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
Arriane only shook her head, not wishing to speak.Sylvain was slightly surprised. “Is she dead?”Arianne rolled her eyes at him. “What’re you talking about? I just don’t know how she’s doing! When I arrived there, she was still in the emergency treatment room, so I don’t know the details. I came back because Mark told me not to stay there.”Sylvain patted his chest. “You gave me a fright there. I thought that things were really bad. We don’t know how she’s doing yet, so there’s no need for you to pull such an expression, is there? She should be fine.”Arianne grabbed her hair in frustration. “I’m not like this because of Mrs. Leigh. It’s because I don’t understand why Mark asked me to come back. Isn’t his aunt my aunt too? I feel so uncomfortable with the dark expression he gave me when he asked me to come back. It’s not like I’m the one who caused his aunt to run into an accident. I know that he’s in a bad mood, but he doesn’t have to vent it out at me…”Sylvain was speechless a
After Arianne was done feeding Shelly, the latter suddenly said, “Mark, you’ve been looking after me tirelessly the whole night. You should go home and get some rest. I’ll be fine here, but I’ll need your help with arranging someone to take care of me for the next few days, since I can’t move around by myself.”Mark pulled up her blanket and tucked her in. “It’s fine, Aunt Shelly. I can’t be at ease if someone else takes care of you. I’ll let Arianne accompany you for the time being while I go home to get changed. I’ll be back later.”Arianne suddenly said, “If you’re worried about someone else taking care of her, why don’t you let me do it then? I’m sure you’d be at ease if it were me, wouldn’t you? You can’t be away from Tremont Enterprise for too long, so you should leave the errands in the hospital to me.”Mark swiftly scanned Arianne’s face and casually said, “It’s fine, I’ll do it.”Arianne trembled—was he being defensive of her? Was he afraid that she would mistreat his Aunt
Shelly was silent for a moment, showing confusion when she answered. “How is that a big deal? I’m even willing to sacrifice my life if I have to…”Arianne found her words to be quite strange. She thought that the feelings Shelly had for Mark exceeded that of an aunt who had not contacted her nephew for many years. It was normal for a senior to show love and care for the juniors, but it was really strange for her to show that many feelings for Mark. It was as if she treated Mark as her own flesh and blood.Arianne had her suspicions but did not dwell further on them, since she was in no position to go wild with her imagination. Later in the day, Mark returned to the hospital to visit. However, Shelly felt sorry for him and asked him to leave the ward after a short while. Arianne stayed at the hospital to accompany Shelly throughout the night. She might have felt tired, but Arianne knew that if she had not done it, Mark would be the one who would be tired instead. How could she let h
Shelly sighed in relief. “That’s fine then.”It was past 2 AM, but Shelly could not go back to sleep. Hence, Arianne stayed up and the two of them talked to each other for a moment before Arianne slept away due to the amount of fatigue she had. The next day, when Arianne woke up, Shelly was still awake. Shelly looked very pale because she was not able to get a good night’s sleep the night before. It seemed like she was really having a hard time sleeping properly.Shelly had been given a sleeping pill that day in addition to her usual medication. Based on the situation she was in, it would not be helpful for her recovery if she was not able to get enough rest. After taking the sleeping pill, she dozed off into a deep sleep without talking in her sleep again.When Arianne recalled what she had heard the night before, her mind was filled with curiosity. She was curious about what had actually happened between Mark’s mom and Shelly for the latter to be stuck in such a deep abyss. Did sh