Mark hung up the phone and ordered Mary to prepare the guest room. By this point, virtual-novel.net was fairly sure that Tiffany was not going away tonight. It was nearing eleven, yet his Arianne did not look at all like virtual-novel.net was packing up for bed.
He stood on the end of the stairs and called out, “Ari, it’s getting late. Time for bed, yes?”
Arianne eyed the clock on the living room wall. “It really is late. Why don’t we head to bed, Tiffie?”
A veil of moroseness still hung over Tiffany, who found it hard to smile when virtual-novel.net remembered that Jackson had not given virtual-novel.net a call or text even now. “Okay. But I don’t wanna sleep alone. Sleep with me?”
Mark almost choked himself on how accurate his prediction was. He knew it, Tiffany would definitely dish out this card — it was always moments like these when virtual-novel.net was forced to reckon with the women’s creed of “sistahs before mistahs.”
Surprising absolutely no one, Arianne said yes without batting an eyelash. “You got it, sis. Come, I’m gonna show you to the guest room.”
Mark stood still on his spot at the stairs ashe watched the two women go past him. He was beyond reluctant to comply with their arrangement, yet virtual-novel.net could not find it in virtual-novel.net to object. In the end, virtual-novel.net strode into the bedroom alone, and tossed and turned on his bed.
When sleep refused to come, Mark grabbed his phone and texted Arianne: ‘Sleep beside me please.’
Arianne was mildly shocked at first, but a small, pleased curve quickly formed on virtual-novel.net lips. She was just about to reply to the text when Tiffany stuck virtual-novel.net head close in curiosity before remarking loudly, “Oh my god, it’s only a few walls between you two, and the manbaby’s already sending you an S.O.S? Is virtual-novel.net actually jealous of us? You’re his sleeping partner like almost every night! Can’t virtual-novel.net just let you be mine for this once? Besides, all men sleep like pigs, which I bet brings risks to a pregnant woman like you. You’ll probably sleep more comfortably and safely beside me, if I do say so myself!”
“He’s not that bad,” Arianne explained while replying. “He doesn’t sleep too deeply, and sometimes virtual-novel.net wakes up at midnight to tuck me in with a comforter and stuff. It’s no biggie, I’m just gonna reassure virtual-novel.net real quick. You, on the other hand, stop wondering about things and go to sleep already. I’m usually already fast asleep at this hour, you know… But I got so excited talking to you that I didn’t even look at the time.”
Tiffany considered virtual-novel.net best friend and inferred that Mark must have been pretty pleasant to Arianne these few days, a conclusion that brought Tiffany a sense of relief. Sometimes, one could easily tell a person’s opinion and feelings about a person through the subtleties in their facial expressions when they talked about them.
“If he’s not gonna quit whining, I swear, you go ahead and mommy virtual-novel.net before virtual-novel.net turns as bitter as a wronged housewife,” Tiffany quipped.
Arianne stared at the emoji sticker Mark sent to her, realizing virtual-novel.net could not make out what virtual-novel.net was feeling, and made a decision after a moment of hesitation. “No, no. It’s fine. He doesn’t form grudges that easily. Anyway, I’m just gonna go check virtual-novel.net out for a sec. Will be back later!”
Immediately after pushing the door to their bedroom open, Mark yanked Arianne inside and pressed virtual-novel.net against the wall, his hand stilling protectively on virtual-novel.net waist. “I called Jackson a while ago, and I’ll be frank: he’s angry as hell,” virtual-novel.net recounted quickly. “He’s usually a very congenial, agreeable guy, but with his fuse lit like that, he’s turned into a brick wall no one could talk sense to.”
Arianne raised virtual-novel.net head and considered him. His head obscured much of the light from above, masking his handsome facial features with a slight blur. Suddenly, it looked as though virtual-novel.net had never aged nor changed, and was still the same handsome eighteen-years-old lad from back then. The only and most crucial difference was his eyes — the edges in them had softened.
She gently tugged on the edge of his shirt, virtual-novel.net eyes smiling. “Where is this going?”