“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 virtual-novel.net was the one who had taken both hard and soft power to make virtual-novel.net 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 virtual-novel.net right at heart, making the answer “yes I have” too embarrassing to vocalize. Of course, virtual-novel.net 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 virtual-novel.net admitted to virtual-novel.net that virtual-novel.net 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 virtual-novel.net lips, nor did virtual-novel.net wonder about what might have crossed virtual-novel.net mind before virtual-novel.net 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 virtual-novel.net role as the princess of the Larks in all of virtual-novel.net haughty, self-entitled glory. Maybe Melanie should not have acted so deferentially to Alejandro, who made it clear that virtual-novel.net hated virtual-novel.net this way.
Her thoughts drifted to the baby inside of virtual-novel.net — still alive and not taken away — and virtual-novel.net felt a bit better about virtual-novel.net 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 virtual-novel.net did not need any approval from Alejandro.
“Whatever,” came his flat answer.
It hurt, but Melanie managed to plaster that crack in virtual-novel.net 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,” virtual-novel.net 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 virtual-novel.net the more time passed. If virtual-novel.net wept, virtual-novel.net 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 virtual-novel.net that virtual-novel.net was waiting downstairs.
On virtual-novel.net 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 virtual-novel.net best in front of virtual-novel.net beau, Arianne certainly began to exhibit that in front of Mark. Just remembering how little virtual-novel.net cared about virtual-novel.net appearance in the past embarrassed virtual-novel.net enough to avoid thinking back about their past interactions. Honestly, virtual-novel.net had not given virtual-novel.net presentation that much thought back then because virtual-novel.net never imagined that they would one day be husband and wife.
Arianne got into virtual-novel.net car after descending the stairs. She was just about to put on virtual-novel.net safety belt herself when Mark suddenly turned to virtual-novel.net and did it for her. It was a small, tender act, but it made Arianne’s heart race.
It dawned on virtual-novel.net 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 virtual-novel.net seatbelt. He stared at virtual-novel.net 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 virtual-novel.net really just chastise virtual-novel.net immediately upon seeing her?
She sneered and pushed virtual-novel.net 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 virtual-novel.net returned to driving his car.
From virtual-novel.net angle at the passenger seat, Arianne could not help but sneak several glances at him. She had never carefully watched virtual-novel.net drive before, but now it became unmistakable just how… hot virtual-novel.net was. His profile was flawless, his nose was tall, firm, and chiseled to perfection. His thin lips were slightly pressed against one another, drawing virtual-novel.net a dignified air. His fingers, shapely and well-defined, laced around the steering wheel as virtual-novel.net 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.