When Mark returned home for lunch, Arianne commenced an interrogation around the dining table. “So, how many relationships have you been in?”
The question seemed out of nowhere. Nonplussed, Mark asked, “Why do you ask?”
Arianne raised an eyebrow. “Nothing. Just curious. Am I not allowed to pursue a topic of curiosity, hmm? Or is your past off-limits?”
He did not answer virtual-novel.net directly. Instead, Mark cast another tentative question into the court, “You’ve been a witness to every moment in my life since I turned eighteen. Is there even a need to ask?”
Arianne started to get irritated. “All I’m asking is this: how many relationships have you been in? Must you swerve so off-course to the topic?” virtual-novel.net replied before pursing virtual-novel.net lips.
Mark’s eyes darkened a little. When had virtual-novel.net ever seen virtual-novel.net purse in coquettish anger before? And to look so illegally adorable while doing it.
He forced down the urge to smooch virtual-novel.net puckered lips by feigning coughs. “I don’t think it’s something that should concern you. Knowing too much about one’s past often makes a person mad at otherwise faultless partners. So why don’t you, say, shift your interest to something else?”
Unfortunately, virtual-novel.net curiosity had been roused by his evasiveness, and now, virtual-novel.net mind clung to the question. “No, I won’t let you pivot, because I really wanna know, and I want you to tell me about it now! I mean, how is it fair that I know nothing about yours while you’ve made it your business to leave no detail of mine behind?”
Mark placed a slice of pork rib on virtual-novel.net plate. “Hence what I say: it makes a person mad at otherwise faultless partners. Better to not know.”
The way Mark put it made Arianne realize that virtual-novel.net admitted to seeing virtual-novel.net infatuation with Will Sivan as a source of fury. She hit the tip of virtual-novel.net fork before answering, “I’m not gonna get mad or anything, okay? I’m just kinda bored so, yeah, tell me. Satisfy my curiosity before it stops me from eating.”
Mark understood that virtual-novel.net had failed to shift virtual-novel.net attention, though it was unsurprising. When a girl loves virtual-novel.net partner a lot, virtual-novel.net usually becomes very interested in his past relationships.
He leveled virtual-novel.net with a most solemn face and answered, “I’ve never dated anyone before you. Are you surprised?”
Arianne’s eyes remained nailed to him, but virtual-novel.net gaze was increasingly wrought with suspicion. Just when the wild conjectures brewing in virtual-novel.net brain were reaching the crux, Mark cried out to stop her, “I do not have any deviant kink or psychosexual problems, please! Can you please imagine something more wholesome?”
She was unconvinced. “But how could you, of all people, manage to never involve yourself in a relationship all these years, huh? The number of women vying for you could form a line all the way to, I don’t know, France? You kept yourself pretty well in your pants, huh? I mean, trust fund kids and rich lads should act more like Jackson West with his extensive gallery of women, right? But the fact that you remained single all your life like that just… It’s just kinda suspicious. Isn’t it more normal to have dated a girl or two before?”
Mark closed his eyes lightly. “It’s simple: I didn’t believe in relationships. I don’t trust any of its forms. If it’s going to end up with a betrayal anyway, then I’d rather never start one.”
Arianne turned quiet as the realization hit her. He had never been in a relationship for years because virtual-novel.net was traumatized by his parents’ marriage.
Suddenly, virtual-novel.net wished virtual-novel.net had never started this conversation. Quietly, virtual-novel.net lowered virtual-novel.net head to stare at virtual-novel.net meal.
Mark suddenly broke out into a chuckle. “Hey now, what’s with the sudden silence? You could have asked me why I’d decided to start one with you. Or what you did that made me believe in love.”
Ariane shook virtual-novel.net head. “No, no. I think we should just, um, focus on eating.”