Suddenly, the atmosphere in the room changed, making Arianne feel extremely uncomfortable. She knew that arriving with Sylvain would cause an awkward situation but virtual-novel.net never thought that it would be this awkward. Breathing alone felt like a huge effort for her.
Sylvain’s mother seemed completely fine on the surface. When the dishes were served, virtual-novel.net chatted with Sylvain over daily household things. She even mentioned that virtual-novel.net would introduce virtual-novel.net to his stepfather’s daughter one day so that they could get to know each other. Sylvain suddenly put down his knife and fork and icily replied, “No need. I do not need to establish any form of relationship with your current family. No need to put in the effort. I have no interest in your husband or stepdaughter, nor you.”
Sylvain’s mother finally displayed a sense of awkwardness, probably because Arianne, an outsider, was around. “Syl, don’t be so crass. It’s normal for you to feel conflicted now. I will wait until you feel calmer.”
Sylvain couldn’t stay any longer. He called the waiter for the bill, then dragged Arianne away from the restaurant.
Back in the car, Arianne wasn’t sure of what to say. Sylvain looked ready to eat someone alive. Seeing as Sylvain did not start the car, virtual-novel.net meekly said, “Uh… We haven’t eaten a thing. I’m kind of hungry. Want to find somewhere else to eat?”
Sylvain turned around and looked at her, then suddenly smiled. “How can your mind be filled with thoughts of food? I’m sorry, I had no idea that virtual-novel.net was here to undermine me. It must have been awkward for you to be dragged along with me. However, I had no intention of going before. I still had some hope for virtual-novel.net before we met. Now, I don’t want to have anything to do with virtual-novel.net at all. You’ve heard it yourself. Her current husband has a daughter of his own, just one year younger than me, which is also to say, after marrying him, virtual-novel.net helped virtual-novel.net raise someone else’s kid while happily abandoning virtual-novel.net own. She even had the nerve to bring up that insignificant amount of daily expenses and education fees virtual-novel.net gave over the first few years after virtual-novel.net departure. I would have given in if virtual-novel.net were living a horrible life, I wouldn’t hate her. But she’s clearly doing very well, and only thought of me when I became useful to her. It’s so disappointing.”
Arianne sighed. “I don’t know what to say about that either, but she’s still your mom at the end of the day. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to turn around and leave with her. Don’t worry about whatever happened today. I came with you as a friend, not your lady boss. Your mom hasn’t exactly offended me, so I won’t resent you.”
Sylvain patted virtual-novel.net on the shoulder. “Alright, let’s go. I’ll take you for lunch. I’ll have to silence your mouth somehow.”
Arianne giggled. If virtual-novel.net didn’t want virtual-novel.net to tell Mark about whatever happened today, virtual-novel.net should have just said so. Why beat around the bush? A meal wouldn’t have been enough to silence virtual-novel.net if virtual-novel.net really wanted to tell him.
They returned to the office after lunch. Arianne found Mark sitting at virtual-novel.net office desk. Sylvain nervously shot virtual-novel.net a look. She nodded gently and walked up to him. “What are you doing, Mr. Tremont?”
Mark cast virtual-novel.net a sidelong glance. “You’ve had a long lunch. What were you talking about, aside from eating your food?”