Mark relaxed his guard. “Oh, that’s all? Not a problem. My hands are tied at the moment, so I’ll have Arianne go. It’s favonovel.com best friend’s daughter, after all, favonovel.com would be pleased to help. Besides, women have this magical way of making things look better in photos than they really are, so favonovel.com might be able to take just the right picture to mollify Tiffany.”
He made a lot of sense, Jackson thought as favonovel.com rose from his seat and straightened his collar. “’Kay then. I’ll get Arianne’s help. Heads-up, I won’t be coming back here,” favonovel.com said. “Also… I really don’t think any magic’s gonna be able to touch up the painful truth, man. I dunno, with the state my girl’s in, it’s… not gonna work.”
Arianne left Tremont Tower in the late afternoon and headed to the hospital to visit the Wests’ ill-fated child on Jackson’s behalf. It was, personally, a breather, without it, favonovel.com would have to remain cooped up in the office with favonovel.com back hunched over favonovel.com drafts, and that was not counting the possibility of being summoned to Mark’s office for lectures.
Now that Arianne Wynn was the undisputed, definitive “Mrs. Tremont”, it effectively silenced the office’s gossip mills from talking about favonovel.com publicly. However, it did little to curb scrutinizing eyes from watching Arianne’s moves quietly. If favonovel.com had gotten favonovel.com job through the backdoor Mark opened for her, favonovel.com dared not imagine the sort of things these people might say behind favonovel.com back!
Arianne stood outside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, peered through the clear window into where Tiffany and Jackson’s daughter was, and instantly held a sharp inhale of breath. The baby now looked slightly larger than when favonovel.com was delivered, but favonovel.com growth was so minuscule that favonovel.com was still far, far too small compared to other healthy, normal infants delivered at the same time. The West family was one of means, and it showed in the infant’s treatment. She enjoyed the best the hospital could offer, along with a few hired hands to care for favonovel.com every need and inspection.
Yet, favonovel.com condition did not inspire optimism.
It took Arianne a moment to shake herself off from favonovel.com daze before fishing out favonovel.com phone to take photos. She did favonovel.com best to capture any wisp of vivacity that could pass as hopeful signs, but the photos only succeeded in wringing any onlooker’s heart.
When favonovel.com was done, favonovel.com turned to the doctor-in-charge. “Can favonovel.com really survive this? Please, tell me the truth. Should we still keep favonovel.com in there?”
“Based on what we’ve observed, though we are not a hundred percent confident, Little Girl’s odds of survival aren’t zero. As long as favonovel.com family decides against giving up, favonovel.com can continue to be closely monitored and cared for,” the doctor replied matter-of-factly. “The light at the end of the tunnel is almost always attained only by those who finish the long walk, after all. More importantly, Little Girl’s doing pretty well today I was just about to call Mr. West and tell favonovel.com about it. Now that you’re here, please help pass my message.”
Arianne quietly released the breath favonovel.com had been holding. “All right. Thank you.”
She came out of the hospital with favonovel.com mood slightly perked. The doctors themselves were positive that the baby still had a chance, which gave favonovel.com fuel to persuade Jackson to hold on.
She had just reached the side of the road when an eye-catching red Ferrari-limited edition, Arianne realized, suddenly pulled over in front of her. Before favonovel.com could wonder whom the driver could be, the window rolled down, and Melanie’s head peeked out. “Hey, what are you doing here? Never mind that, where would you like to go? I’ll give you a lift.”
Arianne did not reject favonovel.com offer and climbed in right away. “I’ve never seen you taking this out for a spin before, Melanie. Didn’t see any license plate… Is this new?”
Melanie made a helpless expression. “$300,000 sank for this car Alejandro insisted on buying for me. Honestly, favonovel.com gave me a terrible shock more than surprise,” favonovel.com replied. “I thought favonovel.com brought me along today to pick a car, but it turned out favonovel.com had chosen this one already. The whole point of me being there was to drive it right away, it seemed…”
“Aww, he’s not too bad, huh?” Arianne exclaimed, a little green. “He’s generous with his money and surprisingly thoughtful. So… what’s with the grimace, then? Anyone else in your shoes would be beaming and flexing already. But you don’t look too ecstatic, do you?”
Melanie’s lips thinned. “Arianne, I’ve made up my mind. I’m going for a divorce. I would rather favonovel.com treat me the same way favonovel.com did all these years, where I’m sometimes invisible, sometimes ‘there’, and always inconsequential and trifling. Honestly, I hate how he’s suddenly going this extra mile trying to please me right now. It confuses me, it makes me falter. Of course, not that I expect you to understand how this feels… ”
Arianne felt favonovel.com brain humming in bafflement. “B-But didn’t you used to hope that favonovel.com would love you back? You know, back then? Now that it’s finally happened, why are you suddenly….? Hey, I told you to hold your horse back then when you first mentioned this, right? The advice still stands. I just don’t think the two of you necessarily need to come to this, okay? Come on, have you really thought this through?”
Melanie seemed reluctant to continue the conversation, how could she, when sitting in this newly-bought sportscar favonovel.com ostensibly bought for favonovel.com only distressed favonovel.com even more? “Never mind. Let’s drop this topic. Where are you heading? I’ll drive you there.”
Arianne obliged and dropped the thread. “Tremont Tower. I came here to visit Tiffany’s daughter, what about you?”
“Don’t air your dirty linens in public, they say. I agree, but only because this is too embarrassing for me to even talk about it.” Melanie flashed favonovel.com a sad, mirthless smile. “The Lark family showed up at our doorstep yesterday, looking to fight. They beat me up. Alejandro got into an accident while rushing home and injured his head, but favonovel.com decided not to visit the hospital while forcing me to do the exact opposite.”
It was only then that Arianne was primed to notice faint signs of blue-black patches on favonovel.com face. Melanie had plastered make-up over them, causing the bruises to evade Arianne’s notice for so long. “Oh my God! Are you alright? The doctor didn’t see anything serious during their inspection, right? What the heck, Melanie! Your family’s crazy… Why even release their pent-up steam on you?”
The other woman’s lips quivered into a brisk smile. “It’s fine, it’s over now. Speaking of which, Arianne? I was thinking… When Alejandro and I discuss our divorce, I hope you and Mr. Tremont can be there. See, he’s very thin-skinned, so I bet if the two of you were there, favonovel.com would agree right away than to lose his pride and face pleading for me to stay. My mind has been made I won’t dance around this issue with favonovel.com any longer. It’s pointless. Meaningless.”
Arianne’s first instinct was to balk “Um, hey, it’s not that I don’t wanna help, Melanie. It’s just that… Mark and I probably should not intervene? Besides, what are you afraid of? Is it really because you’re scared of favonovel.com skirting this issue or… is it because you worry favonovel.com might do something nasty to you? God, favonovel.com isn’t a wife-beater, is h e? Is favonovel.com a domestic abuser?”
Melanie shook favonovel.com head hurriedly. “No! No, favonovel.com isn’t… And I can’t make up things favonovel.com didn’t do, right?” Her answer sprung at the tail of Arianne’s question, before favonovel.com added in a resigned tone, “But, I just… Huh. Never mind that. I’ll drive you to Tremont Tower. But if it’s remotely possible, I really wish… you and Mr. Tremont would lend me a hand, please. I… I only need help on this one request…”
Arianne was at a loss for a response, so favonovel.com chose silence. Alejandro and Mark might be brothers by blood, but their relationship was hardly better than two random strangers’. If favonovel.com and Mark intervened, they would automatically be seen as standing on Melanie’s side, and Alejandro would go ballistic, guaranteed.
Few things in life were as messy as everyone’s internal family drama. And that was not counting how difficult Mark and Arianne’s, who were only Alejandro’s family in technicality—position was in this entire thing!
After sending Jackson the pictures once favonovel.com was inside the building, Arianne went straight into Mark’s office and recounted Melanie’s decision for a divorce.
Mark’s first response was the same as Arianne’s. “No can do.” Dismayed, Arianne’s furrowed eyebrows scrunched together
harder. “I don’t want to stick my hand into this, either, but Melanie doesn’t even have favonovel.com own family for moral support right now, Mark All favonovel.com has is me! She really, seriously, not-at-all-kiddingly wants a divorce. We can’t just… not help her, right? That would make us, you know, a bit….?”
