The next morning, Mark walked downstairs with a smile on his face. Mary saw how happy he looked and asked, “Did something good happen today, Mr. Tremont? You’re in a good mood this morning. Is Mrs. Tremont awake? Shall I call her down for breakfast?”Mark straightened out his tie, “Nothing much, I just like the weather today. She’s awake. Tell her to come down.”Mary glanced out the window suspiciously. It was snowing. How was this good weather?Arianne shivered the moment she arrived downstairs. She wondered who left the door open downstairs. Snowflakes were being blown in by the cold air. Mary quickly shut the door, “Are you cold? Put on more layers; you don’t want to catch a cold. You always wore thin clothes to school during winter when you were little, so you’d catch a cold every winter and would only recover after the season changed. You’ve always had a frail body, and it’s only accumulated over the years. It’ll take years before you rebuild your health.”Arianne glanced at Mark.
“Ari, Mr. Tremont seems like a completely different person, have you noticed?” Mary’s voice suddenly chimed in from behind her.Arianne returned to her senses and carelessly replied, “Nope. It’s too cold. I don’t feel like moving. I’m going upstairs to sleep. By the way, if Henry goes out, tell him to get two books for me. Just the kind that I usually read will do. You can tell him to ask me if he isn’t sure.”Mary grunted a reply, waited for her to go upstairs, then called Mark, “Sir, Mrs. Tremont has asked for two more books, could you get them on your way home? Just her usual series will do. She just said… Okay.”White Water Bay Villa.Jackson had forced Tiffany to stay home today. Actually, her stomach wasn’t hurting anymore, but she couldn’t get past his insistence.She remembered that it had been a while since she visited her own home. Lillian was staying alone and she rarely contacted her. She should pay her a visit.She drove back into her condominium, got into the elevator, an
Tiffany knew Arianne’s daily habits. She would never be able to go back to sleep after just waking up, “Sure. I’ll go upstairs and have a look.”She knocked on the door and opened it. Arianne was surprised, “Tiffie? Aren’t you working today?”Tiffany was reminded of the scene she had encountered at home. She couldn’t contain herself, “Come downstairs, I have something to tell you. I’m not setting foot into your room ‘cause your man is a germaphobe. I don’t want him to be annoyed with me.”Arianne was helpless against Mark’s germaphobia too. She took Tiffany by the hand and went to the living room downstairs, “What’s up? You look rattled so early in the morning.”“I hadn’t gone back to visit my mother at her house in a while, so I thought of paying her a visit this morning,” Tiffany said with a sour look on her face. “I even brought her breakfast and a present, afraid that she would nag me for forgetting about her after finding a man. Can you guess what happened? She has no need to nag
“Nothing impressive,” Tiffany replied without a second thought, probably because she was still upset at the prospect of her mother getting married again, “He’s not good-looking; he’s only good with words. We’ve met before, but I don’t really know what he’s like. He’s not a widower, but a divorcee. There must have been a reason behind that divorce, right? I’m not saying that people who are divorced are problematic, but I have to at least understand how and why the divorce happened. Look at the information from the private eye; Grant’s divorce was less than a year ago. I have to find out more.”Arianne smiled silently. It would seem that Tiffany wasn’t being personal with Grant, but trying to persuade herself. She wasn’t going to back down until she had done a thorough investigation. If Lillian planned on remarrying, they would have to cross this hurdle.Tiffany rubbed her slightly bloated belly as she munched on the desserts that Mary had served, “Ari, logically speaking, based on how t
Suddenly, she felt a hand placing itself gently on her tummy. Her sensitive mental state caused her to jolt and immediately wake up. She opened her eyes and was greeted by Mark’s intensive gaze. Realizing that they were much too close together, she pushed herself away from him, “What are you doing home so early? It’s not three yet. It’s the end of the year, so shouldn’t it be pretty busy at the office?”Mark frowned at her reaction, “You don’t want to see me? I came home because I couldn’t stop thinking about you in the office and bought the books you wanted. It is busy at the office, but staying with you is most important. Did I wake you?”She was surprised at Mary for tasking him with buying her books. She shook her head, “No… I had enough sleep. I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I sleep any longer. I’m going for a walk. Rest if you’re tired.”As she got up, Mark pulled her back down and plonked her accurately into his embrace, his arms wrapping firmly around her, “Lie with me for
Mark fell silent. It took him awhile before he spoke again, “There’s no need. Only Jackson knows. I didn’t intend on mentioning it to Granny at first, but I felt that I had no right to keep her son’s death from her. Don’t ask, Ari… There are some things too vile for you to know.”Arianne wasn’t surprised by this outcome. She knew that he wouldn’t tell her so she asked, “Even though I agreed to come back to you, do you really think we could stay together? The gap between us is… too vast, even with a child. There are some distances we cannot cross.”He reached out and lifted up her chin, looking straight into her eyes. He stared directly at her and said, “I will do everything to make you come back to me, so why wouldn’t we stay together? You can love me or hate me if you want, I’ll accept it all. Leave the rest to me. I will do everything right. I love you, and I don’t believe that you don’t love me at all.”She could see her reflection in his eyes, and a glimmer of light. When someone i
It was past 7PM. Tiffany drove her car near her housing area and lingered hesitantly. The new information that the private eye had sent an hour ago kept on replaying in her mind — there was something wrong with Grant Jackson.She had initially intended on trusting her mother’s instincts or personally getting to know Grant. However, for some reason, the scales in her mind were tipped towards the detective whom she had never met. She was hesitating over whether to go upstairs and advise Lillian against dating Grant. She knew that once she said these words, there would be another war. She did not want her relationship with Lillian to return to how it used to be.After a long bout of hesitation, she typed out a message to the private eye: Is your information accurate? This is very important to me. What’s wrong with Grant Jackson? Could you please elaborate?A reply soon followed: ‘You are considered an old client of mine now. Shouldn’t you know if the information is accurate? I’ve been inv
The private eye had sent her another message — it was about Grant. The man in question may look like a prosperous business man, but in reality, he’d been in debt for ages. His offices were nothing but empty shells, and were suffering from debt. His divorce stemmed from financial difficulties too. Not too long after the divorce, he pursued her mother, Lillian. Why? Grant never showed his face when the Lane family went bankrupt. It may seem like they were closely connected, but it was really just superficial.She had a bad feeling and could not concern herself with food. She rushed out and drove her car back home.As expected, Grant was around today too. Lillian, who never liked to cook and couldn’t anyway, actually cooked today. Tiffany was shocked and upset at the same time. She’d never been able to enjoy her mother’s cooking…Surprised at her homecoming, Lillian seemed very cautious, “Tiffie, have you had dinner? Would you like to eat with us?”Grant rose to his feet and greeted her w