No children?
Arianne was so embarrassed that she could bite off her own tongue. Any mother who bore no child by Aunt Shelly’s age likely suffered from some kind of conditions, and often, her infertility became a source of lifelong grief and emotional pain. Arianne had no business poking whatever wound Shelly might have like that.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” she quickly retracted. “I didn’t know that, uh… Please forget that I asked.”
Shelly placidly returned to her meal. “It’s alright. It was a choice I made, actually. Not a fault of my body. Honestly, I’m quite happy not to be fettered by kids and whatnot at this age.”
Arianne breathed a sigh of relief. So, Shelly chose not to bear a child instead of being denied the chance out of unfortunate circumstances! Arianne would have accidentally detonated a bomb, otherwise…
When dinner was over, Aunt Shelly took Smore outside to play. She invited Mark to join them, but for some reason, the man—who had never said no to his aunt since her arrival—declined the offer.
Mark went straight into his study after the pair left, but today, it was not because he needed to handle urgent affairs pertaining to his company. Instead, he began an exhausting examination of every memorabilia and photo there.
Ultimately, Mark realized that Aunt Shelly had only thrown out that wedding photo, but it still upset him. After all, it had been one of the last few remaining pictures he had of his parents.
Arianne brewed him a pot of hot tea. “What’s wrong?… Oh. You look devastated. Can’t blame you, I guess. It was a photo not even you would treat lightly, wasn’t it? It kind of always sat there like an untouchable treasure. And then your aunt came along and just threw it away. Jarring that you haven’t even raised the issue to her now.”
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