Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 140: Insulted

Sunlight streamed in through the windows casting it’s shiny rays over her face. Anne’s eyelids fluttered open slowly, her gaze narrowing slightly against the brilliant morning sun.

It felt unusual waking up in an unfamiliar space, it felt like a huge change in her life so much so she hadn’t been able to instantly fall asleep, but she knew the lack of sleep hadn’t only been because of the change but also about what happened last night.

Anne had to shake her head to instantly dismiss the thoughts before they would continue playing in her head again.

Washing up for the day, Anne began to get ready for work. To the outside world she was still her, nobody knew she was married now, and most especially, to Andrew Sterling.

She picked out of her own clothes, got dressed and went downstairs.

Along the way, the maids would immediately stop to greet her, a few of them would even seem a bit nervous to see her, they all seemed to eagerly await doing her bidding to please her. There was a strange air of respect and reverence that Anne wasn’t used to which made her feel slightly uncomfortable.

She was used to doing things herself, so it felt extremely strange when they began to serve her breakfast, continuously asking if she needed anything.

Butler Jones appeared as well, after greeting her, he informed her that her husband had left very early that morning.

Her husband.

She still wasn’t really used to that yet, but for someone reason, that made Anne sigh in relief because she didn’t want to be reminded about last night again upon seeing him this morning. But beneath that relief was an unspoken longing she decided to shove at the back of her mind.

When Anne was finished having her breakfast, butler Jones instantly stopped her before she could leave for work.

"Will you be back home early tonight? Old master prepared something special for you and master."

Anne frowned curiously before nodding.

"I’ll be home on time."

The butler watched the Manor’s new mistress leave for work the very next morning after her wedding, a day that most brides would spend happily with their husband preparing to leave for a romantic honeymoon. He sighed, shaking his head quietly.

An unusual couple, one left early in the morning while clearly being concerned about his wife because he’d left so many instructions for him to cater to her every needs, the ones she said out loud and the ones she didn’t say as well. And the other was also leaving for work even though one of a woman’s greatest desires was getting to enjoy a nice romantic honeymoon after marriage.

But then again, it was an unusual marriage and maybe it would take a bit of time before they would both settle into the usual life of marriage, the kind that had beautiful interactions and lots of romantic moments.

When the marriage happened, butler Jones assumed his assigned job with his master was done. After all, the old man’s greatest wish had now been fulfilled, his grandson had gotten married, but it seemed he still had a step to go further in this plan.

But the next step was going to be the hard part.

.....

When Anne entered the public relations department that morning, she received several weird gazes. It wasn’t unusual for them to look at her strangely, but it always meant something had happened once again.

Frowning, Anne wondered if another scandal had erupted about her in the company again, but she soon realized the reasons for their gazes when she reached her work desk.

A giant basket of roses was kept on her desk, the air filled with the flower’s delicate fragrance. Frowning curiously, Anne stopped walking momentarily, wondering why a basket of roses was currently sitting on her desk before she proceeded to check.

The flowers were arranged in the shape of a heart inside the basket, giving off a very romantic feel.

Who sent her these roses?

For a moment, when they had been looking at her weirdly, Anne had thought there were gossips about her or her sudden marriage had been exposed.

She could hear the silent grumbles coming from behind her.

"Shamelessly showing off in front of people, she must have told a man to send her gifts to the office so we could all see it."

"She probably thinks we’ll get jealous of her for this. Please, I have a very loving boyfriend and he would do so much more than send roses to the office for me, I’m just not as shameless as her to ask him to send it to the office so everyone can see." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Exactly, having a man doesn’t mean you have to publicly display his affections for everyone to see right? That’s just crass."

Anne ignored them, speaking up would lead to her having to exchange words with them, which she had no energy for at the moment.

She searched the rose basket till she found a note, at least she could know who sent it so she would know what to do with them.

The note however didn’t say anything more than just a few words,

[I hope you like the flowers, I won’t sign my name on this note, but if you’re curious to know, meet me at Alpine Diner at six, I’ll be waiting for you.]

Reading through the note, Anne’s brows furrowed even deeper.

What did the person mean by this?

She was sure the roses hadn’t come from Andrew, that was a possibility she hadn’t even thought of. And she wasn’t involved with anyone romantically for them to send her flowers so she couldn’t think of anyone else.

After a bit of contemplation Anne kept the note on her desk, putting aside the rose basket and got started with her work as usual. She didn’t expect someone to suddenly storm over to her desk.

Raising her head, she found Rebecca there who was looking down at her with an unusually friendly smile.

"Oh my, such pretty flowers. May I take one?" She exclaimed in an exaggeratedly high pitched voice.

Without even giving Anne the chance to reply she already plucked out one of the roses. Rebecca put the flowers against her nose, taking a light sniff her gaze never leaving Anne as she began to pluck out the petals throwing them deliberately over Anne.

"I wonder who this lovely gift is from. Such a romantic gesture, I’ve never seen roses as pretty as these ones before, could they be from..." Rebecca trailed off looking around as if what she was about to say couldn’t be heard by others before leaning over Anne to whisper the remaining words.

"The father of your baby?"

Anne’s eyes widened in shock as she looked at Rebecca sharply. The latter smirked as if she’d been expecting this very reaction.

"Why do you look so shocked?" This time Rebecca raised her voice, deliberately allowing everyone to hear, "Did you think no one would find out that you’re pregnant?"

Shocked gasps reverberated among the other employees, initially they looked disinterested, however after hearing such juicy news their interest was piqued as they slowly began to gather around.

Rebecca plucked out another rose, taking out it’s petals, her eyes narrowing brutally as she threw every petal over Anne’s head.

"Let me guess, you don’t even know who sent these roses do you? Maybe he’s not even the father of that baby you’re carrying. Maybe, you don’t even know who the father is."

"Mind your words Rebecca, I’ve tolerated enough of your drama."

Anne was furious but not directly because of the fact that she was being insulted by Rebecca but because the innocent child she was carrying who was still a fetus was being insulted and disrespected. The innocent life hadn’t done a single wrong yet, why should she let it be insulted?

"So what will happen? You and I both know that I’m merely saying the truth here. You’re pregnant and you don’t even know who the father is. You go around playing innocent, capturing the hearts of men but you’re promiscuous and scandalous, and you don’t have any morality as a woman. If you had any self respect, any morals as a woman you wouldn’t be carrying a bastard child whose father you don’t even..."

Pa!

Rebecca’s words were abruptly stopped with a loud impact that resounded through the entire office.

A clear palm print was sitting on her right cheek, her daring words silenced without another sound coming from her. Only rage and pain shone in her eyes as she directed a hateful glare in Anne’s direction.

"You slapped me?" Rebecca queried furiously as if she wasn’t aware of the fact that she had crossed the line first.

"Don’t look so surprised, I’ll do it again if you say one more bad word about me or my child." Anne countered.

Rebecca suddenly threw her head back and laughed loudly.

"Oh you’ll soon regret what you just did. Did you even have a right to hit me? Playing righteous is what you’re good at, but I’ll burst that little act of yours for the whole company to see and I swear to you, you’ll never be able to step foot in Sterling Enterprises ever again." Rebecca’s eyes were burning with fury as she gritted out every word,

"You can come in now." She called loudly while still glaring at Anne hatefully.

A man soon strode into the department, seeing that particular person, Anne looked astonished.