Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 302: Some People Don’t Deserve Pity
"Answer me, Annelise." He urged calmly when Anne didn’t say anything even after two seconds.
"Without telling me, did you bring this woman here?" He searched through Anne’s eyes as if hoping to hear her say she didn’t.
It would be a lot easier to throw the woman out if she had come on her own, if Anne hadn’t brought her here secretly. The thought of Anne keeping things from him made something like rage mixed with a painful searing twist in his chest boil rapidly.
"I..." Anne had parted her lips to answer when a gentle female voice interrupted.
"Andrew...my son, I just wanted to..." He knew the voice, Andrea’s voice might have changed a little bit over the years but he recognized it even when he wasn’t looking to know it was her talking.
Her son...?
She had said that word again!
Years ago, a poor little ten year old boy was longing to hear those words but she never said them, heartlessly extricating herself from the child’s existence, breaking the child into irreparable pieces, she had never thought he was her son then...
Andrew raised a hand to silence her, his gaze remained burning on Anne.
"Do not speak to me." He growled low to her even though he wasn’t directly looking at her at the moment. The full towering force of his anger was aimed at her.
"You have no right to say my name, you have no right to be in my house!" He whipped his head in her direction. "Get out!" The two words escaped between his gritted teeth.
A look of hurt crossed the woman’s features but it did nothing to his heart.
He didn’t want to be in the same space as her for even a second longer.
"Andrew... please, listen to me son."
"Did you not hear me the first time?" His eyes were blazing now, so dark one would feel too frightened to look directly into them. "I said, GET OUT!"
"Andrew..." Elder Sterling began but stopped when he saw the boy’s fury filled eyes.
Anne had informed him beforehand that this woman was coming, she had also told him why. Elder Sterling knew better than anyone that his grandson wouldn’t react well to being in the same space as the woman.
And seeing how angry Andrew seemed, it was best to not push him too much at this moment.
"I’m still your mother, Andrew...my blood runs in your veins, please listen to me."
Andrew looked straight at the woman, his posture tall and imposing. His lips raised up at the side with bitter mockery as he said,
"Sorry woman, but I don’t have a mother, she’s been dead to me for years."
He saw how her face went as pale as a ghost and the heartbreak that crossed her face as she froze. She must have remembered that line, after all she said it to him years ago.
Did it hurt her to hear it from him?
It was better if it hurt, it was better if she felt that soul tearing agony of being denied by your own.
Security arrived at this very moment and they only needed a look in Andrew’s direction to know that they should send the woman away.
He watched as the woman was led towards the entrance by the security and something seemed to grab his heart in a tight fist, squeezing so tightly it hurt. He had thought he would feel satisfaction, someday she would see the boy she denied standing on a high pedestal, but he had now become too high for her to reach. Someday she would hate herself for walking away, someday she would wish so fervently to be able to turn back the hands of time to change what she had done.
He could see in her eyes, bright as they’d always been yet broken and dead reminding him of himself from these past few years...he could see the desperation of how badly she wanted to talk to him but he would never grant her that privilege.
He was living the very moment he used to envision, but there was no satisfaction, instead he felt pain.
Anne stared intently at Andrew’s face from the side and her heart felt heavy, a painful lump rose to her throat. She moved to touch him, about to say his name,
"An..." The moment she touched him, he shook off her touch as if it burned him. Her hand falling empty at the side where she’d held his arm just a while ago.
He looked at her, the pain in his eyes raw and excruciating. He didn’t say a word to Anne, just looked at her blandly before walking past her.
Anne stood in the same spot, the tears gathered in her eyes slowly falling.
Something in those expressionless eyes reminded her of an empty abyss, a place so dark that it felt like an escape from pain, a place where one felt nothing at all yet they felt everything, pain silently gnawing at them internally.
She hadn’t meant to hurt him, she hadn’t meant to remind him of his painful past, she couldn’t stand the thought that he was this angry at her, couldn’t stand the thought that he was back in that dark place he once escaped, so Anne followed him hurriedly but he didn’t stop even as she called his name repeatedly.
His strides were long as he disappeared behind the doors of his study and slammed the door shut behind him. The force of it shook it’s hinges.
Anne stood outside the door of the study, calling for him to open the door.
When she heard nothing from the other end, Anne let her hands caress the door reluctantly. She knew he didn’t want to talk to her right now but she couldn’t bring herself to leave.
"I’m sorry..." Her voice came out pained and hoarse, tears pouring down her face and wearily she let her forehead rest against the door.
Several seconds later, she heard movement from the inside and the door opened. She raised bright and teary eyes to Andrew, looking at him hopefully.
She hated that he was this upset with her even though she had expected it. If he would only listen to her explain but she knew how he must be feeling but she just couldn’t...
"Why did you do that, Annelise?" The grating tone of his voice, lowered without the blistering rage yet silently disappointed made her heart tremble painfully.
"I didn’t want you to regret never seeing her again."
She heard him let out a low scoff, looking away from her as he ran his fingers through his hair.
"I saw her around you Andrew, all the time, she was following you because she wanted to get a chance to talk to you but then she was scared and..."
"And you thought to bring her here." A little bit of the anger had returned to his voice now, "What were you thinking Annelise? It could have been anyone trying to hurt you and you didn’t think to tell me about it. You saw her around and kept it to yourself. Do you know what it feels like knowing you decided to hide something from me?"
She parted her lips to speak but no words came out, in the end she lowered her head quietly.
At the time, she hadn’t thought of her own safety, she hadn’t thought about it like that, she wanted to confront the person because she assumed it to be Clara but when it turned out to be his mother, she still could not tell him because she knew it was his Achilles heel.
"I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I was wrong. And I’m sorry I brought her here, I did that because...she is sick Andrew, and she just wants to apologize to you, everything she did in the past was very wrong but right now, she might be dying, and it could be the very last time she’ll see you."
Anne raised her head to look up at him, there was no expression in his eyes so she couldn’t decipher his thoughts.
He raised his hand to hold her own in his and quietly led her into his study, the way he held her hand made Anne feel somewhat relieved.
He walked to the picturesque window, where his back was turned to Anne as he looked far off into space. Maybe he needed a single moment to digest everything she just told him but Anne stood by his side quietly.
Andrea Walters had returned because she wanted to rectify her mistakes. Anne knew that to the victim of such a mistake, forgiveness would feel impossible. How could he let go of the heartache?
But then again for someone who only had limited time left in this world, perhaps she deserved a listening ear. That was why Anne had brought her to the manor. Perhaps on his birthday he would feel easier to convince, she had been wrong to think that.
"Some people don’t deserve your trust or your pity Annelise, whatever happens to them is a result of their own actions." He started saying a long while later before turning to face her. The anger he seemed to feel for Anne had completely disappeared now, he pulled her closer by the shoulders gazing down at her as he asked,
"From now on, don’t keep secrets from me. Can you do that?"
He could lose anything in this world, but the thought of her being in danger was something he couldn’t stand. This was his and Anne’s little world, he wanted to know everything just like he wanted to share everything with her as well.
She nodded and he caressed her face with his thumb, a quiet bitter smile on his lips.
He knew Anne meant no harm, but the heat of the moment had caused him to feel angry at her. "I’m sorry I walked out on you. It’s just...That woman is no longer a part of my life, it doesn’t matter to me what happens to her. I don’t want you to think that you have to let her into our lives, you don’t. Okay?"
Anne wanted to tell him that family, no matter happens will always have a bond with us, family no matter what they had done will always be a part of us, but maybe it was going to be better if she didn’t try to convince him to see his mother again.
Anne was the kind of person who believed in forgiveness, but she also knew that there were things that could never be forgiven, so she left the decision of forgiving his mother or not in his hands, no longer interfering. It was him who had gone through the agony and loss back then, it was up to him if he wanted to let that go.
Anne nodded in understanding and moved closer to hug him. They stayed in silence like that for a long while...
The coming days washed away the situation of Andrea Walters, until disaster chose to knock on their doors several months later, and all the peace that they’d enjoyed dissipated like mist in the rain. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
.....
A/N: I’m really sorry guys, I needed a short break. Updates will resume immediately. I’m really sorry once again and thank you so much for being patient.
