Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 234: Hurting Alone

Anne had no idea when she fell asleep last night, all she knew was that she had cried into her pillow and she had blamed herself immensely.

She had blamed herself for bringing emotion into something that was simply transactional, she had blamed herself for wanting, needing and hurting now that it was gone, she blamed herself for feeling jealous and breaking the little fantasy between them that she could have indulged in a while longer.

It was all her fault.

When she woke up in the morning, she had a headache which wasn’t at all a surprise after all the tears she had shed last night.

But would crying now mean she wouldn’t have to cry again later? Was she right to have broken the illusion now rather than later?

Seven months or more she would have to continue being here, seeing him everyday, would they be like strangers now, seeing each other and not speaking to one another, would it be a strict partnership between them from now on?

Anne suddenly felt the urge to cry again but she had a lot to do at work today so she couldn’t afford to allow herself indulge in the desire to wallow in self pity.

As Anne entered the bathroom, she caught sight of her reflection. Her normally vibrant eyes looked hollow and her eyes were incredibly red, with dark circles that showed she had barely gotten enough sleep.

Sighing audibly she pushed back the tears dancing in her eyes again, stinging this time with a sore ache because she’d cried so much.

She showered with water whose temperature felt like it would burn off her skin but she didn’t change it, just letting the hot water scald her skin.

The most painful thing about one sided love was hurting alone, yearning alone, wishing alone and wanting alone.

Time would pass and her heart would still ache, but there would be no one whispering sweet words of comfort to her ears, no one telling her it would be fine.

Anne came out of the shower and put on light makeup to make herself look more alive.

As she emerged from her room fully dressed, she stopped short upon sighting butler Jones outside her room as if he’d been waiting for her for quite a while.

"Good morning mistress." The butler lowered his head to her.

"Good morning butler Jones." Anne replied then noticed the older man’s hesitation as if he wanted to say something to her but was holding back. "Is something wrong?"

"May I have a word with you for a moment mistress?"

Anne knew she still had quite some time before she would need to get to work so she didn’t hesitate in nodding at once.

The butler asked her to follow him and Anne walked quietly behind him. He took her to the drawing room, the picturesque view of mountains could be seen in the distance from the majestic windows in the room. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"What did you want to talk about butler Jones?" Anne asked first because butler Jones had maintained some moments of silence for a while.

"I’d like to apologize to you on master’s behalf." Butler Jones spoke seriously in earnest.

Anne was a bit startled by the sudden apology.

"But there’s no need for that, you or... Andrew both have nothing to apologize about." Anne hesitated in saying Andrew’s name because the thought of him still made a bitterness tighten her throat.

"I’m apologizing to you in advance, master is clueless to emotions only because of the conditions he grew up under, one time or the other he might wrong you and won’t even be able to tell that he’s done so, I’m apologizing to you mistress because I don’t want you to feel deterred at any point or change your mind about being with him."

Anne lowered her head in this moment, she had almost forgotten that to the outside world they had gotten married to be together forever. Butler Jones might know about their contract when it came to the surrogacy, but not about the marriage. By the time they would come out with words of divorce later on, it seemed many people would be shocked. That was why Anne wanted their marriage to be kept a secret, it would make the divorce less of a huge scandal.

The reason butler Jones came to speak with Anne was because of last night. He had heard noises in the kitchen and come out of his room to check and didn’t disturb her cooking when he saw that it was Anne however he waited aside in the shadows in case she might need something. That was when he witnessed Andrew return, but unfortunately he had also witnessed how there seemed to be a strange air around them. Even till the point Andrew followed her upstairs and then came out of her room a few moments later with a dark look in his eyes.

Butler Jones had witnessed it all and even if he hadn’t heard what they were arguing about, it was still his job to maintain peace and harmony between the couple.

As butler Jones noticed Anne hadn’t said anything in a while, he continued.

"If you were upset with master last night because he came home late, it was only because he had a meeting with his financial advisor and after that he went to the estate and stayed with older master till that late at night."

Anne suddenly raised her head to look at the butler, "He was at the estate till late last night?"

Butler Jones nodded repeatedly elated that he finally caught her attention.

"Yes mistress, he spent the evening at the estate last night and came back straight home after that."

Butler Jones noticed that Anne looked deep in thought, and he stayed silent until she asked.

"His financial advisor, is she a blonde woman?"

"Yes, have you met her before?"

Anne’s eyes suddenly closed tightly, the butler could see traces of regret on her face.

"Mistress, did you by any chance see master with her and assumed...?" With Anne’s silence, butler Jones came to realize that he was right. It had indeed caused their misunderstanding last night.

"Mistress, you could have just asked master about her and he would have told you that the financial advisor is a happily married woman and he only meets with her for official purposes and nothing more. Master must feel really disappointed that you misunderstood him this much. These days I’ve noticed a lot of changes in him and it’s all because of you, but if you suddenly push him away he’ll go back to the way he used to be, distant and cold."

"Do you...do you know where he is right now?" Anne suddenly asked unable to bear how she was currently feeling in her heart.

"Master must be at the company by now, he left very early."

Anne nodded, instantly turning to leave. She rushed downstairs, got into the waiting car and the driver took her to the company. When she reached, Anne didn’t go to her department, she instead ran to the executive floor reaching the director’s office in no time and pushing it open without even stopped to knock.