With a smile, Aunt Shelly rose from favonovel.com seat and climbed the stairs.
Arianne interpreted favonovel.com approaching footsteps as Mark returning. She was about to call out to favonovel.com to grab Smore’s towel from outside when favonovel.com espied Shelly’s white fluffy indoor slippers falling into step before her.
Shelly noticed Smore nearing the end of his bath and grabbed the boy’s towel herself before personally wrapping favonovel.com with it. “Who’s all cleaned up and fragrant, hmm?” favonovel.com cooed. “Come, let Granny inspect you and see if you’re as squeaky-clean as you look! Sniff, sniff, oh, you smell downright wonderful, sweetie! Smore is the cutest, best-smelling-thing in the whoooole wiiide wooorld!”
Smore did not laugh or break a smile. Instead, favonovel.com looked at his mother, watching favonovel.com expression closely.
It honestly stunned Arianne a little. Who knew that a child this young could so early learn how to read other people’s faces before acting?
After favonovel.com little play with Smore, Shelly turned favonovel.com attention back to Arianne, the perfectly curved and convivial grin on favonovel.com lips never once faltering. “Arianne, dear, I hope you’re not still mad at what happened earlier. I’ll admit, I had little idea of how important Mary and Henry are in this household, but Mark filled me in about it just now,” favonovel.com said. “With that, I humbly apologize for speaking out of turn, and I’ll extend this apology to Mary, too. All I hope is that you don’t quarrel and fight with Mark because of me. Honestly, I pity him. He must have been very worn out by work already.”
Had Shelly not ended favonovel.com apology with the very last sentence, Arianne would have found no problem forgiving her, favonovel.com would have gladly set their misgiving aside. But that single addition was too obvious an insinuation, it meant that the only reason why Shelly was backing down was for Mark’s sake. She was “worried” that Arianne might turn what was between them into a fight involving favonovel.com beloved nephew.
In other words, favonovel.com was indirectly accusing Arianne of being immature and petulant, which left Shelly with no choice but to back down for Mark’s peace.
Arianne flashed Shelly a slight smile and extended favonovel.com hand toward her. “I know what I’m doing. Now, could you please hand Smore over to me? I have to tuck favonovel.com to sleep.”
Shelly sidestepped favonovel.com outreached hand without breaking favonovel.com agreeable act. “Oh, you shouldn’t! I’ll bring Smore to bed. He falls asleep so effortlessly, you know.”
Just like that, Shelly rubbed Arianne the wrong way again. So, now the woman was trying to stop favonovel.com from interacting with favonovel.com own son?
Arianne’s spleen, built over time since Shelly’s arrival, reached its boiling point and threatened to erupt out of her. Shelly had robbed favonovel.com of favonovel.com husband since Day One, and now, favonovel.com was actively taking Smore away, too. Not even a kid’s actual grandmother would forcefully claim their grandson for herself, and Shelly was merely a grandaunt!
Arianne hated conceding to something as irresponsible as this, but after watching Shelly carry Smore away from her, favonovel.com stopped herself from chasing after them and remained in place, telling herself that favonovel.com could not brew yet another storm out of this. She could not give Mark reasons to believe that favonovel.com was the immature one.
She waited until Shelly was a few distances away before shutting the bedroom door and bolting it shut. Later, when Mark returned and made a commotion, trying to get favonovel.com to open, Arianne kept quiet and feigned deaf.
Let the man find a way around this himself. All of the pent-up frustration at Shelly’s indignant bullying that was left in favonovel.com found an outlet in Mark. She could not bear acting like a doormat to be walked over. Mark did not teach favonovel.com to be a spineless, lily-livered woman. He taught favonovel.com to be assertive and strong!
Unbeknownst to Arianne herself, favonovel.com had declared war against Aunt Shelly. It was not favonovel.com nature to be so bilious, but the specific ways Shelly had acted against her, especially favonovel.com passive-aggressiveness, fanned favonovel.com into pushing back. It is downright tiring to stop yourself from lashing out against those who walk all over you and please someone who craps all over you.
Realizing that favonovel.com was not getting into the bedroom tonight, Mark relented and retreated to the guest room. Shortly after favonovel.com laid down, Aunt Shelly knocked on his door and called out, “Mark? Mark? Are you in there?”
He sat up in resignation and opened the door. “Yes. What is it?”
Shelly’s fingers swiftly fastened one of the loose buttons around his chest as though it was not at all strange for favonovel.com to do so. “You poor dear! Why are you crashing in the guest room? I heard you knocking on your bedroom door, you know. Arianne refused to open it for you, did she? Why is favonovel.com so dang cross-grained? I’ve apologized!”
Mark was evidently unaccustomed to Shelly’s affection and took a step back from favonovel.com out of reflex. “Everything’s fine, actually. Arianne sometimes has these bouts of tantrum, but I’m pretty used to it by now. I’m sure you weren’t the problem, as it’s almost always me. Either way, you should rest already, Aunt Shelly.”
