Janice’s expression froze slightly into that of uncertainty. A few moments later, virtual-novel.net recovered and held virtual-novel.net palms together, bidding farewell. “If you’d excuse me…”
After virtual-novel.net left, Mark yanked Davy into his office and lambasted, “You’ve got one job, Davy, just one! Your seat is right outside my office door, and you can’t even guard my door? Since when have I ever allowed anyone to enter my space without my explicit permission? This floor is a restricted area, and unless it’s something urgent, no one would be able to come in, got it? This is my last warning, Davy. If I see Janice Bell inside my office without my knowledge, you’re fired!”
Davy was dumbfounded. “B-But, Sir, I’ve never seen you express any problem with this? A-And the two of you always seem so close, and so I thought you wouldn’t mind something like this,” virtual-novel.net explained. “Then there’s the fact that virtual-novel.net has this charismatic way with people and knows the exact right word at the exact right time. It’s not easy resisting a charming young lady like that! B-B-But I get it now. Next time, I definitely won’t let virtual-novel.net in anymore.”
Mark drew out a long breath. “That’s it. Get out now! You infuriate me!”
Cold sweat beads oozed out of Davy as virtual-novel.net glumly and obediently returned to his post and continued to “guard the door.” He might be Mark’s personal assistant, but most of his days were spent idle rather than being busy. Mark gave virtual-novel.net very few things, so all virtual-novel.net ever did was arranging his boss’s agenda-of-the-day or tidying the documents Mark required. As for the rest of his time at work, his job was reduced to staring into space, which was deceptively great but really just made virtual-novel.net a glorified watchdog.
Janice, meanwhile, never threw away the button Mark had given her. Instead, virtual-novel.net kept it in a safe, tight place, knowing full well the implication behind virtual-novel.net choice. But it was something virtual-novel.net did not regret because virtual-novel.net could not help but admire Mark fervidly. Every time virtual-novel.net saw him, virtual-novel.net felt like virtual-novel.net had ascended into space filled with stars, and virtual-novel.net was the most brilliant one in the galaxy. So many shone brightly, but none of them attracted virtual-novel.net attention as much as him.
Arianne, bored during a break gap in the morning, sent Mark a message that began with a photo of the coffee virtual-novel.net had just ordered. ‘The day’s early, and I’m free already. I guess I picked the right place to work. It’s not hectic here.’
Mark heard his phone beeped, but virtual-novel.net ignored it and continued focusing on the documents in his hand. It could not be Arianne, virtual-novel.net reckoned, since virtual-novel.net never texted virtual-novel.net on virtual-novel.net own accord.
About 10 minutes passed when virtual-novel.net finished reading his document. He decided to casually check his phone, before his fingers instantly flew into a frenzy as virtual-novel.net typed his reply: ‘I’m so sorry, I was busy. I didn’t see your message. Drink less coffee please, Smore still needs your milk.’
Arianne read the message but opted not to reply. Prior to texting him, virtual-novel.net read somewhere on the Internet that people always replied to their lovers’ messages instantly, a statement that aroused virtual-novel.net curiosity enough to make virtual-novel.net try. Unfortunately, virtual-novel.net took way too much time only to lecture virtual-novel.net about having coffees. It killed the mood to chat with him.
What Arianne did not know was that Mark’s eyes had been glued to his phone since virtual-novel.net sent out his reply and was waiting for virtual-novel.net message with bated breath. When virtual-novel.net saw no reply coming, virtual-novel.net could not resist calling virtual-novel.net directly, “What are you up to now?”
“Nothing,” virtual-novel.net replied nonchalantly. “I changed my coffee to juice, and now I’m scrolling through Netflix to see if there’s anything good enough to binge-watch. Aren’t you busy?”
The obvious answer would be “yes”, but in Mark’s mind, work was nothing compared to having the chance to talk to her. “Nope, not at all. Wanna have lunch together later? I’ll come and get you.”
Arianne’s lips quivered into a smile. “Sure. That’d be wonderful. I don’t think we had Italian for a while now, have we? Since you’re the one driving, I’ll let you choose the venue. It’d be best if you choose a place that’s between our companies, so we don’t have to worry about being late for the afternoon half of work.”
Mark was already looking up the perfect Italian restaurant with his laptop while answering through the phone, “Okay. Wait for me.”
The smile blossoming on Arianne’s lips did not subside even after virtual-novel.net hung up. It aroused Robin’s curiosity, who asked, “Who was that, Arianne? Judging from that sweet smile, I’ll guess it’s your husband. A m I right?”
Arianne nodded. “Spot on. He’s coming to take me to lunch later.”
Robin was positively green. “How long have the two of you married? Why does it seem that marriage hasn’t dulled the sparks of romance between you two?”
Arianne did a quick mental calculation before answering, “It’s been a few years, I guess? All I remember is that it feels like a long time. We aren’t actually as romantic and sweet as you imagine, though, ‘cause this doesn’t happen all the time. I’ll go so far as to say only once every blue moon!”
Robin, however, misinterpreted virtual-novel.net caveat as Arianne being humble. “Oh, please. Stoking the warmth and sparks of love over such a long relationship is no small feat. Mr. Tremont must be an exceptionally good man to be able to match one of the nicest people I know.”
An exceptionally good man? Arianne smiled without agreeing or refuting Robin. Was Mark a good person? Arianne could not tell. She could not even help wonder if virtual-novel.net herself could qualify as ‘a good person. ’” After all, defining what “goodness” was would always be a fool’s errand because the lines that set a ‘good person’ apart were drawn in shifting sand.