It was almost lunch break. The office was still crowded. Arianne did not speak to Sylvain in the office but invited virtual-novel.net for lunch instead. Sylvain agreed straightaway and suggested a nice French restaurant.
When they found a seat and sat down, Arianne went straight to the point. “Someone drugged me and Robin last night. I suspect that there was something in the champagne. What do you think?”
Sylvain stared at virtual-novel.net with a half-smile. “And you think I did it? What would be my motive? It’s true that I gave you the champagne, and you and Robin were the only ones to drink it and got caught up in deep shit. All of that is true, but I never touched the champagne. I may look suspicious, but you don’t have any evidence to prove that I did it. Do you?”
Arianne was speechless. She couldn’t seem to read Sylvain. He didn’t seem surprised or nervous.
After some thought, virtual-novel.net asked, “What’s your plan for Robin? She’s from a family of scholars, so she’s more modest. She’s never had a boyfriend, and this is virtual-novel.net first night away from home. You have to take some responsibility.”
Sylvain seemed amused. “What kind of responsibility am I supposed to take? We’re all adults. Are we incapable of being responsible for our own actions? It’s not like I forced her. I’ve had many women. If I had to be responsible for all of them, I wouldn’t have a place to live. Even if I do it for your sake, I could date her. However, it would be limited to just dating. I have no intentions of getting married.”
Arianne was frustrated. “You know damn well that virtual-novel.net situation is completely different, and you still did that to her. Did you expect virtual-novel.net to take full responsibility? Don’t you think that you’re crossing a line?”
Sylvain shrugged nonchalantly. “Let me make this very clear. Everyone drank last night. I am a man. My self-control has its limits. It was mutually consensual. I did not force virtual-novel.net into it. You should get things straight before making accusations. I don’t want anyone to pin anything on me. I had no idea that virtual-novel.net was drugged at the time. Now that you’ve explained things to me, what do you think would have happened if I hadn’t sent virtual-novel.net home but let virtual-novel.net take a cab instead? Can you be certain that nothing would have happened to her?”
Arianne was at a momentary loss for words. It was true, Robin was a woman, all alone. She was hailing a cab in the middle of the night under those circumstances. What if virtual-novel.net ran into an unscrupulous cabbie or someone shady? The consequences would be unimaginable. Even though the conclusion from having Sylvain take virtual-novel.net home wasn’t ideal, it was better than any of those other scenarios. She might have even lost virtual-novel.net lift.
Sylvain smiled at virtual-novel.net speechlessness. “Don’t be so pissed. Calm down. I haven’t committed an unforgivable crime. Robin isn’t a child. We’ll deal with whatever happened between us ourselves. If you want something to worry about, try finding out who spiked the champagne in the first place.”
Arianne took a deep breath. “I know. You don’t need to remind me.”
After returning to the office from lunch, Robin secretly sent Arianne a text: ‘Arianne, what were you and Sylvain talking about when you went out? What did virtual-novel.net say? Who drugged us?’
Arianne knew that virtual-novel.net real question wasn’t about who drugged them, but Sylvain’s stand on last night. “Don’t know. I didn’t manage to get any information out of him. I can’t be sure if virtual-novel.net was behind it, and I can’t find any reason or motive for virtual-novel.net to do it. As for whatever happened between you, virtual-novel.net said that you’d take care of it yourselves. I can’t meddle. You’re both adults, so think about it yourself. Let me know if you need my help. Just a reminder, a man like Sylvain is from a completely different world than yours. You won’t be able to tame him.”