Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 131: Could He Care?

’You really do love him, don’t you?’

As Anne sat in the comfort of her home, that question inevitably returned to her mind.

After Andrew had hung up his call, he had driven both her and Jasmine home.

’I’ll see you tomorrow.’ He’d said to her before leaving.

She knew what tomorrow was, tomorrow she would be officially meeting with the Sterling family to announce the marriage.

Anne’s stomach suddenly tightened nervously, but Jasmine’s question suddenly peeked back into her head. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

’You really do love him, don’t you?’

Earlier when Jasmine had asked her that, she hadn’t answered the question, that was because she’d searched deep inside of her and found that the answer to that question...

She didn’t know at all.

She didn’t know.

Anne didn’t want to think too much about it, thinking about it would lead to her to wanting to find the answers, and right now she wasn’t too sure she wanted to find the answer.

Anne pulled up the blankets and laid in bed, trying to will her mind not to conjure up images but it did.

An image of the man sitting in his office bathed by sunlight focused on his work, then eventually raising his gaze to her. As if their eyes were actually meeting not just in her thoughts, her heart physically skipped a beat.

Anne clamped her eyes shut and took a deep breath to settle her mind, the images disappeared and she eased down to be drowned by sleep but yet another image came to her again.

The man whose face was concealed behind a mask as he stood in front of tall windows.

She opened her eyes hastily, her heart rate had risen now, in the dark silence of her room she could hear it pounding in her chest.

Anne calmly placed a hand against her own chest, her breathing coming in heavy. Stubbornly trying to push away the thoughts, she calmed her breath and closed her eyes again, this time she managed to drift off to sleep.

But even in her sleep she didn’t escape him, her dreams were filled with him.

She saw him smiling at her, not the cold man she knew, a version of him that was gentle with her, a version of him that was sweet to her, unconsciously her lips raised in a smile even in her sleep.

.....

The very next morning Anne found a package at her doorstep, inside was a lovely burnt orange colored dress with beautiful embellishments. From holding up the attire, she could already feel the high quality of the fabric.

It had a beautiful off the shoulder neckline which was embellished wth delicate embroidery and fine crystal studs, it went a little below her knee. Inside the package was also a shoe box. A pair of low heels to match the dress, the last box in the package held subtle jewelry.

The gems glittered in the sunlight but Anne couldn’t tell if they were real diamonds or not. However, the fact that Andrew Sterling had sent this, it undoubtedly would be.

She found the note that said nothing but; "I’ll pick you up later tonight."

Anne couldn’t deny the fact that she loved the beautiful dress, she held it against herself looking into the mirror, though she knew he’d gotten this beautiful dress so she would look appealing next to him in front of his family.

It made her suddenly wonder what he actually thought of her,

’I don’t consider many people my own but... Annelise, is mine...’

She stiffened, feeling a warmth flutter in her belly.

’...She laughs a lot when she’s happy, and might even bounce around like a carefree five year old. And she eats ice cream like a heavy meal and a memory all together...’

’Annelise is someone who does not need life’s luxuries to make her smile, she can smile at a memory and be satisfied...’

’I know her lips tilt down when she’s hurt, when she’s wronged she stands up for herself no matter what, she’s strong and a little rebellious. She...is unlike anyone else and no one else is like her.’

Anne’s every action came to a stop.

Yesterday as he’d said those words to Jasmine, tears had filled her eyes even as she tried to control it.

Why did she cry hearing him say those things?

His words were just words but they had reached her heart, deep into her heart and she... she’d felt like he truly did care about her.

Somewhere inside that cold, emotionless heart of his...he could possibly care about her.

Anne quietly shook the thought off her head.

"What the hell are you thinking? Don’t let Jass get ideas in your head. You know how that man is, he only does things that serve him. He probably just said those things to Jasmine so you could marry him. Don’t get any ideas, contract marriages are meant to end and this one will too." She said seriously to her own reflection in the mirror, nodding with certainty until her mind believed it.

.....

The Sterling estate.

Donald came down that evening because his grandfather had informed him they were having a guest and a special announcement would be made.

Gabriel also happened to come down at the same time.

"Yo! Little bro, do you have any idea who’s coming tonight?" Gabriel asked conversationally as he grabbed a washed apple from a basket a maid was carrying by and bit into it before plopping down on a couch.

"Nope, but I know bro Andrew isn’t here right now." Donald replied disinterestedly.

"So? Isn’t he always late? Andrew loves to work so much, he’ll live all his life cooped up in an office and perhaps be buried in an office when he dies too." Gabriel seemed to think he’d made a very funny joke as he began to laugh to himself.

Donald knew the next thing he was going to say would certainly wipe the smile off Gabriel’s face.

"But, bro Andrew might not be at the office right now. I went into grandpa’s office earlier this morning and I found a very...interesting paper on his desk."

Gabriel seemingly sensing gossip instantly sat up looking interested.

"Spill, what interesting little gossip did you find?"

"A report, it says something about pregnancy."

Gabriel’s face scrunched up thoughtfully before he suddenly burst out laughing.

"No way! You mean...the old man might have gotten a girl pregnant?"

Disgust appeared on Donald’s face, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Why else would there be a pregnancy report in his study? Tsk tsk tsk, so the old man still knows how to play the game. Do you think he has a hot young mistress who’s pregnant for him?"

Donald shook his head absolutely disgusted by his brother’s thoughts.

"You’re impossible bro, I wasn’t talking about grandpa, that report must have been about brother Andrew."

Gabriel’s expression suddenly went stiff and he immediately recalled the deal their grandfather made with all three of them.

Gabriel’s face slowly changed from playful, to coldly infuriated.