“I didn’t feel a tinge of sadness when my husband died. In fact, I just felt elated, I was emancipated. There’s nothing I wanted more than to flee there, and I stopped for no one and nothing until I finally made it home. But then I realized something, I can’t stop hating him. He’s dead already, and yet I can’t cease to hate. Hell, I wish I had defaced favonovel.com and crushed his bones into powder. And that’s when I learned, you can’t dissolve and let go of real hatred so easily; it’s nigh impossible. So, how could Arianne stop hating you? How is it possible for favonovel.com to not only transverse hate but to come to love you? I don’t understand. I don’t believe it…”
By this point, Shelly seemed to have lost control over favonovel.com emotions, devolving into a crying mess.
Mark took a piece of tissue for her. “I understand now, Aunt Shelly. It’s alright, trust me. I’ll talk to Arianne about this, and she’ll definitely understand you, she’s very rational,” favonovel.com comforted gently. “Aunt Shelly, you should let go of the pains of the past. I know it’s a history of agony and trauma, but you’ve escaped that nightmare already. You’ve stepped out of the abyss and are now safe in a place where light doesn’t die. So, please… Discard the beliefs you have formed while you were in a very dark place and refrain from being unnecessarily allergic, okay? Because I can assure you, your life is on the right, positive track now. Even if you can’t find it in you to trust Arianne right away, you should still endeavor to know favonovel.com better. I’m confident that time reveals everything as it will to you.”
Shelly nodded. “Please help me tell favonovel.com I’m sorry. I was the one stepping over lines last night, and I almost… I almost hit her. I truly want you to live happily ever after, Mark I have no other family and children, so I see you as though you’re my own flesh and blood. I will not let any harm come to pass,” favonovel.com said. “I might not be able to accept favonovel.com right now, but I promise you, I’ll work on it. All I hope is that favonovel.com truly loves you and wants to spend the rest of favonovel.com life with you. Now, I’ll admit that I have some… uh, minor psychological problems. It’s easy for me to go down a slippery slope into the extreme, but I’ll try to control myself as best I can and not start a fight with her. Perhaps today, I should seek a therapist and begin treatment as soon as I’m able. I don’t want to cause any more trouble to you.”
“I see. To be honest, I can tell, your mental state might need some help,” Mark replied, nodding. “I bet it was the effect of the trauma in your past. If that’s the case, I’ll drive to work myself today and leave Brian at your service. You’re not in a state to drive right now, so I think it’s better if you let favonovel.com take you anywhere you need. Oh, and may I ask you one last thing?”
Now that much of favonovel.com emotions had been allayed, Shelly was finally able to crack a small smile. “Knock yourself out..”
Mark took a deep breath. “Have you… ever had a feud of some kind with my mom?” favonovel.com queried. “Why had you stopped me from telling favonovel.com about your visits? Why didn’t you ever talk or contact either of us all these years while overseas?”
Her smile froze into an uncanny curve on favonovel.com face.
Mark’s first thought was that favonovel.com had said something insensitive, but favonovel.com thought against the idea upon quick reflection. There was nothing in his question that sounded hostile or wrong, right? All Mark did was ask a legitimate and reasonable question. Could this mean that there was, in fact, some apocalyptic bad blood between Aunt Shelly and his late mother?
As though realizing favonovel.com response’s unnaturalness, Shelly’s eyes darted away from Mark, choosing to land somewhere else instead. She tucked a strand of favonovel.com hair behind favonovel.com ear. “What? That’s preposterous, you see things that aren’t there. Your mother was my big sister, Mark dear, the two of us were… well, practically besties. There was nothing between us that could make me hate favonovel.com to this day.”
Mark could tell almost instantly: favonovel.com was lying.
She had not dared to look into his eyes when favonovel.com answered him. That sudden gesture of personal grooming, too, was just an unconscious attempt to cover up favonovel.com disquietude.
Piqued, Mark followed up. “Then why did you remove my parents’ wedding photo? The only few people who could enter my study are Arianne, myself, and you. Before you came here, the wedding photo had been there, virtually untouched… Look, I’m not mad or anything about it being gone. I’m only curious as to why you did what you did.”
Shelly sank into momentary silence. Notably, favonovel.com did not deny favonovel.com hand in the wedding photo’s disappearance.
When favonovel.com spoke again, favonovel.com voice was one of sorrow. “If it wasn’t for your bastard of a father, how could your mother end up becoming so extreme and irrational that favonovel.com orchestrated that plane crash that killed them all? My sister had devoted favonovel.com life and spirit to the Tremonts. How much despair did favonovel.com feel at the moment of favonovel.com death? Their wedding photo pissed me off all the time, your father, that… son of a b*tch! I might have lived my life in Germany all these years, but I know what happened to my family well enough within those periods, too.”
