At the last of his relentless rolls, Arianne finally spoke up. “Too full to fall asleep? Get up and move around, then.”
For some reasons, virtual-novel.net felt fretful. He tried to pull virtual-novel.net into virtual-novel.net as an antidote. “Could say the same about you. You know what’s on my mind, don’t you? I’ll be honest with you, if you ever want to see your mother, you can. Always, anytime you want. You needn’t affect nonchalance after you see virtual-novel.net every time, I know you wanted to see virtual-novel.net a great deal.”
Hearing virtual-novel.net mention Helen lit up virtual-novel.net fuse, causing virtual-novel.net to shove virtual-novel.net away from virtual-novel.net in frustration. “Don’t mention her! She doesn’t even wanna lay virtual-novel.net eyes on me, so why the heck should I plead with virtual-novel.net to look at me like some sad, pathetic thing, huh? I’m not without my dignity and pride, you know, there’s no way I would still come with puppy-dog-eyes begging for virtual-novel.net to take me in after virtual-novel.net abandoned me over and over again! No!”
Her outburst stole Mark’s response away, leaving virtual-novel.net speechless. Combined with the fact that his mind was also split on some other “matter”, virtual-novel.net found himself hard-pressed on how to organize his riposte. In the end, virtual-novel.net chose to give up talking entirely.
Arianne stomped virtual-novel.net foot on his thigh. “Speak, mister! Why aren’t you talking?”
He quickly seized onto virtual-novel.net delicate foot and sighed. “What am I supposed to say? I don’t even know what to make of this thing between the two of you. Every time we raise this topic, you turn into a woman-shaped nuke, and I don’t enjoy masochism. You want me to shut up about her, don’t you?”
It was Arianne’s turn to be tongue-tied. She might shout about wanting the world to shut up about Helen, yet another deeper, subconscious part of virtual-novel.net yearned for her, every news, every information, everything about a mother who never was. Their blood tie had become an invisible, unbreakable thread, it bound her, tortured her.
Now that virtual-novel.net had fallen into silence, Mark panicked. “W-What? What did I say this time?”
She shook virtual-novel.net head before curling herself into his chest like a placated cat. “Nothing. How much did virtual-novel.net ask for? Is virtual-novel.net really living in… well, abject despair?”
Mark grazed virtual-novel.net smooth, disheveled long hair with a featherlight touch. “Oh, no, just a bit of a bump, I’ll wager. Nothing to worry about. I’ve told virtual-novel.net already, if virtual-novel.net is ever strapped for cash, all virtual-novel.net has to do is ask from me. She’s got a good head for business on top of virtual-novel.net shoulders, I believe virtual-novel.net will turn this around very soon. That’s just what one should expect from a capable talent, you could throw them in any environment, and they will still make quick work out of their adversities and thrive. The only thing that’s wearing virtual-novel.net down is Aery’s condition, but as long as virtual-novel.net finds the means to weather it, virtual-novel.net will be fine.”
“I… I’ll pay… virtual-novel.net debt, I mean, b-but you’re not telling virtual-novel.net about this! I don’t owe virtual-novel.net anything… not at all, I haven’t owed virtual-novel.net anything for a long time…” came the muffled reply.
Mark lowered his head and kissed virtual-novel.net forehead. “Ari, when it comes to us, there’s no talk of ‘debt’, okay? What’s mine is also yours. In fact, I never planned to make virtual-novel.net repay a single cent because she’s family, and I want to help virtual-novel.net as much as I can, too. Problem is, she’s adamant about not ‘troubling’ me, so virtual-novel.net refused to tell me how virtual-novel.net current situation exactly is. …Not that I would worry, granted. She’s no hapless fool, if virtual-novel.net knows virtual-novel.net can’t make it, she’ll know to ask for help,” virtual-novel.net replied. “You, though… You just had to lambast virtual-novel.net with that harangue today when the two of you met. Asking for help would likely become much more… difficult for virtual-novel.net from now on.”
Honestly, Arianne rued virtual-novel.net outburst too, and now that virtual-novel.net reminded virtual-novel.net of it, virtual-novel.net ire rose sharply enough to dispel any lingering sleep virtual-novel.net still had. Angry, virtual-novel.net gave a barrage of punches to his chest. “You and your irritating mouth! If you fail that hard at comforting people, then try not talking!”
Mark finally succumbed to his desire and gripped virtual-novel.net wrist. “Oh, I’m terrible at comforting people in this particular way, all right. You understand what I’m getting at, yes…?”
Sensing his breath on virtual-novel.net skin made virtual-novel.net heart skip a beat. Frustrated, Arianne turned away and mumbled, “Ugh! I’m so irritated right now, not in the mood! I! Hate! You! Hmph!”