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“Yeah, it is,” Arianna spoke with her mouth full of the creamy cake, her eyes glinting with joy. It was so good. Whoever made this cake deserved to be given an award.

Marcel rubbed his chin, thoughtfully, “Then, I should have a taste too,” He suddenly said, and snatched the spoon from her grip.

“Hey! Get your own....” She was still saying when Marcel scooped the cake and had a taste, her eyes slightly widening. She just used that spoon...

Arianna went red in the face, that was an indirect kiss. Whatever, she must be thinking nonsense. What was she, five? Ten?

So she focused on Marcel who was still savoring the taste of the cake in his mouth, asking, “How does it taste?”

“Nice.”

“Nice?” Just that? She was expecting more praise for her newfound loving cake.

However, to her surprise, Marcel took another scoop, then the third and the fourth till a quarter of her cake was gone and she was currently glaring at him.

.....

“What are you doing?” Arianna was no longer smiling.

“Oh, sorry!” Marcel apologized when he realized he had hogged her cake and returned the spoon to her.

Arianna received it from him with a frown. This is why you shouldn’t do a favor for people, now look what happened to her cake. She was close to crying. Her sweet strawberry yogurt cake!

But the truth is that Marcel had done that on purpose. He loved seeing her annoyed face, it was quite cute actually.

Arianna continued with her cake until she felt Marcel’s intense gaze on her again and was about to ask him what was so interesting about her face when she noticed he had something on his face instead.

“You...” She called his attention and gestured, “You have icing at the corner of your lips.”

“Oh.” Marcel took the table napkin and wiped his lips but he still missed a spot.

“Still there,” Arianna told him.

Marcel followed her direction yet still missed the spot and Arianna, already vexed by the small yet annoying defect, reached out and grabbed the napkin.

Then she leaned over the table and towards Marcel, using the napkin, and wiped off the icing perfectly clean. However, in the process, her thumb mistakenly brushed across his lips, and electricity passed through her body.

She stiffened and so did Marcel. The both of them stared at each other, wondering if the other felt that too.

How could his lips be so soft?

It looked incredibly kissable.

________________

“What is wrong, Arianna?” Natalie was quick to come to her side with a worried expression, “What is wrong?”

Unfortunately, Arianna was not the one to answer because the instant she opened her mouth to speak, all she could do instead was to heave and break down in tears.

Why did she have to remind her?

Arianna thought that she was brave, that she could do it as Rose suggested, however, seeing the cake brought back the memories and it hit her with full force. Arianna was unprepared for it.

How did everything get to this point? She and Marcel had been good. If he doesn’t want her anymore, what was she going to do with the memories? It tormented her day and night.

“Arianna...” Natalie became greatly concerned when she began to beat her chest, almost clawing at it.

“It hurts...” She finally spoke up, “it hurts too much... what am I going to do?” Arianna asked her with emotion, snot running down her nose, not that she cared about her appearance at the moment.

She continued, pointing at the cake with a pained expression, still finding it hard to speak, “H-how could you... the cake...”

Arianna flailed her arms helplessly. She was angry! She wanted to express herself properly, but the emotions were too much. It was choking her. She wasn’t supposed to make a mess in front of everyone, but she couldn’t help it. Arianna laid her head down on the table and began to sob.

As if Eric understood the situation, He said to his daughter, “Rose, would you mind having a walk with Daddy? Let’s go burn off the calories.” He took her hand and began to lead her out and Natalie gave him a grateful look.

Elijah took that as a cue to leave as well. Arianna at the moment was too emotional and they were at the dining table filled with cutleries, to be precise, forks and knives. So yeah, he loved his life. However, he took the cake along with him seeing that it was the cause of the meltdown.

With everyone gone, Natalie had the time to attend to her daughter. She pulled Arianna from the table and let her bury her face in her chest instead.

“Yes, let it all out. It’s a healthy way of relieving stress.” She rubbed Arianna’s back soothingly while she sobbed.

It took a while for Arianna to compose herself, and when she did recover, she moved away from her with a jerk. Arianna stood to her feet, embarrassed by what she did.

Natalie was a bit disappointed by the gesture. She hungered for Arianna to be close to her, to trust in her. To treat her like a mother. Nonetheless, she would make do with the little she could get from her.

“It’s alright,” Natalie said when she saw her abashed look, “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, everyone cries at some point in their life. And I’m sorry, I should have been a lot more careful especially when you’re in this sensitive stage.”

Arianna didn’t answer, she only nodded. She was just tired of everything. However, Arianna did ask her, “When are you going to let me out of here?”

“You are not a prisoner here, Arianna. You are free to go whenever you want,” She tried to make her understand.

“But not to see Marcel, obviously,” She worked her jaw, displeased by the reality of the situation she was in.

Natalie sighed, rose, and faced her daughter, “You would not understand the favor I am doing for you now, but you would come to appreciate it later. I am protecting you, Arianna.”

Arianna’s lips twitched at the comment. She stepped closer to her mother and reminded her, “In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve lived for twenty-three years without your protection and it worked out fine.”

She left.

Natalie sighed, running her hands through her hair. She knew that winning Arianna was not going to be easy. But this? It was real work.

With no other choice, Natalie returned to Eric’s office where she knew that he would be. Rose was not there, which meant that she was having fun somewhere else.

“It didn’t go that way, again?” Eric guessed from her looks as usual.

“Aside from being reminded of my negligence over the years, we’re good.” She plopped down on the couch in his office.

“The heartbreak is taking a toll on her,” Eric commented, leaning against his desk.

“Yes, it is,” Natalie concurred until she saw the look on his face.

“What?” She said, “Out with it, Eric.”