Dangerous Love: You Are My One and Only Bride novel Chapter 1776

Mark cocked his brow. “Melanie Lark? Hmph, who’s surprised that she’s finally had enough of you and wants to part with you? You mistreat her. And of course, the whole trial of being bound to a man who doesn’t love you—must be hell. Maybe you should learn how to love someone first before thinking you’re viable for marriage, punk, so don’t keep her and waste her away. I mean, haven’t we been here before? You messed Tiffany up, and now you mess Melanie up. Seriously, can you ever act like a decent human being?”

He did not upset Alejandro—in fact, the latter had made enough mental preparations for the sort of mockeries Mark would definitely cast at him, so Alejandro could take them. “Yo, I’m here to ask you for solutions; I’m not here to be ‘educated’. I mean, pop’s gone, so maybe your big brother instincts compel you to be the fill-in, but eh, hard pass on the lectures. You claim I didn’t treat Melanie good enough, but what’s good, then? I bought her a limited edition sports car, gave her the most expensive jewelries—I’m giving her nothing but the best! But all she ever wants to do is to stay in the damn house caring for the kid. She doesn’t wanna go anywhere! And now, she keeps harping on a divorce.”

Mark let out a shrill snicker. “Women may be materialistic, but not all the time. They might be delighted by a car, or jewelries, or designer bags, but their delight is predicated on a foundation of relationship and bonding. If all they need is material, then that isn’t love to begin with. Besides… You might be able to charm naïve ingenues who've never seen the world before with all these flashy materials; those women will eagerly climb into your bed with their legs spread wide before they even think of leaving you! But Melanie isn’t an ingenue who’s never seen what material is like. For Christ’s sake, she grew up in the Lark family; she’s seen it all!

“Not every woman acts as how you’d imagine they do. It could be any material, but it’s gotta be built atop of actual, genuine relationship to mean anything. Otherwise, it’s no different from a transactional relationship. Lemme guess, you didn’t usually gift Melanie things in the beginning, did you? All these gratifications—you’re only trying to repair your bond after noticing the red flag, which is why they are working so bloody well now,” he continued. “Simple question: do you love her?”

Alejandro pondered on it for a while. “I don’t know. No one’s ever taught me how to love. But… I… I just don’t want a divorce.”

Mark sipped on his red tea. “Why not?” he asked offhandedly. “Because your girl still needs her? Or is the needy one you? Do you have only needs for her, or is it because you can’t let her go? Either way, spare me the diddle. I don’t have the time to chat idly with you. Let the question sit on your head for a longer time before answering me.”

His words silenced Alejandro into a full five-minutes rumination. “I think… I think I’m the one who can’t leave her. I’m used to her standing beside me, used to her cooking, and every time she mentions that damn divorce, I’ll become too frightened to go back…”

“Jesus Christ, Alejandro, just tell her you love her! You won’t die out of a heart attack from saying that, and you won’t lose your precious face or dignity either,” Mark snapped curtly. “It isn’t hard to just tell your significant other that you love her. Not at all… If that’s all there is, you may leave. I still have a lot of agenda on my plate, so here’s the door; show yourself out before you bug me more.”

Arianne thought for a few seconds. “Okay, go on. I’ll do my best.”

Alejandro sighed. “Please talk to Melanie for me. Tell her how sad our daughter will be if she doesn’t have a mom. Just talk and talk until she doesn’t want a divorce anymore. Look, I trust your persuasive and oratory skill—I know you’re just the perfect woman for the job.”

The realization hit Arianne, who immediately broke into a grin. “Well, well, well! Who the heck knew that you’d have a day like this too, huh? You’re pleading with me over this? Tell you what—I actually don’t mind helping even if you don’t gift me anything. See, this thing ultimately depends on you; it can’t be sustained by outside help. Honestly, you might have no idea about this, but Melanie used to love you a goddamned lot. The only reason why she’d want a divorce is because you pushed her to this. You really gotta think hard and long about yourself, man. If it doesn’t work, then… Just treat her the same way she used to treat you. Because that is what she believes is the best expression of love.”

Alejandro raised his eyebrow. “God, a single speech from you triumphs Mark’s bullsh*t by a mile! All right, I’m thanking you in advance. I promised her that we’ll talk about this tonight after I go home, so you better talk to her before I go home, you know? So maybe… a half-day break around the evening?”