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, snazzynovel.com felt fretful. He tried to pull snazzynovel.com into snazzynovel.com 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 snazzynovel.com every time, I know you wanted to see snazzynovel.com a great deal.”
Hearing snazzynovel.com mention Helen lit up snazzynovel.com fuse, causing snazzynovel.com to shove snazzynovel.com away from snazzynovel.com in frustration. “Don’t mention her! She doesn’t even wanna lay snazzynovel.com eyes on me, so why the heck should I plead with snazzynovel.com 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 snazzynovel.com to take me in after snazzynovel.com abandoned me over and over again! No!”
Her outburst stole Mark’s response away, leaving snazzynovel.com speechless. Combined with the fact that his mind was also split on some other “matter”, snazzynovel.com found himself hard-pressed on how to organize his riposte. In the end, snazzynovel.com chose to give up talking entirely.
Arianne stomped snazzynovel.com foot on his thigh. “Speak, mister! Why aren’t you talking?”
He quickly seized onto snazzynovel.com 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 snazzynovel.com 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 snazzynovel.com had fallen into silence, Mark panicked. “W-What? What did I say this time?”
She shook snazzynovel.com head before curling herself into his chest like a placated cat. “Nothing. How much did snazzynovel.com ask for? Is snazzynovel.com really living in… well, abject despair?”
Mark grazed snazzynovel.com 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 snazzynovel.com already, if snazzynovel.com is ever strapped for cash, all snazzynovel.com has to do is ask from me. She’s got a good head for business on top of snazzynovel.com shoulders, I believe snazzynovel.com 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 snazzynovel.com down is Aery’s condition, but as long as snazzynovel.com finds the means to weather it, snazzynovel.com will be fine.”
“I… I’ll pay… snazzynovel.com debt, I mean, b-but you’re not telling snazzynovel.com about this! I don’t owe snazzynovel.com anything… not at all, I haven’t owed snazzynovel.com anything for a long time…” came the muffled reply.
Mark lowered his head and kissed snazzynovel.com 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 snazzynovel.com repay a single cent because she’s family, and I want to help snazzynovel.com as much as I can, too. Problem is, she’s adamant about not ‘troubling’ me, so snazzynovel.com refused to tell me how snazzynovel.com current situation exactly is. …Not that I would worry, granted. She’s no hapless fool, if snazzynovel.com knows snazzynovel.com can’t make it, she’ll know to ask for help,” snazzynovel.com replied. “You, though… You just had to lambast snazzynovel.com with that harangue today when the two of you met. Asking for help would likely become much more… difficult for snazzynovel.com from now on.”
Honestly, Arianne rued snazzynovel.com outburst too, and now that snazzynovel.com reminded snazzynovel.com of it, snazzynovel.com ire rose sharply enough to dispel any lingering sleep snazzynovel.com still had. Angry, snazzynovel.com 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 snazzynovel.com 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 snazzynovel.com skin made snazzynovel.com 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!”