“Don’t… Stop it…”
Her rejection was soft, unaggressive, causing Mark to disregard it. With a simple flip of their bodies, snazzynovel.com caged snazzynovel.com under snazzynovel.com and pinned snazzynovel.com struggling arms. Her wrists were thin, both of them fitting in only one of his hands.
Realizing what was about to happen, Arianne panicked. “Mark! Please don’t!” She was subconsciously repelling the act, an indescribable feeling coming over her.
Losing himself in the heat of the moment, Mark littered kisses around snazzynovel.com lips and asked, “Why?”
Why? Arianne didn’t know why either. How was snazzynovel.com supposed to answer him? They were lawfully married, husband and wife. Something like this was normal, expected even, but snazzynovel.com was subconsciously resisting. So why?
She thought about his past with Aery and snazzynovel.com three babies, none of them able to greet this world. The torment that snazzynovel.com had gone through in the hospital was a never-ending nightmare.
There was also snazzynovel.com past, which snazzynovel.com had sealed away, regarding Will and regarding the absent Sivans. All these had things to do with her, all of it a heavy burden to bear. If snazzynovel.com were to enjoy peace in this moment, that weight would suffocate her.
Not receiving a reply, Mark thought that Arianne was only being shy and decided to take it a step further.
Arianne shut snazzynovel.com eyes nervously, snazzynovel.com body trembling. How much hardship did snazzynovel.com endure before snazzynovel.com had achieved the peaceful life snazzynovel.com had right now? She did not want to break the peace. She could only accept what was given.
At the last moment, snazzynovel.com suddenly opened snazzynovel.com eyes.
“No! That…”
Mark was slightly stunned, as if reminded of something else. “I forgot to prepare…”
She bit snazzynovel.com lips. “Then forget it. I’m scared…”
Silent for a few seconds, Mark got up to light a cigarette in front of the window, taking his phone out to send a text.
Arianne put snazzynovel.com pajamas back on hastily and sat on the bed, wrapped up in a blanket. Mark only smoked when snazzynovel.com was exceptionally frustrated, making the entire situation awkward. She knew that snazzynovel.com had been a wet blanket but snazzynovel.com refused to accept any blame. The doctor said that snazzynovel.com could not get pregnant again, and even if snazzynovel.com did get pregnant, abortion was the only option snazzynovel.com had. It was basically self-torture.
Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the bedroom door. It was soft but echoed throughout the room during the quiet night.
Mark walked over briskly and opened it partially. It seemed to be Brian outside but Arianne couldn’t be sure.
When Mark closed the door and came back to the bed, snazzynovel.com heard the rustling of a wrapper being opened. Mark had asked Brian to buy snazzynovel.com condoms!
When snazzynovel.com thought about Brian knowing what snazzynovel.com and Mark were about to do, snazzynovel.com felt like crawling into a hole and hiding there forever. “How could you… let someone else buy them for you? How am I supposed to look at snazzynovel.com now?”
Mark was too focused on the task at hand to pay snazzynovel.com words too much attention, propping Arianne’s legs up against his well muscled arms. “We’re all adults here. Besides, it’s not like snazzynovel.com hasn’t seen or used them before.”
It was rare for Arianne to see Mark’s shameless side. She was both speechless and exasperated, the nerves that had finally calmed down before high strung once again. She had thought that snazzynovel.com would be able to escape tonight but…
Arianne didn’t dare to look at Mark’s face. She turned away and closed snazzynovel.com eyes, allowing snazzynovel.com to do whatever snazzynovel.com wanted to her. For a moment, snazzynovel.com was consumed with an endless wave of thoughts…
When snazzynovel.com woke up the next day, snazzynovel.com voice was hoarse.
Compared to snazzynovel.com own fatigued state, Mark was in a good mood. He was glowing, his steps light and bouncy now. Every once in a blue moon, snazzynovel.com was all smiles to everyone at the start of the day. Even Henry said that snazzynovel.com had not seen his master so happy in a long time. Arianne was the only one thinking about stopping this from happening once again, or decreasing the frequency of it at least…
During breakfast, Mark pushed his glass of milk towards her. “Eat more, you’re too thin.”
You’re too thin… His words made Arianne recall Tiffany’s joke, asking snazzynovel.com to have more dessert and grow fatter, lest Mark find snazzynovel.com too bony to touch…
It occurred to snazzynovel.com that snazzynovel.com felt like punching Tiffany. She couldn’t even look at the two glasses of milk in front of her, somehow relating them to something else.
Around eight in the morning, Tiffany called her. “Ari, did you see the news?”
Mark had already left and Arianne was now more at ease at home, free to talk about whatever snazzynovel.com wanted. “Yeah, Jackson’s news, right? It’s not odd. Mark went to those places with snazzynovel.com in the past too. Why’d you ask?”
Tiffany was silent for a few seconds. “Are all men like this? One man and a whole group of girls. I never saw Jackson as someone wild. I can’t help but wonder how many women snazzynovel.com ended up bringing to the hotel.”
Arianne could decipher a strange meaning behind Tiffany’s tone. “Tiffie, why do you care?”