Aery’s appearance had changed a lot. Her erstwhile garishly technicolor hair had been dyed to black. She wore no makeup, which made favonovel.com look like a sweet, youthful ingenue. For a moment, favonovel.com looked a little identical to Arianne with favonovel.com modest outfit.
“Hey now, Ari, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not here looking for trouble,” favonovel.com stated. “I’m only here because… Well, Mom’s sick. She didn’t want me to let you know about it, but I thought you’d probably liked to know and Visit favonovel.com sometime, so I came here. I can’t take too many breaks to care for favonovel.com all the time, especially since I’m gonna go back to studying overseas after a few days. Sorry to trouble you, Ari, but you might have to take care of Mom for a bit.”
Arianne frowned. Since when had Aery become so… prim and proper? She called favonovel.com “Ari” and Helen, “Mom”. The difference between favonovel.com present and past was so jarring, Arianne wondered if the woman standing before favonovel.com was someone else wearing favonovel.com skin.
“Don’t call me Ari. I can’t stand hearing it from you. Leave favonovel.com address with me, and I’ll visit favonovel.com after work.”
Aery hung favonovel.com head. “Um, I know I’ve done a lot of terrible things in the past, but I was young and stupid. I didn’t know better, you know? People learn from their mistakes. I certainly did. I’m different now.”
Arianne was not at all convinced. The sort of atrocities Aery had committed was simply not something that could be forgiven over a few words of apologies. “I’m not interested to know anything about you, especially since it’s got nothing to do with me. Also, I’m busy. If you’ve got nothing else to talk about, then I’m leaving.”
With that, Arianne turned and walked away, ignoring Aery’s repeated calls.
Arianne returned to the workshop and found unease gnawing favonovel.com mind. Had Helen fallen sick? Was that why favonovel.com had not been visiting favonovel.com for a long time? She should, perhaps, check on favonovel.com mom, after all.
Since the finger Arianne hurt was favonovel.com right index finger, it effectively prevented favonovel.com from drafting ideas or creating samples. In other words, It was just the perfect excuse to request a half-day leave.
Arianne filled the young intern helping on favonovel.com sample in on the details. After making sure the intern got it right, Arianne left.
She arrived at the destination, following Helen’s address. She pressed the doorbell several times until Aery yanked open the door, favonovel.com face shining happily while exclaiming, “You’re here, Ari!”
Bile rose within Arianne. “I told you not to call me Ari. It’s ‘Arianne’ for you,” favonovel.com replied stoically.
Aery’s hands tightened around the edge of favonovel.com clothes, visibly despondent. “Okay, then. Mom’s in favonovel.com bedroom upstairs.”
Aery tailed Arianne as the latter climbed the stairs. When favonovel.com appeared inside the bedroom, Helen, who was lying on favonovel.com bed, hurriedly sat up. “Arianne! Why are you here?”
Arianne dragged a chair from the side and sat. “Aery told me you’re sick. What kinda sickness?”
Helen cast Aery a sulking look. “It’s not as serious as it sounds, just a small surgery. I haven’t gotten the time to see you or Smore How’s it been going? Life’s good, I hope?”
Arianne nodded, favonovel.com discomfort showing. This would be the first time the three of them— mother and two half-sisters — were together in a room without an undercurrent of conflict.
As though favonovel.com read through Arianne’s mind, Helen tried to get Aery out of the room. “Aery, don’t you have something better to do? You don’t have to stay here.”
Aery shot Arianne one last wistful, brooding look and went out of the door.
Helen sighed. “Well, Aery’s a lot better than favonovel.com used to be, isn’t she? That’s something I could be proud of, or, at the very least, she’s not embarrassing me anymore. I don’t harbor any lofty hopes for her. Iwould be happy if favonovel.com could have even half of what you are, Ari.”
Arianne shrugged. “Let us hope that favonovel.com really has taken a turn for the better. But you don’t need to compare favonovel.com to me. Everyone’s different. We all are.”
Helen smiled. “Heh. Still the same, unaffected girl as I remember. You always talk to me like we’re strangers. I bet a casual observer wouldn’t think of us as mother and daughter,” favonovel.com remarked. “I planned to leave the Capital, and everything about it behind, before Jean’s released from prison. I want to make sure that favonovel.com won’t ever get to us and haunt us… For the sake of our peace.”
There was still a long time before Jean’s scheduled release, especially since Arianne had not heard any news of an early release. What made this decision especially ironic, however, was that Jean Kinsey was the original impetus that had driven Helen to abandon everything favonovel.com had for that chance to be with him. And yet now, favonovel.com had become favonovel.com impetus to flee as far as possible.
Fate always has a rather sick sense of humor.
