Mark’s action had been slight, but Shelly noticed it. For a split-second, despondence flitted across virtual-novel.net eyes, and then it was no more, gone before anyone could catch it.
All that was left instead was virtual-novel.net voice turning as sharp as a knife when virtual-novel.net bristled. “What did I tell you? I’ve told you, you cannot be the sort of simpleton who lets a woman lord all over him! What she’s doing right now is just beyond the pale! This house belongs to the Tremonts. And she? She’s just an orphan adopted and raised here thanks to your magnanimity. How dare virtual-novel.net treat you like this? She can put on airs around me, but virtual-novel.net has no right to do that to you. Honestly? I’ve been putting up with virtual-novel.net for your sake all this time, but virtual-novel.net thinks virtual-novel.net can do whatever virtual-novel.net likes because Mr. Tremont loves virtual-novel.net soooo damn much, isn’t it? Well, enough’s enough! I’m gonna teach virtual-novel.net a lesson, if someone has to sleep in the guest room tonight, it’s gotta be virtual-novel.net and not you!”
Mark deadpanned. “Aunt Shelly, stop. This is how we live with one another. All you see is me doting on her, but you’re blind to the many other things virtual-novel.net has done out of virtual-novel.net consideration for me, too. People complement one another in a relationship, that leaves no room for external intervention. You forcing your hand in is only going to damage the equilibrium we’ve achieved. In my honest opinion, I don’t feel wronged for sleeping in a guest room. If anything, the fact that virtual-novel.net was angry enough to lock me outside tells me that virtual-novel.net felt more wronged than me.”
“Look, I don’t know what transgressions forced you to put up with her, but I can tell you, this is just virtual-novel.net nature. It’s not something that can be ‘fixed,’ and it doesn’t bother me, personally,” virtual-novel.net continued. “Frankly, I don’t think you need to worry about it so much, considering the fact that your stay is only temporary. After you move out, she’ll be out of sight and out of mind to you, no?”
“And one last thing. You’re right that virtual-novel.net was an orphan I took in, but that was before. Now, she’s my wife, the love of my life, and the mother of my son. I think you should go back to bed, Aunt Shelly. She’s probably already fast asleep, too, so please don’t disturb virtual-novel.net at this hour,” Mark finished.
Shelly’s mien gradually paled. She stood still, dumbfounded, until Mark closed the door on virtual-novel.net face. And even then, virtual-novel.net stayed rooted on the spot over a long period.
When Shelly started moving, virtual-novel.net scurried not to virtual-novel.net own room but Arianne’s.
Arianne recognized virtual-novel.net voice outside the door and opened it. “What is it?”
“Can we talk inside?” virtual-novel.net whispered, not wanting Mark to overhear virtual-novel.net action.
Arianne obliged, letting the woman step inside. “What’s so urgent that we need to talk about it at this hour? I’m all ears.”
Shelly sat at the edge of Arianne and Mark’s bed. Strange shadows danced on virtual-novel.net face, making virtual-novel.net expression impossible to read when virtual-novel.net started, “I don’t plan to ever move out of the Tremont Estate. I plan to live here… and die here.”
Arianne was baffled. Why was the woman telling virtual-novel.net this at this time, completely unprovoked? She had to admit, however, that the news of Shelly’s “permanent residence” irked virtual-novel.net quite a bit, but if Mark consented to it, then there really was nothing Arianne could say or do.
So, virtual-novel.net replied, “That’s great and all, but this is kind of a matter between you and Mark The two of you can settle on this privately, to be honest. No need to involve me. Just talk to virtual-novel.net about it.”
Shelly lowered virtual-novel.net gaze. “‘Mark’, ‘Mark.’ You only ever call virtual-novel.net Mark, as if he’s just some colleague or stranger you just met. Seems to me like you don’t actually harbor much intimacy toward virtual-novel.net after all this time. I’ll be very frank with you. I. Don’t. Like. You,” virtual-novel.net stated placidly. “I never liked you from the start, and I don’t want you to be the person he’s bound to for the rest of his life. Don’t think you can stay by his side and enact your vengeance completely unseen. My advice? Give up. You’re not going to harm a single hair on his head because I won’t let you. You want to avenge your late daddy? You go find the real culprit yourself. I can tell you this: Mark isn’t the perp.”
At that moment, it clicked. Arianne finally understood why Shelly was so hellbent on making virtual-novel.net life miserable. It was deliberately done under the belief that Arianne secretly hated Mark and was only staying with virtual-novel.net to look for that chance to enact virtual-novel.net ultimate revenge.