Dangerous Love: You Are My One and Only Bride novel Chapter 1825

Mark could not stand to watch their exchange anymore. He stood and tugged Arianne’s arm, suggesting, “All right, that’s enough. I recall Smore having some assignments from school today, and maybe you can check and see if he’s doing them. Let me handle this.”

Arianne responded with a wordless, sullen sulk before turning her back from them and walking away.

Her bravado took her as far as a corner, where no one else was present, before it crumbled and revealed her reddened eyes. The fact that Helen was borrowing a hefty sum from her was never what dismayed her—it was the revelation that after abandoning Arianne, Helen’s life did not improve at all. Seeing her going around, essentially begging for charity, was a sting to her heart, and she hated how that distress felt.

Downstairs, Mark tried his best to comfort Helen. “It’s all right, I can assure you. I sincerely believe she doesn’t mean abuse when she said what she said. She concurred when I told her you needed monetary help. The most likely impetus to this, my guess, is the… complication between the two of you that she still cannot forgive. Please don’t take it to heart.”

Helene flashed a pained smile. “I know, I know. To stoop to such lows… I can only accept everything she accuses me of, and it’s okay. I owed her this much… and more, wouldn’t you say? More than I can ever atone in my lifetime. Mark, in my absence, please take care of her, okay?”

Mark drew a deep breath. “Understood. I will care for her with all my heart. How long… will you be staying?”

Helen shook her head. “Not at all. Bought the night plane; just can’t leave Aery in that state for long. I’ve only gotten someone to watch over her temporarily while I’m away for this trip,” she replied. “I should be going. Please, help me tell Arianne and Smore that I said goodbye.”

That was all. She rose to her feet and vanished outside the door. She did not seem to have taken any moment of reprieve between flying back to her home country and back abroad—it was an overseas trip made ostensibly for a single sheet of IOU…

And Arianne.

Even though her daughter clearly did not welcome her appearance.

A while later, Arianne descended the stairs and noticed Helen was gone. In a knee-jerk fashion, she asked, “Where is she?”

“Glad to see you getting it,” Mark remarked in resignation. “When your mom’s upset, don’t attract her anger. Granted, this is as much advice to you as it is to me—looks like we’ll have to be on our best behavior for a few days. Fools rush in where angels refuse to tread.”

“Angels? Really, where?” Smore echoed in confusion.

“…It’s just an idiom, little man. Means only fools would dare to be reckless when even the wisest would balk. Anyway, you’ll have to play alone today. Then take a bath and go to sleep; don’t give your mom reason to be even more upset than she already is. You’re old enough to take a shower on your own, aren’t you?”

Smore was quite confident of his ability to do that, at the very least. “Please, I know how to shower. I’m not gonna upset anyone with that!”

The dark of the night had always been fertile grounds for unbridled trains of thoughts, but tonight, Arianne’s rotten mood made Mark hesitate in sharing his musing—or even doing much anything else. In the end, he could only toss and turn from his side of the bed as sleep continued to elude him.