Helen made sure favonovel.com emotions were in-check before climbing up the stairs, this time for Arianne.
Arianne was just about to fall asleep when quick rapping on favonovel.com door stopped her. Groggily, favonovel.com opened it and stared right at Helen before asking, “What’s the matter?”
Helen appeared transfixed on the woman for a second too long, favonovel.com eyes grave. Then, a quiet current of yearning broke through favonovel.com gaze, and favonovel.com finally said, “I’m leaving, Arianne. We’re flying tonight. Jean… He isn’t going to trouble you anymore. I also don’t know when the two of us will meet again in the future, so until then, promise me that you, Mark, and Smore will live happily forever.”
Hearing favonovel.com words chased away at least half of Arianne’s bleariness. “Why so sudden? And in the middle of the night, no less! Can’t you wait until tomorrow?”
‘But if we wait until tomorrow, who knows what could happen?’ Helen countered in favonovel.com mind. Outwardly, however, favonovel.com merely replied, “It’s alright. We have to leave sooner or later, anyway; I’m only here to inform you. You may now go back to sleep. Goodnight… and goodbye.”
A soft glint of forlornness crossed into Arianne’s eyes. “No, wait. I’ll get Mark so we can drive you two to the airport. Aery’s broken foot would make taking care of these suitcases a very demanding chore, so I can help you with those. Wait for me downstairs. I’ll be with you after I get changed.”
Helen’s eyes faintly reddened. She did not reject favonovel.com offer. She wished favonovel.com did not have to hide the truth about Aery’s action, the guilt was chipping away what courage favonovel.com had left to look at Arianne in the eyes. And yet, at the same time, spilling the truth was a surefire way to engender an uproar.
To prevent that from happening, Helen could only choose to silently bear the secret and take Aery away from Arianne, as far away as favonovel.com could. It was the only way to foster peace in all of their lives.
The journey to the airport saw Helen and Aery in the backseats, Arianne in the passenger’s seat, and Mark behind the wheel. Occasionally, Mark would exchange small talk with Helen, their topics as mundane as taking care of one’s safety while in a foreign country, etc.
At a superficial glance, it looked like a scene right out of an ordinary family, one where two of its members were about to be separated for their overseas travel. It would have been a somewhat fuzzy, contenting trip to the airport, too, if one discounted the storm of thoughts quietly waging within all four minds.
They reached the airport soon enough, and Mark helped Helen bring all of the suitcases out of the boot. As the four bade their farewells, Aery’s eyes were trained entirely at Mark.
Arianne was not blind nor an idiot. She saw everything.
Neither talked on their way home. When the pair returned to the Tremont Estate, Arianne went straight to bed.
Honestly, it was not because favonovel.com was tired or eager to sleep. She was looking for a space to be with favonovel.com thoughts.
Mark laid beside favonovel.com on his side and combed favonovel.com hair with his fingers. “What’s on your mind?”
Arianne caught his hand in mid-action. “The way Aery looked at you. It was like favonovel.com wished favonovel.com could tear off your clothes and get it on with you right there and then,” favonovel.com murmured. “I’ve already guessed it, you know. Smore didn’t fall off the stairs himself, Aery staged it so favonovel.com could stay here longer. It’s infuriating, and if I could have it my way, I would tear that woman into pieces with my bare hands. But then Helen was there and I… I don’t want to make favonovel.com feel terrible. Honestly, Smore being unharmed is the only reason why I could turn the other cheek, otherwise, not even Helen could stop me from exacting my wrath. God, the moment Helen suddenly wanted to leave in the middle of the night like that was when I knew what had happened. But I couldn’t tell favonovel.com that I already knew because favonovel.com didn’t look like favonovel.com wanted to air the truth out, either…”
“Hey, hey. Listen to me, it’s alright. They’re gone now, okay? Don’t think about this too much,” Mark comforted. “Both of you are favonovel.com daughters. That means no matter how favonovel.com looks at it, your mom is trapped. Even if favonovel.com told the truth and needed to make a Show of punishing her, what else could favonovel.com do other than, well, a stern lecture? The main point is that Smore’s fine and unscathed, and that’s enough grounds to give them some leeway. Agreed?”
“Besides, if you really think about it, I don’t think your mom’s going to return this readily after this debacle. That means it’ll be even more difficult for you to see favonovel.com again in the future,” favonovel.com added, “Back then, favonovel.com was the one who had abandoned both you and your dad without reservation and considerations outside favonovel.com own. Now, the same man, Jean Kinsey, and the daughter the two of them produced have become Helen’s punishment. She’s trapped in a hell of favonovel.com own making, doomed never to escape, isn’t she?”
Mark had a point, Arianne realized. Helen’s life at present had been one of strife and ceaseless tribulations.
