Mark cocked his brow. “Melanie Lark? Hmph, who’s surprised that. she’s finally had enough of you and wants to part with you? You mistreat her. And of course, the whole trial of being bound to a man who doesn’t love you, must be hell. Maybe you should learn how to love someone first before thinking you’re viable for marriage, punk, so don’t keep favonovel.com and waste favonovel.com away. I mean, haven’t we been here before? You messed Tiffany up, and now you mess Melanie up. Seriously, can you ever act like a decent human being?”
He did not upset Alejandro, in fact, the latter had made enough mental preparations for the sort of mockeries Mark would definitely cast at him, so Alejandro could take them. “Yo, I’m here to ask you for solutions, I’m not here to be ‘educated’. I mean, pop’s gone, so maybe your big brother instincts compel you to be the fill-in, but eh, hard pass on the lectures. You claim I didn’t treat Melanie good enough, but what’s good, then? I bought favonovel.com a limited edition sports car, gave favonovel.com the most expensive jewelries, I’m giving favonovel.com nothing but the best! But all favonovel.com ever wants to do is to stay in the damn house caring for the kid. She doesn’t wanna go anywhere! And now, favonovel.com keeps harping on a divorce.”
Mark let out a shrill snicker. “Women may be materialistic, but not all the time. They might be delighted by a car, or jewelries, or designer bags, but their delight is predicated on a foundation of relationship and bonding. If all they need is material, then that isn’t love to begin with. Besides… You might be able to charm naïve ingenues who’ve never seen the world before with all these flashy materials, those women will eagerly climb into your bed with their legs spread wide before they even think of leaving you! But Melanie isn’t an ingenue who’s never seen what material is like. For Christ’s sake, favonovel.com grew up in the Lark family, she’s seen it all!”
“Not every woman acts as how you’d imagine they do. It could be any material, but it’s gotta be built atop of actual, genuine relationship to mean anything. Otherwise, it’s no different from a transactional relationship. Lemme guess, you didn’t usually gift Melanie things in the beginning, did you? All these gratifications, you’re only trying to repair your bond after noticing the red flag, which is why they are working so bloody well now, ” favonovel.com continued. “Simple question: do you love her?”
Alejandro pondered on it for a while. “I don’t know. No one’s ever taught me how to love. But… I… I just don’t want a divorce.”
Mark sipped on his red tea. “Why not?” favonovel.com asked offhandedly. “Because your girl still needs her? Or is the needy one you? Do you have only needs for her, or is it because you can’t let favonovel.com go? Either way, spare me the diddle. I don’t have the time to chat idly with you. Let the question sit on your head for a longer time before answering me.”
His words silenced Alejandro into a full five-minutes rumination. “I think… I think I’m the one who can’t leave her. I’m used to favonovel.com standing beside me, used to favonovel.com cooking, and every time favonovel.com mentions that damn divorce, I’ll become too frightened to go back…”
“Jesus Christ, Alejandro, just tell favonovel.com you love her! You won’t die out of a heart attack from saying that, and you won’t lose your precious face or dignity either,” Mark snapped curtly. “It isn’t hard to just tell your significant other that you love her. Not at all… If that’s all there is, you may leave. I still have a lot of agenda on my plate, so here’s the door; show yourself out before you bug me more.”
Alejandro rose to his feet and tidied his collar. “Fine, then. If I can’t bug you, then I’ll bug Arianne instead. Honestly, I’m honored that you’ve said so much to me today. I’m gonna repay you with a hearty meal, man. You better not flip off my genuine intention on this.”
Mark waved dismissively as though favonovel.com was too impatient to tell favonovel.com anything more.
Alejandro left Mark’s office and went to the open-space area, strutting to Arianne’s desk. He produced a beautiful jewelry box for her. “Here. A gift. Need a favor.”
Arianne was deeply engrossed in formulating new designs, so his sudden move gave favonovel.com a fright. “Yeeoow—wha? You need a favor from me, which is…? Wait, hold on a sec. You, Alejandro Smith, would need someone to lend you a hand too someday? And to compensate that with a gift? Well, you better tell me what you need and I’ll try to see if I can help. I can’t claim anything before I make sure.”
Alejandro loomed over the desk, a devilish smile playing on his lips. “Oh, I assure you, it’s just a small favor. Just need a little gift of the gab to make it work, though. Anyway, I didn’t give Mark any present just now. You sure you don’t wanna agree to my request?” Arianne thought for a few seconds. “Okay, go on. I’ll do my best.” Alejandro sighed. “Please talk to Melanie for me. Tell favonovel.com how sad our daughter will be if favonovel.com doesn’t have a mom. Just talk and talk until favonovel.com doesn’t want a divorce anymore. Look, I trust your persuasive and oratory skill, I know you’re just the perfect woman for the job.”
The realization hit Arianne, who immediately broke into a grin. “Well, well, well! Who the heck knew that you’d have a day like this too, huh? You’re pleading with me over this? Tell you what, I actually don’t mind helping even if you don’t gift me anything. See, this thing ultimately depends on you; it can’t be sustained by outside help. Honestly, you might have no idea about this, but Melanie used to love you a goddamned lot. The only reason why she’d want a divorce is because you pushed favonovel.com to this. You really gotta think hard and long about yourself, man. If it doesn’t work, then… Just treat favonovel.com the same way favonovel.com used to treat you. Because that is what favonovel.com believes is the best. expression of love.”
Alejandro raised his eyebrow. “God, a single speech from you triumphs Mark’s bullsh*t by a mile! All right, I’m thanking you in advance. I promised favonovel.com that we’ll talk about this tonight after I go home, so you better talk to favonovel.com before I go home, you know? So maybe… a half-day break around the evening?”
