A Ruling Passion – Chapter 1212

Arianne instinctively shot Mark a glance. Honestly, Arianne was not quiet by nature, before eight years old, her childhood was one of joy and rambunctious guffaws, especially when she was playing with her friends. The only reason why she became so quiet was that Mark influenced her that way. In other words, Smore was quiet because he followed his father’s trait, and as the baby grew, the resemblance became unmistakable.

At night, as the two laid down side by side, Arianne asked, “Have you always been this icy and stoic since you were a kid, Mark Tremont? ‘Cause Smore’s acting quite like you when you were a kid, isn’t he?”

Mark pinched the bridge of her nose. “What did you just call me? For some reason, hearing it makes me miffed.”

She slapped his hand away. “I called you by your name, duh! Isn’t that a normal thing to do? You can’t possibly expect me to call you ‘honey’ at the drop of a hat, right? Come on, you’re not really gonna fixate on the terms I use to call you, right? What else is a person’s name for, if not to be used? Also, I’m asking you a question here! Have you always been like this since you were little?”

Mark pulled Arianne’s slender fingers into his own before fidgeting with them. “Not really. Much of it is down to nurture,” he replied. “The old Tremont family was... very different from what it is today. Everything I did, from the way I used my eating utensils to how many times I should chew my food before swallowing it, had its own sets of rules. I was practically raised as the heir to the Tremont legacy from the moment I was born; every aspect of my life was suffocating. Not even my school breaks were free from their micro-managed schedules. The only reason why I never felt like playing with others of my age was that I never had the time to form that desire at all.”