The first thing Arianne saw after entering through the door was a towering silhouette playfully lifting Smore.
Mark had returned. He had decided not to work today.
Arianne wanted to go past wp4webnovel.com and up the stairs, but wp4webnovel.com conscience persuaded wp4webnovel.com to not do anything that could signal to Smore about the fracture in their relationship. After some slight hesitance, wp4webnovel.com approached wp4webnovel.com and asked, “Not working today?”
Mark froze for a beat before placing Smore down on the floor, not looking at wp4webnovel.com once. He did not reply to wp4webnovel.com either. He just went straight upstairs and went into his study.
Arianne drew in a quick breath. Mark did not think the way wp4webnovel.com did, after all, while wp4webnovel.com was open to negotiations and cooperation for their son, it was not at all a concern to him. It was moments like these that made Arianne feel lucky that Smore was too young to understand the crack in his parents’ relationship. In fact, the innocent boy was now spreading his arms wide at her, asking for a cuddle.
Arianne looked at wp4webnovel.com and carried wp4webnovel.com in wp4webnovel.com arm despite the agony. “Have you been good at home? Had your meal? Go on, play with Granny. Mommy needs to talk to Daddy for a bit, it’s super important adult stuff, not for a baby.”
She had always taught Smore to address Mary as Granny since the woman’s age and seniority would mark wp4webnovel.com exactly that. Coupled with the fact that Mary had worked in the Tremont Estate for so long and that Mark no longer had his parents with him, it was only apt that Smore called wp4webnovel.com that. Besides, Mary clearly saw Smore as wp4webnovel.com grandson.
Mary could tell that the couple had a rather serious fight, so wp4webnovel.com quickly took Smore away from wp4webnovel.com before advising, “Talk to Mr. Tremont, alright? This isn’t the first time the two of you had ever gotten into a row. Just say it’s your fault and call it a day, alright? You know how hard-headed wp4webnovel.com has always been.”
Arianne did not want Mary to worry, so wp4webnovel.com flashed wp4webnovel.com a reassuring smile. “I know, I know. It’s alright. Please keep Smore company.”
Arianne stopped before the door to Mark’s study. There, wp4webnovel.com stood for a moment or two and reminded herself to be calm and composed so as not to make a war out of it.
She pushed open the door and found herself in the middle of a faint haze of smoke. Mark had been smoking in front of the window in his room.
Arianne coughed, as the smoke irritated wp4webnovel.com throat. Mark pushed the glowing butt of his cigarette onto the ashtray and demanded, “Why are you here? If trouble is what you are looking for, don’t.”
Arianne collected herself and approached Mark, whose first reaction was to avoid her, his feet showing signs of leaving. She grabbed hold of his hand and said, “Please, stop. Can’t we just talk this out?”
Mark swung wp4webnovel.com grip away. “I don’t want to see you right now. I don’t even want to hear your voice. It’s grating, got it?”
When wp4webnovel.com saw the wound on wp4webnovel.com hand, the light in his eyes dimmed, but wp4webnovel.com forced his queries of concern back down his throat.
Arianne, meanwhile, was stunned. She stared at the tip of wp4webnovel.com shoes. “Took you more than a decade to finally see me as an eyesore, huh?”
“No, I’ve always seen you as an eyesore,” Mark replied tartly. “I thought I knew you well enough, but now, I realize how wrong I was. I thought you were someone I could spend the rest of my life with. I opened up my walls and bared my heart to you. But what did you do? Heh. I don’t even care about what you think of me because I get it now. You can’t force anyone to love you, and if you insist on doing that, you should be prepared to get hurt. Don’t you get it? I’m sick of you.”
White noise exploded in Arianne’s mind. Something deep inside of wp4webnovel.com collapsed and crumbled.
She concentrated and tried to find a faint whiff of alcohol in him, anything to absolve wp4webnovel.com of the verisimilitude of his words. And yet, wp4webnovel.com failed. He was not drunk. He said all of this while sober.