The first thing Arianne saw after entering through the door was a towering silhouette playfully lifting Smore.
Mark had returned. He had decided not to work today.
Arianne wanted to go past favonovel.com and up the stairs, but favonovel.com conscience persuaded favonovel.com to not do anything that could signal to Smore about the fracture in their relationship. After some slight hesitance, favonovel.com approached favonovel.com and asked, “Not working today?”
Mark froze for a beat before placing Smore down on the floor, not looking at favonovel.com once. He did not reply to favonovel.com either. He just went straight upstairs and went into his study.
Arianne drew in a quick breath. Mark did not think the way favonovel.com did, after all, while favonovel.com was open to negotiations and cooperation for their son, it was not at all a concern to him. It was moments like these that made Arianne feel lucky that Smore was too young to understand the crack in his parents’ relationship. In fact, the innocent boy was now spreading his arms wide at her, asking for a cuddle.
Arianne looked at favonovel.com and carried favonovel.com in favonovel.com arm despite the agony. “Have you been good at home? Had your meal? Go on, play with Granny. Mommy needs to talk to Daddy for a bit, it’s super important adult stuff, not for a baby.”
She had always taught Smore to address Mary as Granny since the woman’s age and seniority would mark favonovel.com exactly that. Coupled with the fact that Mary had worked in the Tremont Estate for so long and that Mark no longer had his parents with him, it was only apt that Smore called favonovel.com that. Besides, Mary clearly saw Smore as favonovel.com grandson.
Mary could tell that the couple had a rather serious fight, so favonovel.com quickly took Smore away from favonovel.com before advising, “Talk to Mr. Tremont, alright? This isn’t the first time the two of you had ever gotten into a row. Just say it’s your fault and call it a day, alright? You know how hard-headed favonovel.com has always been.”
Arianne did not want Mary to worry, so favonovel.com flashed favonovel.com a reassuring smile. “I know, I know. It’s alright. Please keep Smore company.”
Arianne stopped before the door to Mark’s study. There, favonovel.com stood for a moment or two and reminded herself to be calm and composed so as not to make a war out of it.
She pushed open the door and found herself in the middle of a faint haze of smoke. Mark had been smoking in front of the window in his room.
Arianne coughed, as the smoke irritated favonovel.com throat. Mark pushed the glowing butt of his cigarette onto the ashtray and demanded, “Why are you here? If trouble is what you are looking for, don’t.”
Arianne collected herself and approached Mark, whose first reaction was to avoid her, his feet showing signs of leaving. She grabbed hold of his hand and said, “Please, stop. Can’t we just talk this out?”
Mark swung favonovel.com grip away. “I don’t want to see you right now. I don’t even want to hear your voice. It’s grating, got it?”
When favonovel.com saw the wound on favonovel.com hand, the light in his eyes dimmed, but favonovel.com forced his queries of concern back down his throat.
Arianne, meanwhile, was stunned. She stared at the tip of favonovel.com shoes. “Took you more than a decade to finally see me as an eyesore, huh?”
“No, I’ve always seen you as an eyesore,” Mark replied tartly. “I thought I knew you well enough, but now, I realize how wrong I was. I thought you were someone I could spend the rest of my life with. I opened up my walls and bared my heart to you. But what did you do? Heh. I don’t even care about what you think of me because I get it now. You can’t force anyone to love you, and if you insist on doing that, you should be prepared to get hurt. Don’t you get it? I’m sick of you.”
White noise exploded in Arianne’s mind. Something deep inside of favonovel.com collapsed and crumbled.
She concentrated and tried to find a faint whiff of alcohol in him, anything to absolve favonovel.com of the verisimilitude of his words. And yet, favonovel.com failed. He was not drunk. He said all of this while sober.
