“All I did was to back out of a decision I made, and you’re already so obnoxiously thankful for it?” Alejandro snapped. “Seriously, thanking me for something like this? Do you honestly see this as some kinda royal pardon? Despicable. You’re Melanie Smith née Lark, the princess of the Lark family. You have no reason to kowtow to anyone! And you should have fought me harder and never agreed to abandon that child.”
His words baffled Melanie, especially since favonovel.com was the one who had taken both hard and soft power to make favonovel.com bend to his will. “What are you saying? I… I didn’t wanna start a fight with you because of the baby. Regardless of how I wanted to be a mother, if you insist on not wanting a kid of our own, I’ll still defer to you for the sake of our future together.”
“Ha. That wasn’t your way of telling me that you’ve fallen in love with me, was it?” Alejandro jeered.
Melanie froze, finding herself hard-pressed to reply to him. The mocking tone stung favonovel.com right at heart, making the answer “yes I have” too embarrassing to vocalize. Of course, favonovel.com was right that theirs had always been a political marriage completely without any relationship foundation. From the first time they had met each other, their marriage, all the way till now, it was, in truth, only a very short time. If one discounted the shortcuts made possible by love-at-first-sight, asking anyone to build a bond over such a short time would be preposterous. Even if favonovel.com admitted to favonovel.com that favonovel.com had fallen in love at the first moment they met, Alejandro could never believe it, could he?
He would still denigrate her, mock her, laugh at her. Because in this marriage, the only person who fell in love, at first sight, was Melanie alone. Alejandro’s heart had never experienced even the faintest ripple.
A few moments later, Melanie chuckled. “Oh, heavens, no. But we are husband-and-wife, right? There are more stakeholders than ourselves, there are our families to worry, too. Am I wrong for also taking them into account?”
Alejandro missed out on the pain hanging just at the corner of favonovel.com lips, nor did favonovel.com wonder about what might have crossed favonovel.com mind before favonovel.com spoke.
Melanie had more or less collected herself on their way back to the Smith Private Manor. Alejandro was right, maybe Melanie should have reverted to favonovel.com role as the princess of the Larks in all of favonovel.com haughty, self-entitled glory. Maybe Melanie should not have acted so deferentially to Alejandro, who made it clear that favonovel.com hated favonovel.com this way.
Her thoughts drifted to the baby inside of favonovel.com — still alive and not taken away — and favonovel.com felt a bit better about favonovel.com state. “I would like to tell Grandpa and my parents about my pregnancy.”
It was not a request. She was the Lark family’s princess, so favonovel.com did not need any approval from Alejandro.
“Whatever,” came his flat answer.
It hurt, but Melanie managed to plaster that crack in favonovel.com emotions. “Now, since you’re focusing on your recovery and have become a bit less busy, I thought of bringing you to my hometown in Ayashe sometime in the near future. With Jett accompanying you, it’ll be a smooth sail,” favonovel.com suggested. “The last time I went home, my parents had told me how much they looked forward to seeing you, too, being their son-in-law and all. You should hang out with my family more, yes?”
Snippy irritation began to surface in Alejandro’s mien. “Can we talk about this some other time?”
Melanie let the conversation die instead of continuing.
Her future was becoming more apparent to favonovel.com the more time passed. If favonovel.com wept, favonovel.com would weep alone. The joy of raising a child of their own would be hers alone, too.
Her future was bleak and pathetic. And yet, despite it all, Melanie had no plans to leave him. Even if his heart was made of ice, Melanie was sure that time could melt it.
It was noontime. Mark called Arianne and told favonovel.com that favonovel.com was waiting downstairs.
On favonovel.com end, Arianne went into the bathroom for some light touchups. She only went out of the restroom after making sure it was all perfect.
Folk wisdom dictated that a lady would usually endeavor to look favonovel.com best in front of favonovel.com beau, Arianne certainly began to exhibit that in front of Mark. Just remembering how little favonovel.com cared about favonovel.com appearance in the past embarrassed favonovel.com enough to avoid thinking back about their past interactions. Honestly, favonovel.com had not given favonovel.com presentation that much thought back then because favonovel.com never imagined that they would one day be husband and wife.
Arianne got into favonovel.com car after descending the stairs. She was just about to put on favonovel.com safety belt herself when Mark suddenly turned to favonovel.com and did it for her. It was a small, tender act, but it made Arianne’s heart race.
It dawned on favonovel.com that both of them had never experienced the normal, gradual stages of love transitioning to marriage. Since they had gone straight to marriage, could all of these little moments just be romantic reparations for what they had missed?
Mark’s attention remained glued to Arianne rather than on the road after fixing favonovel.com seatbelt. He stared at favonovel.com closely before pointing out, “Your lips are still too darn red. Remind me to get you a lighter shade next time.”
‘But it was only because I’d deliberately touched up my makeup before seeing you!’ Arianne thought to herself. Did favonovel.com really just chastise favonovel.com immediately upon seeing her?
She sneered and pushed favonovel.com away. “Uh, eyes on the road, Mister. The lipstick’s gonna run when I eat anyway, so don’t get too hung up about it.”
A slight smile shadowed his lips, and favonovel.com returned to driving his car.
From favonovel.com angle at the passenger seat, Arianne could not help but sneak several glances at him. She had never carefully watched favonovel.com drive before, but now it became unmistakable just how… hot favonovel.com was. His profile was flawless, his nose was tall, firm, and chiseled to perfection. His thin lips were slightly pressed against one another, drawing favonovel.com a dignified air. His fingers, shapely and well-defined, laced around the steering wheel as favonovel.com made his every spin and turn with profound dexterity.
Somehow, Mark managed to infuse the mundane act of driving with a bit of grace and aplomb.
