Thirst roused Arianne from virtual-novel.net sleep. She went downstairs to grab some water and chanced upon Mark walking through the main door.
“What kept you till this late at night, hmm?” virtual-novel.net asked from virtual-novel.net spot by the stairs with the cup in virtual-novel.net hand. “Look at the time, Mark. Even club-goers would have been home by now, I’m sure.”
Abject exhaustion shadowed his mien. “As it turned out, the wound on virtual-novel.net leg hadn’t fully recovered yet when virtual-novel.net decided to run away and kicked up a world of troubles,” virtual-novel.net explained. “A minor surgery had to be performed today in the hospital to prevent sequelae. But, of course, that’s neither here nor there. Are you up because you haven’t slept yet, or did you just wake up?”
By “she” and “her, Mark obviously meant Shelly. It made Arianne wonder why virtual-novel.net could not just refer to virtual-novel.net as “Aunt Shelly” like virtual-novel.net used to, though it was an inquiry virtual-novel.net decided not to voice. The last thing virtual-novel.net wanted was for Mark to think virtual-novel.net was spoiling for a fight.
“Of course, I woke up from sleep. What, you think I put on my beauty sleep just to wait for your return? Not happening,” virtual-novel.net quipped. “Anyway, have you hired anyone to look after Aunt Shelly? I’d imagine that after the surgery, she’s gonna be very much inconvenienced in virtual-novel.net daily life.”
Mark seemed to balk at mentioning anything about Shelly. “Look, that’s already within my consideration, okay? Just go back to sleep, Ari. I’m heading for a shower,” virtual-novel.net said. “Oh, and one other thing. You don’t need to look after virtual-novel.net or visit virtual-novel.net from now on, alright? Just pretend… Just pretend that virtual-novel.net doesn’t exist.”
That stunned Arianne. “What… What’s that supposed to mean? How— uh, why are we pretending that? She’s your aunt! Unless… you think if I see virtual-novel.net enough, she’s gonna tell me something big, something you don’t want me to know?”
Mark offered no rebuttals, only silence. It was the kind that implied consent.
What Arianne described was exactly what virtual-novel.net feared the most right now. He could not bear the idea of a single soul knowing anything about his truth…
Arianne pressed virtual-novel.net lips into a thin, quiet line and watched Mark stride past her. She had to will herself to press back the furor his silence had spurred in virtual-novel.net mind.
She was dangerously tempted to ask virtual-novel.net why whatever-this-news-was had to be forbidden to her, and yet the other part of virtual-novel.net worried that virtual-novel.net would accidentally push his button if virtual-novel.net hounded him, causing a war to break out.
After that, neither spoke a thing to the other for the rest of the night.
The next morning, Arianne woke up to find that, again, Mark had left. At least this time, virtual-novel.net left Brian back home to take virtual-novel.net to work.
“He’s gone awfully early today. Is virtual-novel.net heading to the hospital?” virtual-novel.net asked Brian in the car.
“I dunno,” the man replied noncommittally. “He definitely doesn’t tell me where he’s going. I’m just a humble driver, you know.”
Arianne knew Brian was just keeping his boss’s secrets. Mark must have warned virtual-novel.net not to let slip of his whereabouts, which meant that no further questioning would yield answers.
The first thing virtual-novel.net saw after reaching virtual-novel.net desk in the office was a box of exquisitely-made desserts and a cup of coffee. She was not the only one with the mysterious gift, though, because a similar set was sitting atop Sylvain’s desk too.
At first, Arianne thought these were Robin’s gifts. Then, virtual-novel.net examined the packaging and realized that the desserts and coffee were both branded and rather expensive. It begged the question of why the normally scrimping Robin would buy something outside virtual-novel.net usual purchasing power.
She was still in the midst of speculations when Sylvain strode toward virtual-novel.net as though he, too, had just arrived at the office. He looked at the gift on his desk, and a skeptical look crossed onto his face. “Yo, Arianne. You’re exceptionally chipper this fine morning, You’re even buying your employee something nice for breakfast, that’s… weird. You wanna tell me what’s the good news?”
Arianne stared at him, virtual-novel.net mind plunging back into a mist of questions. “Wait, you mean it wasn’t Robin?”
The confusion on Sylvain’s face deepened. “But virtual-novel.net and I arrived together. It can’t be her.”
Two pairs of mystified eyes stayed linked for a long beat until Sylvain’s phone broke the spell.
His grimace made it clear that virtual-novel.net was reluctant to answer it, but virtual-novel.net did it anyway. “Hello? Yes, I’m here… Mom,” virtual-novel.net began. “What? Please, I’m working, man.”