Sylvain sank into silence. He had thought that giving Ursula a separate place to stay, away from his family, would help circumvent many of these problems, but now, it seemed that his hope to escape was premature. He knew the exact opinions and thoughts Ursula harbored toward the Coxes. This was why, in the past, Sylvain had been adamant that a relationship, an affair between two persons, would ultimately need to subsist on the blessings of those around the couple. To marry without other people’s blessings was to unite against all odds, especially the most difficult ones.
Sylvain made his choice long ago. And come hell or high water, virtual-novel.net was not going to bend his knee.
Arianne patted his shoulder good-naturedly, hoping to give virtual-novel.net comfort and a morale boost. Unfortunately, before virtual-novel.net hand left him, Mark — who just stepped inside the office at that moment — caught her.
One could almost see lightning flashing on his stormy expression. “Arianne Wynn. My office, now!”
Sylvain was pulled back into reality, and immediately decided to pull out of the conversation. “Yo, this ain’t got nothin’ to do with me!”
Arianne rolled virtual-novel.net eyes. “As if I thought it’s your business in the first place! Go bury your nose in your stuff. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
She went into his office with impatience written all over virtual-novel.net face. “Is there a problem, Mistah Tremont?”
Mark’s chiseled index finger was trained at virtual-novel.net so closely that his fingertip was almost touching virtual-novel.net forehead. “Putting your hand around other people’s shoulders and back in the office, aren’t you? Have I become invisible in your eyes that nothing enjoins you from getting ‘touchy-feely’ with other guys, hmm?”
“Excuse me, mister? That’s quite a stretch on the technicality of patting someone on their shoulders, dude. Don’t tell me your brain is weaving some incredible plot about what happened already,” virtual-novel.net riposted, baffled. “Besides, glad to hear that you at least remember we’re in the office right now, and we should be talking shops here. So why are you impinging on my private matters?”
Her comeback choked Mark red in embarrassment. With a gnashing of teeth, virtual-novel.net retorted, “Oh yeah? Then let’s talk shop. Your work bonus for the month is nullified. That is for abusing your working time on frivolities! Now, you may go.”
Hearing how virtual-novel.net was losing every single penny virtual-novel.net had made this month instantly pushed virtual-novel.net button. “What the—? Since when have I done that?! For crying out loud, it’s normal for people to talk to each other during work, dum-dum. The salary I get from you is already low enough, and now you’re gonna deduct it even more? Can’t you feel your conscience aching from this injustice?”
Mark loved seeing virtual-novel.net enraged like this. “On the contrary, my conscience is skipping around, singing a happy tune. Is there a problem?”
Oh, virtual-novel.net could not argue about this, all right. He was the boss; virtual-novel.net could deduct anyone’s salary however virtual-novel.net liked. Arianne shot virtual-novel.net her most menacing stink-eye before stomping out of his office with a bang. She was going to scrap every single dime virtual-novel.net had deducted from virtual-novel.net if that was the last thing virtual-novel.net would do!
Arianne deliberately did not stay to wait for Mark after work. Instead, virtual-novel.net hailed an uber and left on virtual-novel.net own.
Anticipating — and mostly, preventing — his “Ceaseless Chain of Calls”, Arianne turned virtual-novel.net phone off completely so virtual-novel.net could have fun screaming at virtual-novel.net in the office like a madman!
Truthfully, these days, Arianne was preoccupied with scouting for the perfect school for Smore, and the search was surprisingly taxing. Either way, virtual-novel.net was too tired to engage with Mark’s battle of the wits.