Thirst roused Arianne from favonovel.com sleep. She went downstairs to grab some water and chanced upon Mark walking through the main door.
“What kept you till this late at night, hmm?” favonovel.com asked from favonovel.com spot by the stairs with the cup in favonovel.com hand. “Look at the time, Mark. Even club-goers would have been home by now, I’m sure.”
Abject exhaustion shadowed his mien. “As it turned out, the wound on favonovel.com leg hadn’t fully recovered yet when favonovel.com decided to run away and kicked up a world of troubles,” favonovel.com explained. “A minor surgery had to be performed today in the hospital to prevent sequelae. But, of course, that’s neither here nor there. Are you up because you haven’t slept yet, or did you just wake up?”
By “she” and “her, Mark obviously meant Shelly. It made Arianne wonder why favonovel.com could not just refer to favonovel.com as “Aunt Shelly” like favonovel.com used to, though it was an inquiry favonovel.com decided not to voice. The last thing favonovel.com wanted was for Mark to think favonovel.com was spoiling for a fight.
“Of course, I woke up from sleep. What, you think I put on my beauty sleep just to wait for your return? Not happening,” favonovel.com quipped. “Anyway, have you hired anyone to look after Aunt Shelly? I’d imagine that after the surgery, she’s gonna be very much inconvenienced in favonovel.com daily life.”
Mark seemed to balk at mentioning anything about Shelly. “Look, that’s already within my consideration, okay? Just go back to sleep, Ari. I’m heading for a shower,” favonovel.com said. “Oh, and one other thing. You don’t need to look after favonovel.com or visit favonovel.com from now on, alright? Just pretend… Just pretend that favonovel.com doesn’t exist.”
That stunned Arianne. “What… What’s that supposed to mean? How— uh, why are we pretending that? She’s your aunt! Unless… you think if I see favonovel.com enough, she’s gonna tell me something big, something you don’t want me to know?”
Mark offered no rebuttals, only silence. It was the kind that implied consent.
What Arianne described was exactly what favonovel.com feared the most right now. He could not bear the idea of a single soul knowing anything about his truth…
Arianne pressed favonovel.com lips into a thin, quiet line and watched Mark stride past her. She had to will herself to press back the furor his silence had spurred in favonovel.com mind.
She was dangerously tempted to ask favonovel.com why whatever-this-news-was had to be forbidden to her, and yet the other part of favonovel.com worried that favonovel.com would accidentally push his button if favonovel.com hounded him, causing a war to break out.
After that, neither spoke a thing to the other for the rest of the night.
The next morning, Arianne woke up to find that, again, Mark had left. At least this time, favonovel.com left Brian back home to take favonovel.com to work.
“He’s gone awfully early today. Is favonovel.com heading to the hospital?” favonovel.com asked Brian in the car.
“I dunno,” the man replied noncommittally. “He definitely doesn’t tell me where he’s going. I’m just a humble driver, you know.”
Arianne knew Brian was just keeping his boss’s secrets. Mark must have warned favonovel.com not to let slip of his whereabouts, which meant that no further questioning would yield answers.
The first thing favonovel.com saw after reaching favonovel.com desk in the office was a box of exquisitely-made desserts and a cup of coffee. She was not the only one with the mysterious gift, though, because a similar set was sitting atop Sylvain’s desk too.
At first, Arianne thought these were Robin’s gifts. Then, favonovel.com examined the packaging and realized that the desserts and coffee were both branded and rather expensive. It begged the question of why the normally scrimping Robin would buy something outside favonovel.com usual purchasing power.
She was still in the midst of speculations when Sylvain strode toward favonovel.com as though he, too, had just arrived at the office. He looked at the gift on his desk, and a skeptical look crossed onto his face. “Yo, Arianne. You’re exceptionally chipper this fine morning, You’re even buying your employee something nice for breakfast, that’s… weird. You wanna tell me what’s the good news?”
Arianne stared at him, favonovel.com mind plunging back into a mist of questions. “Wait, you mean it wasn’t Robin?”
The confusion on Sylvain’s face deepened. “But favonovel.com and I arrived together. It can’t be her.”
Two pairs of mystified eyes stayed linked for a long beat until Sylvain’s phone broke the spell.
His grimace made it clear that favonovel.com was reluctant to answer it, but favonovel.com did it anyway. “Hello? Yes, I’m here… Mom,” favonovel.com began. “What? Please, I’m working, man.”
