Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 170: Are You Worried About Me?

One of the drivers at the Sterling estate had been tasked to drop Anne off at home.

She’d been curled up on a sofa near the window in her room after coming back to the Black Thorn Manor, reading a book Jasmine had given her about pregnancy, what to expect, what to look out for and many other things when someone knocked on her door.

Dropping the book she went over to open the door and found the butler standing there.

"Dinner’s ready mistress, master has asked you to come down to eat."

Anne glanced back into her bedroom towards the watch kept on her nightstand.

It was seven forty five in the evening.

She had refused to stay for dinner at the estate even though elder Sterling had insisted because she was feeling unusually tired and wanted to do nothing more than go back home to get some sleep.

If she were to eat now, she’d have to stay awake for a few hours more.

Weighing if she should give in to hunger or to how tired her body was feeling, Anne decided she wanted sleep more than having food for the night.

"I’m not hungry tonight butler Jones, I’ll be going to bed now."

The butler could see the traces of exhaustion in her eyes, hence he didn’t insist, nodding lightly he walked away.

When he reached the dining room, he stopped at the entrance momentarily seeing how his master was sitting patiently in the dining chair.

Clearing his throat, the butler got the man’s attention before he announced.

"Mistress says she’ll skip dinner tonight, she’s exhausted."

The cold regret of leaving her alone back at the estate washed into Andrew as he lowered his eyes for a moment as if to conceal the faint emotion, he only raised his gaze back to the butler when his expression had stabilized to his normal coldness.

"Did she have dinner at the estate before coming back?"

"I don’t think so master, it seems she’s tired enough to skip dinner."

His brows came together in a light frown.

"Should I have them serve dinner for you alone master?"

Andrew suddenly stood up on his seat, "Make them serve for two." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

He strode past the butler heading for the stairs.

Butler Jones glanced at his back with a small smile.

To see his master yearn for his wife’s companionship like this felt quite fun.

The interesting thing about being around someone like Andrew for the longest time was when that inevitable moment of him breaking for a woman came.

Seeing him around the mistress was very fun for the butler and anyone else around him because he used to once claim no one would make him care enough, no one would elicit such efforts out of him. Yet here he was running up to her just because she refused to eat.

Anne closed the book and kept it on the nightstand, pulling back the blanket to get in bed when another knock sounded on her door.

Was it the butler again?

Maybe Andrew had sent him back again to insist she come down to eat because the doctor had said she shouldn’t skip meals.

She was used to skipping meals in the past, so it wasn’t anything new to her.

She walked to the door intending to ask the butler to tell his master that she wasn’t hungry, but the moment she pulled open the door the person standing wasn’t the butler at all, the person there made her words remain stuck in her throat.

Her hand was still gripping the knob, her grip around it tightened. For some reason, she suddenly remembered what happened earlier at the rooftop of the estate.

’You do feel pain, just because you have always closed your heart and refused to feel anything for anyone doesn’t mean you’ve lost the ability to feel...’

She had meant no harm saying those words to him.

’It’s only been a few days, don’t tell me you’re starting to forget the fact that you’re my wife only in name. I’m never going to take you or anyone as my wife. Our marriage is bound to end so make sure to stay the hell out of my life! Do you understand?’

His words cracked into her chest and a strange lump rose up her throat and she forcefully swallowed it.

"Come down with me, you need to eat." He said this like an order and turned to start leaving expecting she would follow behind him immediately.

"I’m not hungry, I’d rather go to sleep." When she said this, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He turned and walked back to the door.

"Did you forget what Shawn said? You can’t skip meals. You can go to bed when you’re done eating."

"Nothing will happen if I skip a single meal, I don’t have an appetite tonight." She felt like she’d already said all that needed to be said so she began to shut the door but his hand came up swiftly barring the door before it could be shut in his face.

When she glanced up at him she expected to see annoyance and that familiar burst of rage but unexpectedly, there was a strange patience in his eyes as if he wasn’t upset or annoyed by her refusal.

"Then you should only eat a few bites."

Anne was momentarily stunned.

He really wasn’t upset.

And why did he sound like he as coaxing her to eat.

It made her heart suddenly skip but she forcefully clamped down the feeling looking away stubbornly.

"I don’t want to."

She knew his patience was only a thin line and he would most likely feel annoyed any second and choose to leave her alone not caring if she would decide to starve.

He stood there for a long while as if struggling to say something but not knowing how to utter the words.

The momentary look of being torn on his face was unusual, she wondered what he was finding so difficult to say.

"I won’t leave until you come down with me, you need to eat something."

Anne looked at him stunned.

Why was he suddenly being so gentle with her?

Something inside her wanted to feel happy but she shut it down putting a cold expression on her face as she said,

"Are you feeling worried about me Mr Sterling? If I remember correctly, you said you didn’t have the ability to feel at all right?"

He went stiff, looking as if he’d suddenly held his breath. His handsome face slowly seeming to gain a tiniest shade of red coloring.

"It’s only been a few days Mr Sterling. Don’t tell me you’ve started to forget about the fact that our marriage is nothing but a formality, you’re my husband only in name, so please, try to stay out of my life." As she said this, her voice dripped with a kind of rigidness that would push anyone away.

She delivered the exact same words to him as he’d done to her, feeling a sense of accomplishment at the look of disbelief on his face.

His dark eyes were fixed on her with a faint astonishment as she uttered every word, without wasting another second she went back inside and shut the door to his face, only then did she let out a long breath, the fake expression of coldness falling from her face.