Mary was the one who broke the silence. “Mr. Tremont, you really have come back!”
It was the last confirmation Arianne needed to know that the man standing in front of virtual-novel.net was real.
It’s been a long, long time.
She rushed forward and dove into the chest of the man virtual-novel.net thought about in the day and dreamed about at night. She was acutely aware of how feeble and emaciated his body had become compared to the sturdy frame virtual-novel.net remembered. He had stumbled a bit from the impact, but at the last step, virtual-novel.net stood steady and locked his arms around virtual-novel.net into a tight, unyielding embrace.
Unfortunately, Arianne’s force was a little too much for his chest, and soon, his yet-fully-recovered lungs began to protest with a fit of coughs.
Arianne refused to let go. “Where have you been? Why have you only come back now? I thought… I thought you were dead! I thought you were never coming back. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to to go through the motion over these few cursed months?”
Mark ruffled virtual-novel.net hair gently and increased the force of his hug. “It’s alright. It’s over. I’m home. I’m never going away again.”
Smore was whining for his father to hug virtual-novel.net too, so Ariane released herself from the embrace with tears in virtual-novel.net eyes and shoved the toddler to him. “Smore… Smore has been crying for his Daddy… for so long. Finally, t-today’s the day… when his wish c-came true…”
Mark gazed at Smore with a soft glow in his eyes. “Daddy’s home, sweetie. He’s never gonna leave you again.”
Smore understood him. He threw his arms around his father’s neck and refused to let go.
It was up to Henry to remind him. “Mr. Tremont, we should get inside. There is quite the strong gale today, it might be a bit baleful to your current condition.”
Mark nodded in agreement. He held Smore up in his arm and held Ariane’s hand with the other before the trio entered the house.
Tiffany watched the family’s long-awaited reunion and finally felt earnest relief for the first time over so many months. “Mark Tremont, I’ll have you know that I’ve been living in the Tremont Estate for so many months to help take care of your little darling. I’m practically their second mother now! You owe me, big time!”
“What would you like as a show of my gratitude?” virtual-novel.net replied. “I’m all ears.”
Frankly, Tiffany intended it as a jest, so when virtual-novel.net saw how serious Mark was, virtual-novel.net quickly felt embarrassed. “Uh, h-hey! I mean, I don’t have anything in particular in mind other than, well, could you please never pull off something this legitly terrifying again? Please don’t ever crush Ari’s heart ever again, y-you hear me? Be by virtual-novel.net side forever and ever and… be kind to her.”
Mark’s reply was solemn and resolute. “I promise.”
Now that Mark had returned, Tiffany lost the only reason to continue virtual-novel.net stay in the Tremont Estate. Immediately, virtual-novel.net requested Mary to help virtual-novel.net pack up for virtual-novel.net own return trip. It had been months since virtual-novel.net had gone back to White Water Bay Villa, or went to see virtual-novel.net mother, or even have virtual-novel.net absolute-number-one-favorite-food, hotpots. She was beyond eager to tick off all of the boxes in virtual-novel.net desire list.
Mark ordered Brian to send Tiffany home after virtual-novel.net frenzied activity of packing up virtual-novel.net belongings. Once they left, there were only Arianne and Mark in the room, staring at each other blankly.
Apparently, once the initial emotional roller-coaster was over, the two of them quickly returned to the way they were before, still as taciturn with one another as ever. The fact that the two of them had separated for over a few months also made the matter worse because suddenly, the Tremonts found their other half a little… estranged.