Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 219: The Woman She Turned Into

Chapter 219: The Woman She Turned Into

When Talia returned to the lounge, she saw Archibald and Marcella sitting together, with Archibald whispering something in her ears and Marcella’s blushed, round face looked like an apple.

Noticing Talia walking towards them, Marcella stood up and walked towards her.

"He is such a... He’s not a very nice person like you, Princess," she said and she was gasping as if she had run a mile. "He’s acting with you. In fact he has said something terrible about you in the past. Vivi told me about it. He is not a polite person..."

Talia could only imagine what he might have said to her to make her blushed and flustered like this.

Some teasing words probably? Guess all men are same with their women. But why is she complaining to me?

Talia couldn’t understand that, Marcella trying to turn her inability to retaliate to his lewd statements, turned it into a complaint against him to Talia, whom she respected. She knew Talia is of higher status than Archibald and as if a child complaints to her parent, she complained to Talia about the mean guy who bullies her. Since she couldn’t retaliate, she wanted Talia’s help.

As far as Marcella is considered, it was pretty simple. She trusted Talia too much. For her who doesn’t meet with people often, Talia felt very well acquainted since her sister talked about her enough. Talia is a very nice lady who helped her sister and if her sister liked her that much, she could be entrusted with anything. For her who never stressed about reading the facial expressions of the other party, she didn’t notice the bewilderment in Talia’s face.

Talia didn’t want to analyse everything since she didn’t care about these two that much, and she really didn’t want to know what this guy said about her in the past. It truly doesn’t matter since Arthur actually punched him for it. It’s even, right?

"Well... Who doesn’t have different personas? We all act different when we are comfortable and when we are not." Talia shrugged.

She is not authentic with everyone and she wouldn’t expect everyone to be authentic with her. Being polite as they meet occasionally, is something she is so good at.

Why should one be authentic everywhere, right? Being authentic... What if you meet a person you don’t like much? No one can like everyone in this planet. Should you show what’s in your heart in your face all the time, if you’re being authentic? It is impossible. And it would create more problems than solving any.

It is part of being an adult. Learning to conceal your true feelings and make sure you get the job done. That’s her opinion. It might be wrong... Hence, she never minds if someone likes or doesn’t like her. Just like she has people she hates, they are allowed to hate her too. As long as they aren’t stepping on her foot, she can accept hate.

Archibald saw how Talia was very indifferent and he had a little itchy feeling in his heart to tease her. The biggest trouble in his heart regarding his love, is close to be resolved... It is resolved after he talked to his little bird.

And now that is clear, his attention turned towards Talia.

To be honest, he has seen her from the distance a lot in the past. That calm, polite girl every man wanted to possess. As far as why he had to keep his distance, the reason was obvious - Cyrus.

But one of his vivid childhood memory is meeting her up close when she was a baby. It was her first birthday party and he was nine then. His mother who is very fond of girls and yet only had sons, couldn’t help but pinch baby Talia’s cheeks as she was holding her. Of course he wanted to pinch that pink, chubby cheeks too. Her eyes were big like marbles and they were of a beautiful blue color. She had thick curled hair and her lips were small and pink. She looked cute like a doll, her smile was so pretty, even though she’d drool at times. He liked a baby sister for himself to play with, but his mother only gave him a brother. He was told it was his father’s fault and not his mother’s and so he screamed at his father and cried for a day when they brought his brother home.

And with a baby sister in front of him, he naturally wanted to touch her. As he extended his hand to touch that seemingly very soft cheek, he felt a stinging pain in his hand.

It was that b*stard Cyrus! And he even got the baby from his mother’s hands.

’Even if she is a baby, it’ll hurt when you pinch her. No one can hurt Princess Talia,’ Cyrus said with his boyish voice, knitting his brows as if he was lecturing and strutted away carrying Talia. He never let go of her, or leave her side for the rest of the day.

Of course all the guests were stunned by what he did and Talia’s mother came and talked to them and politely apologised for what he did.

But little Archibald couldn’t understand why he is not allowed to touch the baby while Cyrus can prance around with her. And everyone found Cyrus cute... Calling him a ’Knight’ and all.

He hated Cyrus! That guy... He always got the woman he wanted and took them first. He could never beat him. That b*stard!

And slowly his disapproving attitude extended to Talia. He thought he hated Talia too... But now as he matured, he could understand that it was just a case of sour grapes. He wanted to be closer to her, he even wanted a sister like her, but Cyrus kept him away and so he hated them both.

Eh! What to do? He is not a good guy. He never was, never will be. Yes, he hated Cyrus the most though. It was the truth.

But he didn’t wish death on him... And to know that it was her who killed him... His friends laughed when they heard the news but he did not. He was saddened when he heard what happen to him. Well, not too depressed, he felt sad for a couple of minutes and so he even attended his funeral. That’s a lot he did for that guy he hated.

And now he learnt that he has a son. At least a part of him lives. Well, whatever! If he has a daughter in the future, he will not let her near Cyrus’ son, ever.

As for this little girl... Even now he wanted to pet her head, but it seems like his little bird gets jealous and so he decided to not do it.

"I said that I’d give you my d*ck as a present for your birthday," Archibald said with his face straight and devoid of emotions. Of course he knew this is a very sexist comment passed by him and in fact he wanted to apologise for it. He believed Arthur Sinclair would pass this to her someday even if he already did not and he knew they might have to face each other for various reasons. Too bad the him ten years back didn’t have this sense and said something so nasty about a girl he didn’t ever think of his potential partner in bed. He always looked at her like the little girl she is. Under the influence of certain illegal substances and by the blind stupidity and courage that comes with being around friends he felt the need to brag about, he passed that comment.

He was stupid, he should agree.

But he waited to apologise to see her reaction. He wanted to see how she will handle it. In the past it was told that she hid behind Cyrus and was a whiner. So what did she grow up to?

Talia who was about to take a seat paused for a second and looked at Archibald. Even though he seemed serious, he did say something he had no need to say now. Why?

But dude deserved the punch Arthur gave.

Talia shrugged. "Really? Whatever would I do with that? And what would you do without it, if you gifted me that?"