CHAPTER 383: CHAPTER 383: HIS COLDNESS

Shane didn’t answer Audrey Sutton’s question, instead he asked back, "How about you?"

Audrey walked inside and said, "I ate, went out with Flora and the others. We just watched a movie and then got home."

Faye Xavier had already reported all this to him, the information matched, and Shane felt a bit more at ease.

However, she hadn’t told him about her meeting with Vincent Warner during the day.

"You’re free when I’m not home, aren’t you? No one to supervise you."

Audrey changed her shoes and walked towards the living room sofa, pouting: "Because you’re not home, I went out with them, alright? You’re not here to keep me company, and I’m bored alone."

"Look at the time, hurry up and take a shower and go to bed."

Audrey didn’t want to hang up the phone and lingered on the sofa, saying, "It’s still early."

Shane: "I have things to do early tomorrow."

His words implied that he had no time to chat with her. Audrey understood that his business trip schedule must be packed; he’s probably tired from a busy day. Although she wanted to chat a bit longer, she could only say: "Alright then, rest early, don’t wear yourself out. I’ll wait for your return."

"Mm."

Audrey smiled and added, "I miss you a lot, you have to remember to miss me too!"

Shane was stunned for half a second, only saying, "Hurry up and take a shower, go to bed early, or you’ll be late tomorrow."

"Mm, good night."

"Mm."

He hung up the phone.

Audrey furrowed her brows. What’s with just a "Mm"? Refusing to say "I love you," not even "good night"?

Looking at the hung-up phone, Audrey "hmphed," prepared food and water for General and Pea, and went upstairs alone to wash up.

With him not home, it feels like something’s missing.

Especially today, he seemed a bit cold, I wonder if it’s because he’s too tired.

Audrey finished her shower and came out, it was already late, she didn’t feel like opening the computer to catch up on her drafts, and just lay down on the bed.

She chatted in the group for a while, checked her comments section, scrolled through X, and saw it was past one o’clock. Only then did she hurriedly put down her phone, turned off the bedside lamp, closed her eyes, and tightly hugged the rabbit plush toy.

The next day.

The first thing after waking up was to check her phone, Shane hadn’t messaged her, so she put down the phone and went to wash up.

Downstairs, she made breakfast, purposely arranged it to look nice for a photo, and sent it to Shane: I ate your portion too.

She originally thought he’d make fun of her big appetite, but she didn’t get a reply.

Audrey thought he mentioned he had something early today; perhaps he’s busy with work and has no time to check his phone.

Repeated the previous day’s routine, attended class, and waited for his response.

Just like yesterday, even after school in the afternoon, he hadn’t replied.

Audrey felt a bit strange. Could he find her messages meaningless and decide not to respond?

Early in their marriage, he once did something like this because he misunderstood her relationship with Simon Sue, so he ignored her.

But since their relationship improved, even when she’s bored and sends an emoji, he would ask: What’s wrong?

Or say something amusing to tease her, hardly ever ignoring her messages.

He wouldn’t go this long without new messages.

Even when he’s busy at the company, he’d text back even during meetings.

Audrey looked at their chat page; since yesterday when he stopped replying, the six-inch-wide phone screen was filled with just her messages, this kind of page felt suffocating to look at.

Is his phone broken, not receiving WhatsApp messages? How is it possible that for a whole day he hasn’t replied once?

Scrolling through previous chat records, the day before his business trip was just fine, nothing happened before he left.

Where exactly went wrong?

Could it be that mysterious person mailed the USB to him?

Audrey’s mind was clouded with these questions. She didn’t feel like going out for dinner with Flora and the others tonight.

She returned to the dorm to grab books for tomorrow’s class and headed straight home.

Sitting on the sofa, she waited until six o’clock, thinking calling him now shouldn’t interrupt his work. Audrey dialed his number.

The "beep beep" rang for quite a while until the call cut off automatically.

Audrey felt more anxious; could something have happened to him?

Thinking this, Audrey quickly found Faye Xavier’s number and dialed: "Brother Xavier, did you go on the business trip with Shane?"

Faye: "No, Mor went with him, what’s wrong?"

Audrey spoke somewhat urgently: "I can’t reach him, not sure if something happened."

Faye: "He hasn’t replied to my messages since morning either, probably busy. Don’t worry, I’ll call Mor to check and get back to you."

Audrey: "Okay, thank you, Brother Xavier."

After hanging up, Audrey tightly gripped her phone, her face full of concern.

Hearing Faye say Shane hadn’t replied to him either, Audrey was sure it wasn’t her who upset Shane.

Which also meant, did something really happen to him, preventing him from replying?

Lost in anxious thoughts, two, three minutes later she received another call from Faye: "Sister-in-law, I just called, Master Shane left his phone at the hotel; he’s currently out dining and will return soon."

Confirming Shane was fine, Audrey finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Solving the mystery of why he didn’t reply all day, Audrey then peacefully opened the fridge to prepare dinner.

After finishing dinner around seven, Shane still hadn’t messaged back.

She thought, maybe he was with a client or someone, taking longer chatting over dinner.

Filled the bathtub with water, soaked herself in the bath, scrolling through her phone.

Took nearly half an hour of bath time; after coming out from the bathroom, he still hadn’t reached out.

Audrey grew restless again, sending him another message: Have you returned to the hotel?

Soon after the message sent, she saw his name switch to typing status.

Audrey smirked, watching his reply pop up on the chat: Just got back.

Audrey joked: Back so late? Dining took so long, did a lady accompany you?

Shane: I’m going to take a shower first.

Staring at his reply, Audrey furrowed her brows again.

Why does it feel like the person replying isn’t Shane himself? Ignoring her messages all day, without a word of explanation.

She raised a topic, and he abruptly ended it, almost as if he didn’t want to continue chatting, which isn’t like him at all.