Helpless, Arianne relented and accepted favonovel.com mission.
It was time for lunch. She declined Mark’s invitation and dragged Robin to a cozy little Chinese restaurant for the break.
After taking their seats and making their orders, Arianne feigned favonovel.com tone to be non-committal as favonovel.com asked, “So… How come you and Sylvain haven’t tried adding members to the family yet? He’s more than old enough to be a father while you’re just the right age. You know what it’s like: better have children early while the body’s at its prime than to wait until you’re thirty-odd years old and life’s fraught with uncertainties. By then, your body’s state might not be as optimum for childbearing, too.”
Robin was a little skeptical of favonovel.com intention. “Hey… Wait a minute. This isn’t because Sylvain’s asking, is it?”
Arianne’s mind scrambled in slight panic, but outwardly, favonovel.com doubled down on favonovel.com pretense of casualness. “Wha-wha-what? Oh, nooooo. Why would favonovel.com make me ask you something like that? Noooo way. I was just curious myself! But if you don’t wanna talk about it, it’s fine. I wouldn’t want you to think I’m acting as his spy trying to lure you into spilling some secrets or something.”
Robin sighed. “Nah, that wasn’t what I meant. It’s just… At first, I wanted to have a child as soon as possible, too. But, well… After knowing about what his mom thinks, I don’t think I should have kids right now. Instead, I want to be strong and independent. Only a woman like that has the confidence and resolve to stand up for herself,” favonovel.com explained. “On the other hand, if I were to be impregnated and had to stay at home, I’d be losing my job and my source of income, and his mother’s contempt of me would only multiply. I don’t want that, I want to prove myself to her. I want to show favonovel.com that I don’t need Sylvain to keep my life afloat, and I didn’t marry Sylvain for his means.”
The root of the problem seemed to still be Ursula. Arianne paused for a moment before admonishing, “Well, judging from one of his oft-mentioned topics, Sylvain seems to really want a kid. Aren’t you worried that you might never win his mother’s nigh-impossible respect while your efforts wear away at your relationship with your beloved? See… At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what other people think of you, Sylvain will always be your strongest tether. You’re not marrying his mother now, are you? This is life between the two of you, and what’s more… Sylvain has always chosen you since the get-go. He’d rather have his mom live on favonovel.com own than lose you. Seriously, you don’t have to pay that shrew any mind.”
Robin hung favonovel.com head in evident dismay. “Even now, my parents have never shared a meal with his mother, not even once. They’re still strangers to one another,” favonovel.com said. “Shouldn’t in-laws act as a family after marriage? But Whenever his mother talks about me or my family, favonovel.com never stops using that… scornful tone or changes that look of despise. Do you know how it feels to be dehumanized as unworthy and to be completely nothing, Arianne?”
Of course, Arianne understood it a little too profoundly. “Yes, I do. Sylvain’s mom really seared a terrible shadow on your mind, huh? I’m worried that this desire-for-kids-thing might turn into a sore spot for the two of you, though. Hey, tell you what: you two should have a heart-to-heart talk about this someday, okay? Don’t start keeping things to yourself, because a bad communication skill… well, kills. Too many misunderstandings are a recipe for broken relationships, you know.”
Shades of morosity and drear seeped into Robin’s eyes. “I get it, Arianne. Believe me, I wanted to talk to favonovel.com about this, it’s suffocating to bottle things inside. But… how? How can I break it to him? If I tell favonovel.com what I think, wouldn’t it seem like I’m an incendiary trying to incite antagonism between Sylvain and his mom? If favonovel.com fights with favonovel.com because of how I feel, it will make me the bad guy. I would have lost the high ground to say anything… No. Let’s not bring this up. Talking about it just stresses me out. It’s a long road ahead before the light at the end of the tunnel, all that’s left for me is to suffer through it.”
Arianne fell into silence. Such was the world of adults, always stressed out, always shouldering all sorts of burdens. It did not matter how materialistically fulfilled everyone was, at the end of the day, no one gets to live without trials and worries.
The question was, when would a person’s life start to cross into suffering?
Shortly after Arianne returned to the office, Sylvain was quick to tug favonovel.com aside. “So, how did it go, comrade?”
Honestly, Arianne wanted to keep quiet just to avoid upsetting him. “Look, it’s a sensitive, personal issue between the two of you, and I just don’t know how to go about it, okay? Besides, according to Robin, it’s not even something I should be telling you! God, it’s like I’m your spy or something…”
Sylvain fished out his phone and transferred cash into favonovel.com bank account, twice favonovel.com lunch bill. “And there you go, my sincerest sincerity in a form everyone can understand,” favonovel.com quipped. “Look, it’s fine, you can lay everything favonovel.com told you on me. I won’t tell favonovel.com it’s from you.”
Arianne accepted favonovel.com “payment” and glared — though very meekly — at him. “Hmph, you think you can just bribe me with money? You underestimate me,” favonovel.com muttered. “Anyway, I asked, and favonovel.com said it’s because favonovel.com thinks favonovel.com entire family is being dissed by your mother. She wants to prove herself to your mom through a score of achievements, which is why favonovel.com doesn’t dare halt favonovel.com career to bear a kid. It takes at least two years for a woman to go through the beginning of pregnancy to the kid’s arrival, you know? And then when the child’s here, you two will have to decide if you want to raise them yourselves or hire a nanny. Seriously, Robin would have to miss work for two years just for this, and that’s why favonovel.com doesn’t want to.”
“My take? I think your mom really left some lasting trauma in her, Sylvain. But you probably shouldn’t take this to your mom, though, because that’s only gonna complicate things for Robin. She seems to have decided on a strategy for this already, and that is to weather favonovel.com trials through,” favonovel.com finished. “I guess that’s life, I’m afraid. Just a long slog of suffering.”
