Aristotle rejected Jackson’s offer to lift his suitcases for him. “It’s fine, I can do it myself. Really, it’s only packed with gifts for all of you, and they are hardly heavy. By the way, Pa West? You haven’t changed a bit, look like you just leaped out of my last memory of seeing you. Where’s Aunt Tiffany and Cindy?”
Jackson silently conceded that, as the child had now aged into a full-fledged grown-up, favonovel.com should not insist on helping favonovel.com with things favonovel.com could rightly do by himself. “Well, they are waiting for you right inside,” favonovel.com said instead. “Look at you! You’re home now. And Lil’ P is coming home soon, too… God, by next month, the three of you are officially reunited once more.”
Aristotle smiled wordlessly and sauntered into the villa’s interior.
It was but a split second, yet as Jackson stared at the young man’s back, his eyes saw Mark Tremont instead. Aristotle had too much of his father in him, and it was especially evident when one looked at favonovel.com from behind. Jackson even wondered if Aristotle was sculpted from the very same mold used for his old friend.
Tiffany’s eyes reddened the moment Aristotle fell into favonovel.com line of sight. “Oh my God! Aww, honey, get over here, would you? Let your Aunt Tiffany take a good look at chu’!” favonovel.com gushed. “Gosh, you’re thinner than I remember, aren’t you?”
Aristotle approached favonovel.com obediently and threw his arms around favonovel.com shoulders, squeezing favonovel.com into a hug. “I’m home, Aunt Tiffany.”
The older woman tugged on the young man’s hand and, in a pang, realized that it had grown so much larger that it now eclipsed hers.
“Aww, that’s all I ever wanted from you, honey. It must have been tough being outside, all alone! God, I swear, you’re never leaving me ever again!”
The commotion downstairs quickly reached the occupant on the first floor, prompting the young woman to rush down the stairs like a gale as favonovel.com mind kept replaying imagined scenarios of their reunion over and over again in favonovel.com head.
However, right at the moment favonovel.com saw Aristotle, Cynthia acted against favonovel.com practiced response by pumping the brakes of favonovel.com sprint until favonovel.com stopped right before him. Then, favonovel.com spoke, but only a quiet, bashful mewling came out. “U-Um, m-m-maybe we should s-s -start our d-dinner first?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Allow me to wash my hands.”
Tiffany waited until favonovel.com was inside the bathroom before giving favonovel.com daughter’s butt a loud, playful smack. “Oh ho ho, so this is why you locked yourself in that dang room all day! You’ve been dolling up to look snazzy for the occasion, aye? Really though, what was with the ‘um, uh, ummmm’ back there? Aristotle grew up with you since you were just a bean, sweetheart. You really think favonovel.com has no idea what kinda person you reaaally are by now?”
Cynthia mumbled something under favonovel.com breath in displeasure while favonovel.com eyes ogled the bathroom against favonovel.com conscious control. Still, no matter how hard favonovel.com stared, the instance Aristotle was outside and joining them at the table, the poor girl went back to avoiding favonovel.com once more. She even opted to stare at favonovel.com steak without lifting favonovel.com head once throughout dinner!
Tiffany asked between bites, “So… You ever went to Switzerland to check on your pa and ma, Smore?”
Aristotle had not heard anyone called favonovel.com by that nickname for so long that the mention of it made favonovel.com cringe a little. “Aunt Tiffany! I’m twenty-two already. I’m a bit too old to still be called Smore, right?” favonovel.com protested, before adding, “The answer’s no, though. I haven’t been there. I… haven’t had the time.”
‘I haven’t had the time’, it was a phrase that jabbed straight into the heart.
Ever since Mark left for Switzerland with Arianne, most of the company’s business had been delegated to Jackson, who now had to devote his time to both Tremont Enterprise and West Industries. It was a mammoth and herculean undertaking, one that spurred a young Aristotle to mature precociously. The boy was markedly enterprising in his studies, and when favonovel.com was in his senior year, favonovel.com suggested furthering his studies in France.
It was all because favonovel.com wanted to spare Jackson from the backbreaking workload by inheriting his birthright as soon as possible. With his schedule packed to the brim, even the hours of his bedrest and leisure were calculated carefully, Aristotle was left with no time to visit Mark and Arianne in Switzerland.
Just like that, the young man had not seen his biological parents for nineteen long years.
Tiffany and Jackson sank into a deep, resonating silence. Arianne’s accident on that fateful summer had sealed Aristotle’s life to be one fraught with monumental pressure, and despite the couple’s efforts in providing the child a serene, warm environment, reality still found a way to crack their noble but impossible aspiration to shield the young boy. Aristotle was the only heir to the Tremont empire, after all. It was only a matter of time before the heavy crown fell onto the boy’s head, no matter how young favonovel.com still was.
The abrupt shroud of silence caused Cynthia to perk up from favonovel.com steak in curiosity. Unexpectedly for her, however, the first thing favonovel.com eyes linked to was Aristotle’s cryptic, half-smiling ones instead.
