Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 77

Dwindling biased attitude
Ari made her way inside the house, as he walked behind Aaron, she looked around the corridor that was covered in a lavish carpet along with the walls, the wallpapers changed with each season. The entire house was covered in warm and bright colours, but Ari could only see black.

The black of the storeroom where she was locked whenever she did something, the black of being locked inside her room on the night when thunder clapped in the sky. The black of the shadows in which she lived until now.

“Aaron, you are here?” Mrs. Harlow greeted her son with a smile on her lips when Aaron and Ari came to a stop at the door of the kitchen. However, that smile was quick to drop when she saw Ari standing behind Aaron, “Why are you only coming now? Did you not know that today is my birthday? As my daughter, you should have come early and made preparations. Yet, you are arriving like a guest to your own mother’s birthday.”

Mrs Harlow was used to ordering Ari around and felt rather upset when she did not see Ari turn up at five in the morning at her house. She should have cooked and cleaned the house as it was her mother’s birthday, this was how every year they celebrated Mrs Harlow’s birthday.

This was Ari’s duty, and yet, she failed to perform it perfectly.

“You have another daughter,” Ari replied dully as she moved inside the kitchen. She was now numb to the taunts that Mrs Harlow threw her way, it would be a miracle if Mrs Harlow left her alone every time she saw her.

Mrs Harlow frowned upon hearing Ari’s tone. She remarked, “How can Ariel compare to you? She is an uprising actress, if her hands are burnt with the splattering of oil, who will be responsible? You just can’t see your sister performing well, can you?”

She paused and added, “And why are you dressed in all black? It is as if you are here to attend someone’s funeral rather than a birthday party.”

‘Maybe I am,’ Ari thought tiredly. She did not reply to Mrs Harlow’s taunts and placed the gift box that she brought with her. She saw Ariel open her mouth and immediately said, “I had a hard time finding this gift, I hope you like it, Mom. It placed quite a strain on my bank balance.”

She did not mention Ariel but cleared up the fact that she was the only one who bought this gift.

No sooner did she finish speaking, Ariel, who was about to take the credit, whipped her head and glared at Ari. She couldn’t believe that Ari dared to go against her like this, did she not learn her lesson yet?

“Alright, alright. Why are you spouting so much nonsense?” Mrs Harlow scoffed. “I am your mother who gave birth to you at the cost of my life, why are you mentioning some pennies in front of me? Do you not know how much I suffered because of you?” Mrs Harlow glanced at Ari with disdain. “You almost killed me.”

Ari pursed her lips beside her, Aaron rubbed his forehead, he wanted to stand up for Ari. But he knew that the second he opened his mouth supporting Ariana, his mother would blame Ari for charming him.

The things that Mrs Harlow could say to Ari had no limits after all.

“Let’s sit down,” he said to Ari, who nodded and then walked over to the furthest chair on the dining table. She did not greet her father, who looked at her with a frown.

“What’s up with that attitude of yours? Are you not going to greet your father?” The smell of alcohol wafted over to where Ari and Aaron were, the second Mr Harlow opened his mouth.

Aaron frowned and questioned his father, “You drank again? Father, just last month…Ari and I paid off the debt that you owed the gambling debt. You promised that you would not touch alcohol, why are you drinking again?”

“D…Don’t tell me what to do!” Mr Harlow slurred as he glared at his son. “You two are my children, it’s only right for you two to pay my debts off.”

Aaron frowned at the actions of his father, he turned to look at Mrs Harlow, who was now studying the clutch that Ari had brought for her. He questioned his mother, “Is this what you agree with as well, mother?”

“Isn’t that right?” Mrs Harlow remarked as if she was not saying anything wrong. “We raised you two even though it was hard on us, so what is wrong with paying off little debts for your dad?”

“Only that the debts that he owed the last time exceeded fifty thousand dollars,” Aaron banged his hands on the table. He thought his father was getting better, at least that was what Ariel who came to visit their parents told him.

He turned to look at Ariel who looked away and coughed awkwardly, she said to him, “I swear when I came last time, Dad was controlling his drinking habits.”

Aaron was sure that Mr Harlow was only skipping a glass of whiskey and nothing more. And Ariel, being the good girl of the family, decided to exaggerate it and tell him that their dad was getting better.

Ariel did not look according to her brother, after all, the one who was going to pay the debt of their father would be Aaron and Ari. So why should she worry about it and find trouble for herself? Was it not better for her to keep her good daughter image in front of her parents by letting them do what they wanted?

Since she was not going to pinch even a penny when her two siblings repaid the debt, why should Ariel take the trouble? If anything, Ariel wished that Ari would drown in the debt owed by her father such that she would never be able to raise her head just like she could not after that incident.