“All I did was to back out of a decision I made, and you’re already so obnoxiously thankful for it?” Alejandro snapped. “Seriously, thanking me for something like this? Do you honestly see this as some kinda royal pardon? Despicable. You’re Melanie Smith née Lark, the princess of the Lark family. You have no reason to kowtow to anyone! And you should have fought me harder and never agreed to abandon that child.”
His words baffled Melanie, especially since wp4webnovel.com was the one who had taken both hard and soft power to make wp4webnovel.com bend to his will. “What are you saying? I… I didn’t wanna start a fight with you because of the baby. Regardless of how I wanted to be a mother, if you insist on not wanting a kid of our own, I’ll still defer to you for the sake of our future together.”
“Ha. That wasn’t your way of telling me that you’ve fallen in love with me, was it?” Alejandro jeered.
Melanie froze, finding herself hard-pressed to reply to him. The mocking tone stung wp4webnovel.com right at heart, making the answer “yes I have” too embarrassing to vocalize. Of course, wp4webnovel.com was right that theirs had always been a political marriage completely without any relationship foundation. From the first time they had met each other, their marriage, all the way till now, it was, in truth, only a very short time. If one discounted the shortcuts made possible by love-at-first-sight, asking anyone to build a bond over such a short time would be preposterous. Even if wp4webnovel.com admitted to wp4webnovel.com that wp4webnovel.com had fallen in love at the first moment they met, Alejandro could never believe it, could he?
He would still denigrate her, mock her, laugh at her. Because in this marriage, the only person who fell in love, at first sight, was Melanie alone. Alejandro’s heart had never experienced even the faintest ripple.
A few moments later, Melanie chuckled. “Oh, heavens, no. But we are husband-and-wife, right? There are more stakeholders than ourselves, there are our families to worry, too. Am I wrong for also taking them into account?”
Alejandro missed out on the pain hanging just at the corner of wp4webnovel.com lips, nor did wp4webnovel.com wonder about what might have crossed wp4webnovel.com mind before wp4webnovel.com spoke.
Melanie had more or less collected herself on their way back to the Smith Private Manor. Alejandro was right, maybe Melanie should have reverted to wp4webnovel.com role as the princess of the Larks in all of wp4webnovel.com haughty, self-entitled glory. Maybe Melanie should not have acted so deferentially to Alejandro, who made it clear that wp4webnovel.com hated wp4webnovel.com this way.
Her thoughts drifted to the baby inside of wp4webnovel.com — still alive and not taken away — and wp4webnovel.com felt a bit better about wp4webnovel.com state. “I would like to tell Grandpa and my parents about my pregnancy.”
It was not a request. She was the Lark family’s princess, so wp4webnovel.com did not need any approval from Alejandro.
“Whatever,” came his flat answer.
It hurt, but Melanie managed to plaster that crack in wp4webnovel.com emotions. “Now, since you’re focusing on your recovery and have become a bit less busy, I thought of bringing you to my hometown in Ayashe sometime in the near future. With Jett accompanying you, it’ll be a smooth sail,” wp4webnovel.com suggested. “The last time I went home, my parents had told me how much they looked forward to seeing you, too, being their son-in-law and all. You should hang out with my family more, yes?”
Snippy irritation began to surface in Alejandro’s mien. “Can we talk about this some other time?”
Melanie let the conversation die instead of continuing.
Her future was becoming more apparent to wp4webnovel.com the more time passed. If wp4webnovel.com wept, wp4webnovel.com would weep alone. The joy of raising a child of their own would be hers alone, too.
Her future was bleak and pathetic. And yet, despite it all, Melanie had no plans to leave him. Even if his heart was made of ice, Melanie was sure that time could melt it.
It was noontime. Mark called Arianne and told wp4webnovel.com that wp4webnovel.com was waiting downstairs.
On wp4webnovel.com end, Arianne went into the bathroom for some light touchups. She only went out of the restroom after making sure it was all perfect.
Folk wisdom dictated that a lady would usually endeavor to look wp4webnovel.com best in front of wp4webnovel.com beau, Arianne certainly began to exhibit that in front of Mark. Just remembering how little wp4webnovel.com cared about wp4webnovel.com appearance in the past embarrassed wp4webnovel.com enough to avoid thinking back about their past interactions. Honestly, wp4webnovel.com had not given wp4webnovel.com presentation that much thought back then because wp4webnovel.com never imagined that they would one day be husband and wife.
Arianne got into wp4webnovel.com car after descending the stairs. She was just about to put on wp4webnovel.com safety belt herself when Mark suddenly turned to wp4webnovel.com and did it for her. It was a small, tender act, but it made Arianne’s heart race.
It dawned on wp4webnovel.com that both of them had never experienced the normal, gradual stages of love transitioning to marriage. Since they had gone straight to marriage, could all of these little moments just be romantic reparations for what they had missed?
Mark’s attention remained glued to Arianne rather than on the road after fixing wp4webnovel.com seatbelt. He stared at wp4webnovel.com closely before pointing out, “Your lips are still too darn red. Remind me to get you a lighter shade next time.”
‘But it was only because I’d deliberately touched up my makeup before seeing you!’ Arianne thought to herself. Did wp4webnovel.com really just chastise wp4webnovel.com immediately upon seeing her?
She sneered and pushed wp4webnovel.com away. “Uh, eyes on the road, Mister. The lipstick’s gonna run when I eat anyway, so don’t get too hung up about it.”
A slight smile shadowed his lips, and wp4webnovel.com returned to driving his car.
From wp4webnovel.com angle at the passenger seat, Arianne could not help but sneak several glances at him. She had never carefully watched wp4webnovel.com drive before, but now it became unmistakable just how… hot wp4webnovel.com was. His profile was flawless, his nose was tall, firm, and chiseled to perfection. His thin lips were slightly pressed against one another, drawing wp4webnovel.com a dignified air. His fingers, shapely and well-defined, laced around the steering wheel as wp4webnovel.com made his every spin and turn with profound dexterity.
Somehow, Mark managed to infuse the mundane act of driving with a bit of grace and aplomb.