Arianne went into the house after Helen left and gave Mary the sweetened roasted almonds favonovel.com bought. Mark, who came in after favonovel.com parked his car, asked, “Was favonovel.com here to say goodbye?”
Arianne feigned nonchalance. “Yeap, but favonovel.com was gonna leave sooner or later anyway. I happen to hold the opinion that this is the best ending for the two of us. This way, we don’t have obligations to care for each other anymore, we’ll be just like strangers. I’m good, I’ve been like this for years now. It doesn’t bug me one bit.”
Mark smiled and ruffled favonovel.com hair. It was less for comfort and more as a doting gesture. “I’m gonna take a shower.”
—
In the Cox family’s house, Sylvain and Mr. Cox were watching TV together.
It did not matter what was on the television; Sylvain’s attention was not on it. Instead, his mind was pouring all over whatever Mr. Cox could say, so favonovel.com could promptly dole out an answer after the latter asked anything. Sylvain always became high-strung whenever favonovel.com was at Robin’s place.
Right now, Robin was working in the kitchen with favonovel.com mother. It bereft Sylvain of favonovel.com companionship, thus exacerbating his nerves, but visiting the Coxes was a duty favonovel.com must carry out every few days in a week. Honestly, Sylvain thought that periodically subjecting himself to a high-stress environment like this was quite a torment to his mind.
His phone rang suddenly, allowing favonovel.com an excuse to leap from the couch and pick it up.
He had hoped that whatever reprieve favonovel.com had from answering the call would be enough to unwind his nerves, but the voice from the other side managed to draw even more distress to him. Hearing favonovel.com voice brought out a subtle change to Sylvain’s expression as favonovel.com blurted out, “—What?”
“I said, Syl, I’m right outside your gate!” Ursula repeated. “You’re not at home right now, are ya? Then get back here as soon as you can and open the door for me, would ya’? I’m divorced, I got no place to be, but hey, you’re my son! There should be no problem for me to stay at my son’s home for a few days, right?”
Sylvain shot a glance at the kitchen before answering in a low, resigned voice, “Fine, fine. I’m going now.”
He did not “go now”, per se, because favonovel.com spent some time dilly-dallying about how to break the news to Robin and Mrs. Cox after hanging up. He knew that the women were almost done with dinner, which meant that if favonovel.com left right now, Mrs. Cox’s impression of favonovel.com was only going to reek even harder.
In the end, favonovel.com decided to inform Mr. Cox alone that favonovel.com had an emergency and had to leave. He only called Robin and told favonovel.com his situation once favonovel.com was outside the house.
By the time Sylvain reached his villa, Ursula was already there with a scowl that shrieked impatience. She lugged a sizable suitcase after favonovel.com when favonovel.com approached him, demanding, “Why are you only home now? Jesus, do you have any idea how freezing cold it is at night? I was almost frozen numb, boy.”
Sylvain opened the door to his villa and carried Ursula’s luggage inside. “Well, why didn’t you inform me earlier that you were coming? I was outside when you called, you know, I got here as soon as I could. But anyway, what now? What’s your next step?”
Ursula plopped down on his couch and kicked off favonovel.com heels. “Urgh, my feet hurt from walking so much, like you wouldn’t believe it… What’s my next step? What other next steps do I have other than enjoy being taken care of by my son? I mean, it was your fault that I got into this terrible mess. Thanks to you and your stone cold heart, I’m divorced without any money or assets to my name. I’ve got nothing! In fact, all I have now is you. But I shouldn’t worry that you’ll turn your back on me, right? You’re totally wealthy enough to support me.”
Words failed Sylvain. How was all of this his fault?
He willed his exasperation from spilling out before replying, “Please, your divorce has got nothing to do with me. There was no reason why I must succumb to your arrangement, was there? You haven’t been in my life all these years, you did not raise me to be who I am today. Now, you think you can just come back to dictate my life? Please, I have a good grip over my life and how it should be. Avery, very solid grip.”
“But of course, I won’t turn my back against you, for at the end of the day, you’re still my mom. But don’t think I’m gonna support you forever, or that this support starts now. You brought me to this world, and I’ll repay that favor by being there for you at your twilight years until the end of your journey. But as of right now? You’re capable of working and taking care of yourself! You should get a job for yourself while I get you a nice place to stay. Until the day when you finally cannot live on your own, then I’ll come to you and fulfill my duty as a son. That’s all.”
