyone! And you should have fought me harder and never agreed to abandon that child.”His words baffled Melanie, especially since he was the one who had taken both hard and soft power to make her bend to his will. “What are you saying? I… I didn’t wanna start a fight with you because of the baby. Regardless of how I wanted to be a mother, if you insist on not wanting a kid of our own, I’ll still defer to you for the sake of our future together.”“Ha. That wasn’t your way of telling me that you’ve fallen in love with me, was it?” Alejandro jeered.Melanie froze, finding herself hard-pressed to reply to him. The mocking tone stung her right at heart, making the
As though noticing Arianne’s attention, Mark quickly turned to meet her eyes briefly. “What are you looking at? Is there something on my face?”Arianne averted her eyes guiltily. “Excuse you! I wasn’t looking at you. I was looking at… Er, the beautiful scenery outside your window! Look at the weather today—it’s great! It’s not snowing! It’s a bit cold, though.”He raised his eyebrows in skepticism. “And what’s so different about the scenery from your window and mine, huh? Is it so great that you had to try to look past me for it? Should I apologize for blocking your view?”Arianne’s tongue was tied in embarrassment. Why did he have to expose her like that?They arrived at the fancy Italian fine-diner Mark had booked. When they stepped through the door, Mark placed his hand on his hip to form a small loop for Arianne, who naturally hooked her arm through it.Her heart was beating fast. She had to admit that going on a date definitely brought some highs.Arianne deliberately picked
Arianne was still perplexing over the origin of this ring when Mark pointed out, “I designed it myself a long time ago. Revamped a bit and had someone craft it for three months. I only decided to give it to you after I was satisfied enough.”His admission reminded Arianne—she had seen its design plan in his study when she was still a kid! This was why she felt as though she had seen it before!Back then, Arianne had imagined the ring to be something Mark had designed for his future wife. How would she have known that the same ring would one day fall on her hand?Fate was an enigmatic mistress. By her machination, Arianne’s life was bound to Mark’s for this lifetime.She closed the box carefully, clearly not intending to wear the ring right there and then. She was afraid of losing it during work.Mark was a little displeased with her action. In fact, his handsome face became stormy. “You’re not gonna wear it?”“Well, I don’t want to lose it…”“I can always hire someone to remake
Suddenly, Robin walked over. “Arianne, I’ve settled your sketches. Do you need me to come up with a sample this afternoon? Mr. Yaleman needs it in the afternoon, the day after tomorrow.”Arianne quickly turned off her phone and tucked her hair behind her ears awkwardly. “Uh… Sure. Thank you. You can start on the sample in the afternoon. This one’s a little complicated, so you’ll need some time. Do it early so you won’t have to do overtime.”Robin’s keen eyes spotted the ring on her finger. “Wow, Arianne, your ring is beautiful. The diamond is huge. It must have been expensive. I didn’t see you wearing it this morning. Your husband must have given it to you during lunch, right? Mr. Tremont is so romantic.”Arianne smiled. “Go on, go to the workshop, and start on the sample. You’ll have to support me.”She felt very uneasy the entire afternoon due to Mark’s message. Her mind would always wander off into strange territories. This was her first time going to a hotel with him, and she f
Arianne’s heart exploded from cuteness. She finally understood why Mark wanted a daughter. The joy of having a daughter was completely different from having a son.“Pumpkin, where did you go? Come back to daddy.”Arianne stiffened. She turned to the side and found Will Sivan’s astonished gaze. Everything had changed in time, but they still looked the same, save for a sense of maturity throughout the years.She jumped in fright when she heard his voice. She thought that his voice sounded more like a stranger’s. She never expected such a coincidence…“When… did you come back?” She got up and asked calmly after a short pause.Will took a deep breath, strode forward, and picked up the little girl. “I just arrived a few days ago. I’m here to visit relatives. I’m not staying long. What a coincidence… I never thought that I’d run into you here. Are you here to shop for baby things? I came back in a rush, so I couldn’t contact you or Tiffie…”Will knew that she had a baby, and she knew t
The woman stayed in her spot, holding the baby. She was feeling slightly humiliated but mostly helpless. She knew that she could never replace Arianne in Will’s heart in this lifetime, not even when she and Will had already had a baby. This was a tragic fact.Arianne let out a long sigh of relief after leaving the shopping mall. The cold winds refreshed her emotions. It was almost time, and Mark would be reaching soon.She sent him a message to tell him that she was at the shopping mall entrance. His car soon arrived on the street across the road from her. She opened the car door and got into the car. The warm air in the car cut off the chill from outside. She smoothed her hair, which had been messed up because of the wind. “Where are we going for dinner?”Mark didn’t reply, so she turned around and looked at him. “What’s wrong?”He stared at the rearview mirror with an expressionless face. “When did Will Sivan come back?”She was taken aback, then realized that Will was at a dist