Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 177: Blood

Nathan Foxx had continuously returned to this apartment building for days now, and the person he was looking for hadn’t showed up not even once.

He called his secretary after waiting for agonizingly long hours.

"Are you sure this is where she lives Vivian? I’ve been waiting every single day but she never showed up."

"I confirmed it boss, that’s where she lives." The female voice answered over the phone.

"Our ad release is in a few days, if we don’t get this model my plans will be ruined. Find out where she really is!" He instructed before hanging up when he suddenly noticed someone walking into the very apartment that no one had gone into for the past few days he’d been waiting.

His eyes lit up.

Is that her?

...

After work hours, Jasmine called Anne and invited her to go out shopping that night.

Anne glanced down at her watch, seeing that it wasn’t too late, she agreed.

They both met up at a mall, caught up while they browsed through several stores.

"By the way, something weird happened earlier. I went to your apartment to get my old gift box I left there, but some guy approached me asking about you. Did you have any suitors at that old apartment of yours?" Jasmine brought up conversationally.

Anne frowned, "A guy? I don’t know who you’re talking about."

"Well you can just find out, he gave me a card to give you and said you should call him urgently. It only says Foxx on the card so I don’t know who he is." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Anne looked at the card Jasmine retrieved from her bag curiously, she had no idea who it must be from.

"I don’t think I know who he is, I don’t want to contact a complete stranger so let’s just forget about it."

Jasmine also shrugged before tossing the card carelessly into the trash.

When they left the mall, Anne casually invited Jasmine to come home with her.

For some reason, Anne didn’t want to feel the emptiness of the manor tonight. But immediately she’d mentioned it, Jasmine’s face went pale as if there was a bad memory tied to the manor she didn’t want to relive.

"What’s wrong Jass?" Anne asked upon seeing her expression.

Jasmine quickly snapped out of her daze,

"It’s... it’s nothing, I just... there’s a lot I need to do at home tonight so I can’t go with you. Maybe... maybe some other time."

Anne didn’t know why, but after that conversation, Jasmine didn’t act like her usual self anymore. She would look lost and mostly not hear anything Anne said, and when Anne asked her she merely replied that she was feeling tired so they both decided to head home to their separate destinations.

Jasmine waved at Anne after she got in a cab by the road side, only when the cab had driven far away did Jasmine allow herself feel the pain she’d been holding back.

She recalled Anne’s wedding day and the person she’d seen there.

’...if I find you, I’ll take you back.’

’I will never come back into your life.’ had been her parting words to him.

Her eyes suddenly stung, glistening with painful tears.

That person represented the darkest moments of her life.

That person was someone she’d sworn she would despise.

That person...she knew she hadn’t achieved her goal of hating him.

But no matter what, she never wanted to see him again.

It was almost funny how fate worked, she’d left and returned home, but she never thought she’d see him here.

It was as if she’d been running, but fate had pulled him back into the very city she lived now, but she would stay far away, far away until he became just a distant imagination, a mere memory from her past.

Whether he was a good or bad memory, she didn’t know how to answer.

.....

When Anne entered the manor, she couldn’t help but look around for any signs if Andrew had decided to come back.

Everything was still the same, there were no signs of him, but she still hoped that upstairs, he would be in his study or his room.

Something was beginning to tug at her chest at his absence.

She went back to her room, freshened up, and when she emerged she stood outside his door.

"He hasn’t returned yet mistress." The butler suddenly spoke from behind her making her frightened until she realized it was him.

"Oh, I was just checking." She quickly replied before moving away from the door of the master bedroom.

"Should I call him, mistress?" Butler Jones still asked and this time she hesitated, making the butler almost believed she would agree before she slowly shook her head.

A few hours later, butler Jones found Anne on the rooftop of the manor. It was already very late that the entire staff at the manor had retired for the night. The wind that night was very chilly hence the butler sighed, went back inside and brought a blanket before handing it to Anne.

"Mistress, you might catch a cold."

She turned to him and smiled gratefully.

"Thank you." She took the blanket and wrapped it around herself.

Butler Jones couldn’t help but wonder what the hell his master was doing not returning home at all.

Should he inform the old master about this so he could toss master Andrew out of the estate and send him back home?

Though she tried not to show it, the mistress really wanted him to come back.

Butler Jones stood behind her in silence before he suddenly walked away but returned a bit shortly holding some thing in his hands.

"I found this in the master’s study. I shouldn’t touch it, but...I just thought you should see it." Butler Jones wanted this to be a little tip for the mistress to know that the master saw her specially, hence he decided to nudge their relationship a bit further by showing her this.

Anne looked down curiously at what the butler handed her. It was a planner, the type people would keep on their desk in an office to plan their schedule.

Anne took it from the butler’s hand and the latter bowed slightly before leaving her alone at the rooftop.

She went on to open the planner and saw a set of words written on the pages and they didn’t look like scheduled plans.

_In pink, her eyes look like the sunset, in white, her eyes look like chocolate._

Reading the first line, Anne frowned slightly. The handwriting looked crisp and perfectly organized, even without being told she knew such a meticulous looking handwriting could only belong to him, Andrew.

But, what he wrote inside that planner was completely unlike anything she’d ever think he’d want to write down about someone.

A strange feeling arose in her heart.

Who was he writing about?

That single line made her feel like those words weren’t written by him, but then who else would have written it?

_You’re not allowed to look at her, you’re not allowed to talk to her, you’re not allowed to smell the flowers that remind you of her._

Anne read through the second line with the same amount of bewilderment she felt the first time.

_Stop thinking about her!_

Was the next line, the words looked like they were written in different instances, and on different days, but it showed a constant theme. He was talking about a woman. Though it looked like the thoughts had just been penned down immediately they came up in his mind, which made Anne further curious as she read more.

_She wore red, and now everything red looks so fucking beautiful._

The next lines were written in the reminder section of the planner.

_Damn heart palpitations, make an appointment with Shawn._

_These damn magnolias are everywhere, get the gardener to chop them all off. It makes everywhere smell like her._

The next line was written a few days later.

_Leave the magnolias, her scent calms the headaches._

_Even as a fucking fifteen year old you didn’t act like this, stop this stupid little infatuation!_

The small notes on the planner ended after that last one.

Anne was still confused over the words she read that she began doubting if Andrew actually wrote them down, they didn’t seem like words that would come from him.

But then if he did...who was he talking about?

Anne remembered several times Jasmine would always make comments about how she smelled like her favorite flowers, magnolias. And in these notes, the girl being spoken about was described to smell like that too...

Before Anne could get a chance to ponder about the notes any further, a car suddenly drove into the manor. Anne’s attention was pulled to that direction.

A tall, familiar figure stepped out of the car, staggering towards the entrance.

Andrew.

Anne couldn’t stop herself from rushing away from the rooftop heading downstairs. She also didn’t know what fuelled her to move so quickly she was almost running.

Something inside her was relieved and glad that he’d returned.

When she arrived downstairs, the relief fully filled her heart as she saw him at the entrance.

It was indeed Andrew.

Anne stood in place, realizing she’d moved too hastily. If he saw her down here now at this time, wouldn’t he know that she had been waiting for him?

Not wanting to make her presence there obvious, Anne hid herself behind a pillar, watching him come into the house in a very slow pace.

There seemed to be something wrong with the way he walked. His tall, lean figure appeared fatigued.

He was unsteady and looked somewhat weak, but in the dim lighting where everyone in the manor had retired, she couldn’t fully make out what was wrong until he suddenly stumbled to the floor letting out a pained groan.

Anne instantly rushed forward to support him from the floor, but a harsh metallic smell suddenly wafted over to her. That smell was so sharp it stung her nose.

Blood!

On the floor, where he’d fallen, there was a small puddle of dark and sticky liquid. It was indeed blood!

"Oh my God! What happened to you?" Her panic filled voice made him suddenly seem to realize that she was there.

Shakingly, she began to call for help when he suddenly grabbed her wrist forcefully.

Anne looked down and his dark eyes were bloodshot as they fixed onto her.