Mark’s action had been slight, but Shelly noticed it. For a split-second, despondence flitted across her eyes—and then it was no more, gone before anyone could catch it.All that was left instead was her voice turning as sharp as a knife when she bristled. “What did I tell you? I’ve told you, you cannot be the sort of simpleton who lets a woman lord all over him! What she’s doing right now is just beyond the pale! This house belongs to the Tremonts. And she? She’s just an orphan adopted and raised here thanks to your magnanimity. How dare she treat you like this? She can put on airs around me, but she has no right to do that to you. Honestly? I’ve been putting up with her for your sake all this time, but she thinks she can do whatever she likes because Mr. Tremont loves her soooo damn much, isn’t it? Well, enough’s enough! I’m gonna teach her a lesson—if someone has to sleep in the guest room tonight, it’s gotta be her and not you!”Mark deadpanned. “Aunt Shelly, stop. This is how we
Arianne could not even be angry. It was a misunderstanding, after all, and one that might require a lengthy explanation at that.In resignation, she dragged a chair and sat. “With all due respect, Aunt Shelly, methinks you’re reaching,” she began. “You’re right. My dad was an innocent victim who didn’t need to die in that plane tragedy. But the burden and pain that incident brought weighed more on Mark than it ever did me, and it would be unreasonable of me to judge him as the sinner and take him out as my revenge. And also, I call him ‘Mark’ out of deadset habit! Doesn’t mean I don’t love him.“Frankly, you shouldn’t be making these baseless, paranoid accusations. I’ve been with him for years, Aunt Shelly. Smore’s already past his second birthday. If my intention had always been to murder him, I have had many, many chances. For goodness’s sake, he sleeps with me every night. What’s keeping me from seizing the chance the first time it presents itself? A simple slit across his neck, a
Shelly trembled in fury. She stormed out of the room and slammed the door on her way out.Arianne plopped down on her bed and let out a long breath that she had been holding. If she were to be honest, Shelly raising her hand at her had been a pretty terrifying moment. Had that woman went through with it, this debacle would immediately escalate beyond a simple tiff right there and then. Being the middleman, Mark would then face one of the most knotty quandaries in his life yet.It seemed that the only reason why Shelly stopped herself was to save Mark from the storm her action would have incurred. In a way, it proved just how much Mark meant to Shelly.Aunt Shelly’s absence during breakfast the next morning was conspicuous.Arianne ordered their babysitter to check on her upstairs, but the girl came down alone a few moments later. “Mrs. Leigh said she’s skipping both breakfast and work today. Um… her eyes are kind of puffy, Mr. and Mrs. Tremont. I think she might have just recently
“I didn’t feel a tinge of sadness when my husband died. In fact, I just felt elated; I was emancipated. There’s nothing I wanted more than to flee there, and I stopped for no one and nothing until I finally made it home. But then I realized something—I can’t stop hating him. He’s dead already, and yet I can’t cease to hate. Hell, I wish I had defaced him and crushed his bones into powder. And that’s when I learned, you can’t dissolve and let go of real hatred so easily; it’s nigh impossible. So, how could Arianne stop hating you? How is it possible for her to not only transverse hate but to come to love you? I don’t understand. I don’t believe it…”By this point, Shelly seemed to have lost control over her emotions, devolving into a crying mess.Mark took a piece of tissue for her. “I understand now, Aunt Shelly. It’s alright, trust me. I’ll talk to Arianne about this, and she’ll definitely understand you—she’s very rational,” he comforted gently. “Aunt Shelly, you should let go of t
Mark let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, so that’s why! In that case, it’s fine. Go ahead and rest. I’ll be off to work.”Everything added up—Shelly’s fib about her buddy-buddy relationship with his mother excluded, of course. Everything else made enough sense, and if Mark was being honest, he did not care to dive deep into the age-old drama between his mother and his aunt. Whatever that was, it was a feud of a generation before him. There was no need to drag it out from under the dust.Besides, what sort of catastrophic enmity could possibly be bred between an ordinary pair of sisters like them?En route to the Tremont Tower, Arianne asked while in the car, “So, what did your aunt tell you? If it involves anything that I’m not supposed to hear, you could skip that part.”Mark turned to face her. “Why do you think there’ll be such a thing? You’re entitled to hear everything, Arianne. Anyway, it turns out that her capriciousness and predisposition for extreme actions are all products of
Arianne scanned the room while gesturing to Tiffany to shut up. “Are you crazy? We’re in the office here! Don’t shout so loudly at a moment like this. What’ll happen if someone overhears you, huh?”Tiffany’s sensibilities finally caught on, and she lowered her voice. “Oop! I was just a little too shocked, okay? Like, I was so surprised, I forgot to control my volume. But come on! Being together in a room with an aunt like that? It really is a brand new hell every day… Sucks to be you, girl. Guess no one could beat Jackson’s mom in being The Best Mother-in-law Ever, huh? She has never so much as raised her voice at me, let alone rage at my face.”Arianne pursed her lips. “Okay, okay, I concede! Your mother-in-law is the best in the whole wide world! Honestly, all I’m asking her right now is to let me live every day in peace. I just want Mark’s aunt to stop being so hostile with me, and let everyone carry on with their lives without any more fights. I really can’t stand how much she lo
Arianne only returned after having dinner with Tiffany and Melanie. By the time she reached home, it was slightly over nine o’clock at night.Smore had been adamant about waiting for his mother and refused to sleep. Upon seeing her, Smore struggled out of Aunt Shelly’s arms and dashed forward, shouting, “Mommy!”Arianne picked the boy up and eyed Shelly instinctively, anticipating. This was usually when Shelly would declare time for Smore to go to sleep so that Arianne had no time to interact with the kid a second longer.This time, however, Shelly did none of that. She did not seem out of the ordinary when she greeted her. “Home already, huh? Take a shower so you may rest early. Smore refuses to sleep before you come home, you know. I bet seeing you now gladdens him greatly.”She nodded. “You should rest early, too. Anyway, I’ll bring Smore upstairs.”Arianne might have only lived with Shelly for a while, but she felt like she had known that woman enough to conclude that she was,
When she arrived at her desk, Arianne sat down and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She still had quite a lot of outstanding tasks to be completed.Sylvain had arrived earlier than her and was already buried in his work. Arianne casually asked, “How have you been recently? Has your mom not made you break down yet?”Sylvain gave a wry laugh and said, “I’m doing alright, but I can’t seem to understand why Robin’s mom dislikes me and my mom dislikes Robin like they’re born to be mortal enemies. I put in so much effort and finally began to make progress with getting Robin’s mom to like me, then my mom suddenly jumps out and makes my life even more difficult. Everytime I think of how Robin and I still aren’t living together despite being married for so long, I can’t even begin to imagine when we’re going to be able to begin making plans for having a baby. I’ve got a really bad headache at the moment because of this. You’re a woman, I’m sure you’re more experienced with dealing with