Macos was speechless. He hadn’t dated anyone and had no experience in cajoling girls.
When he didn’t know what to do, he remembered the way Umberto had comforted Albina. He had seen it many times and knew it memorized long ago.
Macos stroked her hair gently.
His body temperature was relatively high and his hands were warm, he slowly smoothed her hair with soothing power.
Ariana didn’t know why, but she cried more sadly, and her nose turned red from crying. She didn’t look as cold or distant or stoic as before, she was crying like a little girl.
Macos became even more nervous and simply hugged her, stroking her back gently.
-Don’t cry, don’t cry.
Seeing her cry made him quite sad and he just wanted to wipe all the tears from her face.
What Ariana needed at that moment was to be reassured. She could have held back the urge to cry, however, as soon as Macos appeared in front of her, and asked her carefully while looking at her with worried eyes, she couldn’t take it anymore.
It brought out all the fear, all the doubts from the night before, and the shock of seeing Santiago this morning.
As Macos listened to her sobs, her eyes began to redden as well.
All the factors that could make her cry ran through her mind, and she finally decided on Santiago.
Maybe Santiago was the only one who could make Ariana cry like this.
Macos heart was bitter and sad, but she knew it was not the right time to be jealous.
Umberto had left for work, and Albina was home alone drawing designs and reviewing previous designs because Claire had something to do.
She had just put down her pen when she suddenly heard a shout at the door, a sound that was clearly from Ariana.
She hastily pushed open the studio door and rushed to the front door. There he saw Ariana, who was in Macos’ arms, crying and red-eyed.
-Ariana, what’s wrong? Why are you crying like that?!
As soon as she heard Albina’s voice, Ariana pushed Macos away and rushed to embrace Albina, and said in a hoarse voice.
-Albina, I am very sad.
Ariana had never shown such emotions in front of her before, so she panicked immediately, hurriedly motioned Macos to bring the tissues that were on the table.
Macos stood frozen in the doorway, still doubting for dear life.
As soon as Albina had approached, Ariana pushed him away.
This small action made him feel really… helpless.
Macos got Albina’s message, hurried to close the door and approach with the tissues on the side.
Albina held Ariana with one hand and pulled out a handkerchief with the other to help her dry her tears.
Only after a long while, Ariana stopped crying and regained consciousness. When she turned her head, she looked at the two people who had their eyes firmly fixed on her.
One was holding a box of tissues and the other was pulling them out to wipe away her tears.
For some reason, seeing them in this form, Ariana’s sadness instantly disappeared and she burst out laughing as she cried.
When Albina and Macos saw her suddenly smile, they looked at each other dumbfounded, they didn’t understand what was going on.
-I’m fine now. You don’t have to worry.
Ariana wiped all the tears from her face and collected all her emotions in an instant.
Except for the redness in her eyes and nose, she was once again clear and cool.
Albina still couldn’t stop worrying. Ariana had experienced her parents’ broken marriage and grew up with a lot of tenacity. Her heart was so strong that very few things could hurt her.
But she had just heard Ariana say that she was very sad.
-Ariana, is it because of Santiago…? -she asked carefully as she timidly said Santiago’s name. She didn’t dare to say it fully, for fear that Ariana would be even sadder.
Ariana was only silent for a moment that was almost imperceptible, and shook her head.
-No, it’s not what you think.
Although she had seen Santiago taking care of that woman, she had no conclusive proof that he had actually cheated on her. Before she got clear proof, Ariana would never accuse him unjustly or say a bad word about him.
Albina did not believe her and glared at her.
-Then why are you crying so sadly?
Macos also looked at Ariana without saying a word, but with curiosity in his eyes.
“If it wasn’t for Santiago, what else could make her cry like that?”
Ariana casually found an excuse and looked at Macos, especially at the tear marks on the chest of his white shirt, which were so wet you could almost see a little piece of skin through them.
She was a little embarrassed.
-I’m sorry I soiled your shirt. Change it and I’ll wash it for you.
-It’s okay, it’s just an article of clothing. I can wash it later,” Macos shook his head hastily.
Although he also wanted the girl he liked to be nice to him, washing clothes was still inappropriate. How could he let her do it? When he stayed at the Espina family’s house earlier, he had made a promise to do all the laundry and cooking in the future.
Ariana still felt sorry for him, then she remembered that he liked to eat sweet things and had also eaten all the desserts she had made yesterday, so she told him:
-Then I’m going out later to buy some ingredients to make desserts and I’ll make even better ones for you to eat later. Take them as my form of atonement,” she said looking at Macos’ white shirt.
Fortunately he wasn’t wearing makeup today, otherwise he would have ended up with a mess on his face.
As she was thinking, the imange of Macos carefully touching her hair and hugging her suddenly came to her mind.
Ariana’s ears suddenly warmed up and her heart skipped a beat.
It was a very unfamiliar feeling. The way her heart was pounding was the same way she had felt when she saw Santiago’s smile at Albina’s celebration.
As Ariana thought, she suddenly met Macos’ eyes.
His eyes were clear, and his features handsome. He seemed very well educated and much kinder than Santiago, who was very flamboyant and reckless, and was handsome but had a wicked look about him.
At least on the surface, Macos was much more suave and approachable.
However, Ariana had also seen him differently. That night, he had been drugged by Lila. His face was flushed and he had a demonic charm. Her slightly wet hair was down and she wore a rather seductive countenance.
Realizing what he was thinking, Ariana fiercely averted her eyes from Macos.
Ariana frowned, repressing the strange feeling in her heart, it was strange and even somewhat frightening, so she didn’t dare to delve into the details.
Macos saw the way Ariana, who had initially pinned her eyes on him, suddenly twisted her head and frowned.
He felt his heart leap.
“Did what Ariana had just done mean she didn’t like me? Why was she frowning? Did she not even want to look at me now?”
Macos felt as if a bolt of lightning fell from the sky. When he finally got a chance to be near her, had he done something wrong and provoked her?
He hastily searched his brain for the reason, remembering what he had just done.
“Was it because I have hugged her without her consent, or because I have touched her hair?”
“Was it that my approach has made Ariana unhappy?”
Macos fretted and hastened to tell Ariana:
-I just, just now at the door, I was in a hurry, I hugged you in a hurry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hugged you without permission, I just, just….
Ariana froze for a moment as he hastily tugged on her arm to explain. He smiled at her stuttering and nervousness.
-It’s okay. I know you tried to comfort me.
She paused momentarily and looked at him with gentle eyes.
-Thank you.
Macos shivered at her smile. He felt as if the storm had stopped, the sun was shining in all its splendor and a rainbow was piercing the sky.
Albina thought about Ariana’s shallow words. The more she thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong. She was about to raise her head to ask him for clarification, when she saw the look Macos was giving Ariana, and froze for a moment.
“He… he loved Ariana? No way, no way, no way!”