Arianne clenched her teeth before unclenching them. “Giddy?! Would you have been giddy if it was your father?” she bristled coldly. “News flash, before his untimely death, the Wynns were no less of a family with high standing, too. What proof do you even have to claim that I was ever after the Tremonts’ wealth?!”Hearing the lividity in Arianne’s voice, Shelly’s lips quivered into a pleased smirk. “Aww, you mad? And here I thought that after clinging to Mark for so long, his nature would have rubbed on you a little. You know, not wearing your heart on your sleeve like him? But who knew you’d break oh-so-easily?” she jeered. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but right now, there are only two people in this room—you and me. One of the murderers who killed your father is sitting right before you. So, what are you going to do? You know you can do whatever you please… There’s no one to stop you.”At the height of her rage, Arianne turned around to face Shelly and smiled. “Oh, what’s this?
It was Shelly who insisted on pushing Arianne’s button over and over. Back then, Arianne would have sucked it all up and forgiven her no matter how much drama the woman caused. Because she was the aunt of the man Arianne loved.But that had changed following this new light. Arianne might not act on vengeance, but it did not mean that she could continue to treat the murderer with the same amiability as before.She returned to the office with all traces of her emotional upheaval tucked away and assumed an affectation of neutrality. The only thing different to her was that she now paid exacting attention to Mark’s movement.She had declared to Shelly that she would not let Mark step into the latter’s place ever again, and she was damn sure she would deliver that promise.The day wound down to the evening. Before work ended, Arianne strode into Mark’s office. “It’s almost time to go home, Mark. Let’s go together,” she said.Mark hesitated. “Er, I have somewhere else to be after work.
Mark watched her figure vanish out of the door, frowning. That was not Arianne’s usual attitude; he knew her well enough to know that. That was an aberrant behavior.Things would have been so simple if Shelly were just his aunt—if only. But she was more than that, unfortunately.Arianne was not the type to throw tantrums however she liked, so Mark dared not take this lightly. After a brief calculation, Mark decided that Arianne was more important than the other party, so he gave Shelly a call. “Something else came up at home, so I can’t go to your place today,” he explained. “But I’ll send someone to fix your heater later. All you have to do is to open the door for them.”Shelly was seething, but she had to belie it with faux understanding and consideration. “Oh, that’s totally understandable. The repairman will do! By the way, tomorrow is a Saturday, isn’t it? You’re free, aren’t you? Because I miss Smore. Can you bring him over to have lunch with me?”Mark demurred for about two
Arianne caught Henry passing by and stopped him. “Henry, do you have some free time? There’s something I want to ask you about.”Henry stepped forward. “Yes. What would you like to talk about?”Arianne gestured toward a chair. Henry hesitated, then took the one next to her.She shot wary glances at the stairs instinctively, worried that Mark would appear in any minute. “Henry, his aunt invited me to her place for a chat earlier today. She told me that she not only knew about the plane crash, but she was also the one who helped push the plan into motion,” Arianne said. “You’ve already seen what it's like between her and me; she’s got a lot of bones to pick with me. Now that I know about her participation, I don’t want Mark to care for her ever again. I also don’t want her to see Smore at all. Tell me, is my retaliation overt?”The butler was an even-keeled man who never spoke before thinking. He mulled her words over for a while before giving his verdict. “No, not at all. She's mere
Surely, this could not be Shelly’s doing, right? At least, it did not seem like it on the surface. But he had to admit, following a series of happenings, Mark had been passive and reactionary. But how could he act otherwise? Seeing Shelly living alone after a surgery uneased him. He could not stop fussing over her.“I… I understand. I will try to bear this in mind and not do anything that may chaff you. I’ll ask someone to do what I’ve done for Aunt Shelly in my stead, as long as that’s possible. When her leg recovers, I’ll stop letting her dominate my life.”On the surface, it sounded as though Mark was reassuring Arianne, but the truth was that he was hammering it into himself. Every time he saw Shelly, the truth behind his history would overwhelm him before it consolidated into an unreachable thorn embedded deep in his throat.That night, Mark tossed and turned in his bed, tortured by his loss at telling Shelly he was not coming. He remembered how Shelly had excitedly rambled on
Arianne knew exactly who was on the other side of that call.She did not follow Mark as he retreated away, but her eyes trailed after him keenly. She wanted to see what sort of trick Shelly would pull off this time.Frenzy befell Mark as soon as he received the call. He frantically approached Jackson, who was standing close-by, said something to him, and abruptly turned away from the group. He left just like that!Before Arianne could even say anything to stop him, the man vanished into the elevator.Jackson was utterly baffled. “Why the hell did that guy tell me if he’s got an emergency? And why am I supposed to relay that message to Arianne? I don’t get it—why didn’t he just cut the middleman and tell you yourself? You are here! With us!”Arianne’s face, however, had turned ashen. She could see it clearly in her mind already—Shelly’s triumphant, beaming face declaring loudly, “You lose!”Jackson could see the unsettling changes in her expression, and he instinctively spoke in a
The doctor was confident. “Yes, I’m sure of it. It’s not necessarily true that heavy bleeding connotes serious wounds. At worst, her fall might accidentally trigger an older leg injury, and since it’s connected to some of her leg ligaments, it elicited a sudden jolt of pain that could, understandably, cause her to faint in agony. Either way, when the IV drip finishes, she will be ready to go home. Right now, she’s already awake.”Mark nodded and walked inside the emergency room. Shelly was lying on the bed, her complexion ashen. The usual cherry tint in her lips was now pale and bloodless. Fluid from an IV bag hanging above her head dripped slowly through the line and into her body; chilled by the nipping, wintry air, the fluid often left the patient’s arm feeling torturously numb.Mark reached out and held the arm that was being fed the IV drip. Just as he thought, her arm was frigid to his touch.“Why? I texted you. I told you I wasn’t coming.”Shelly flashed him a pallid smile.
Every fiber in Mark’s face that formed his expression froze. “Are… Are you crazy? How could you bring up a divorce at the drop of a hat like that?”Arianne laughed scornfully, but her eyes were red. “‘Drop of a hat?’ Oh, no. This isn’t something said for the hell of it. I’ve simply had enough! Everyone else thinks I’m an idiot, and I agree—I am an idiot! You Tremonts… are just a cabal of bullies! Hell, you bastards dragged my innocent father into your stupid internal politics and killed him, for Christ’s sake! You people are the reason why I’m an orphan! And yet after all those travesties, what did I do in response?—I fell in love with you. I gave my heart to you. I married you and bore you a child! I’m such a punchline, I wanna laugh at myself! Stupid me thinks that we’ll be able to live together, happily, all the way till a ripe, old age. But all that you’ve done up till now has been a slap in the face, telling me that I’m the only one deluding myself. I’m a f**king idiot!“You kne