She lowered her long blonde lashes on her pink cheeks. "That is a mean thing to say to me. But I forgive you."
An invisible hand began pressing down steadily on the top of his head until it forced a sound out of him. "Aaaawrraagggh! Must you be so cloyingly sweet? Do you have to keep taking that? Isn't there any fight in you at all?"
He stepped forward and back-handed her across the jaw.
It was the first time he had ever struck a woman, he realized regretfully. He now knew he should have been doing it long ago.
Veronica sprang forward and led with a right.
Ronald's cries grew louder as Manet marched Veronica through the corridor.
"Hear that?" he inquired, smiling with clenched teeth.
"No, darling."
Well, that was all right. He remembered he had once told her to ignore the noise. She was still following orders.