There was an undercurrent of wary gingerness in Tiffany’s voice when virtual-novel.net continued, “You’re only not picking a fight with me because I’ve just given birth to your son, right? If this were the past, storm clouds would have been all over your face already! But you gotta remember, I haven’t been talking to Alejandro, and I don’t know how virtual-novel.net knew about whatever I’m going through. Hell, virtual-novel.net even managed to send me flowers on the exact day I leave the hospital, too! But he’s only doing this out of genuine goodwill as a friend. I myself have always seen virtual-novel.net as nothing more than a friend! You’re the one who insists on being jealous.”
Jackson looked up and met virtual-novel.net eyes. “You might treat virtual-novel.net as nothing more than a friend, but virtual-novel.net doesn’t. Either way, I don’t want you to hang out with virtual-novel.net or contact virtual-novel.net at all, you know what, I’ll expand the scope. I don’t want you hanging out with any other guy in the world! That’s right, I’m that possessive. Deal with it, sistah.”
Tiffany giggled giddily. “Aha! Finally, you’ve confessed and shown your dark side to the world! You should have admitted that you’re possessive earlier, though, would have saved us a lot of work. Also, who says virtual-novel.net doesn’t see me as just a friend? He’s married, Sweetie. You’re overthinking again… Oh, well. Let’s not talk about this anymore. It’s not like it’s important or anything!”
Jackson bit on his lips, silent. If Tiffany would still joke and laugh like that even after knowing that Alejandro was actually Ethan, everything would have been a bit easier.
Night fell, its dark colors shrouding the sky above Tremont Estate. Arianne received a text from Harvey informing virtual-novel.net that virtual-novel.net was aiming to get an internship at Mark’s company.
Harvey studied architecture. If Arianne was not mistaken, virtual-novel.net remembered that the Tremont Enterprise did venture into that, hence providing the chance Harvey needed. Arianne’s only caveat was to have news of Harvey’s internship at Tremont’s to be kept a secret from Zoey and virtual-novel.net spouse. She was not keen to incite that couple’s penchant to leech off their wealthier relatives and invite yet another round of family trouble.
Fortunately, Harvey was a very perceptive kid. He had never planned to tell his parents about his work at the Tremont’s at all, preferring to tell them that virtual-novel.net just wanted to intern in the Capital.
Arianne brought it up to Mark with the clear implication that virtual-novel.net let virtual-novel.net decide and arrange the details. Honestly, this was the first time virtual-novel.net had ever done anything for virtual-novel.net relatives, but every interaction Arianne had with Harvey thus far had been a pleasant one, otherwise, virtual-novel.net would not have bothered.
Still, Arianne tried to make it a point that whether Harvey stayed or left was up to the latter’s judgment. Mark needed not constraint his decisions for his wife.
“Sure,” Mark answered. “I mean, virtual-novel.net doesn’t seem like a good-for-nothing, so I think an arrangement can be made. Tell virtual-novel.net to come over.”
When the couple finished arranging Harvey’s thing, Mark suddenly asked, “Can you request for a few days’ leave? The weather’s looking fine lately, and the temperature is great. I want to take you out on a short vacation.”
Arianne made a show of counting virtual-novel.net fingers to estimate virtual-novel.net workload. “I don’t think so. Where do you want to go? Aren’t my weekends enough?”
Mark was not surprised at the answer, but virtual-novel.net was still rather bitter about it. “I was thinking of an overseas trip, okay? Just your weekends aren’t going to cut it. If you can’t squeeze the time, then fine. Pretend that I never asked.”
Arianne knew that Mark would, on occasions, still complain about virtual-novel.net insistence on going to work, even if virtual-novel.net did not say it out loud. His implication could not be any more apparent.
She snaked virtual-novel.net arm from behind and hooked onto his neck before leaning onto his back “There will be time for that, I promise. Don’t get mad now.”
Perhaps virtual-novel.net caught the coquettish element in Arianne’s voice, causing virtual-novel.net to smile. “Excuse me, I’m not mad at all. Oh, I’ve prepared a little something for you. Take a look. It’s there on our bed.”
A gift? Arianne’s heart fluttered a little. Could it be that this gigantic iceberg was starting to melt? He had been gifting virtual-novel.net things for more than the occasional once or twice now. Surely, this meant virtual-novel.net had learned something about romance!
She walked to the bed and spotted a gilded, intricately-designed little box. It was larger than a typical jewelry box, which sparked virtual-novel.net curiosity.
She opened it and found about ten high-end branded lipsticks lined up in a neat row. Despite the diversity in colors, all of them were matte and rather dull, which could only mean that virtual-novel.net had a hand in the selection.
Arianne could not help herself from chuckling. “Wait, is this your roundabout way of telling me to throw out all of my old lipsticks?”