CHAPTER 396: CHAPTER 396: SHE MISSES HIM

The summer night was hot and humid.

Audrey Sutton couldn’t turn on the air conditioning these days; she was just wearing a little camisole dress, her long hair tied high into a bun, sitting on the carpet by the window with her back to the door, assembling the Lego in front of her.

She found this quite addicting; instead of getting bored after so many days, she was getting more and more into it.

Hearing the sound of a car outside the window, Audrey glanced at the clock on the wall.

Past six o’clock, she didn’t need to look to know it must be Shane coming over to sponge a meal again.

She sat on the floor, remained still, diligently assembling the little castle in front of her.

"Tap—tap—tap—"

Hearing footsteps upstairs, Audrey didn’t pay attention, thinking it was probably her mom sending Six to bring her food.

"Knock knock—" The sound of knocking came.

Audrey furrowed her brows in confusion, thinking knocking like that wasn’t typical of Six.

What surprised her even more was that before she could respond, the door opened the next second.

Clearly the person only knocked symbolically, without intending to seek her permission.

Such behavior was quite reminiscent of someone.

And what surprised Audrey even more was that it was exactly the "someone" she was thinking of.

"Mom asked me to bring you food."

Audrey glanced at him and turned her head away, continued fiddling with the castle in front of her.

It was almost complete, with the general castle shape and scale visible.

Shane placed the food on the small table beside her, walked behind her, and glanced at what she was doing.

Audrey glanced at his feet, stopped her actions, and turned to look at him: "Why are you at my house? Did I let you in?"

Shane looked down at her, with a faint smile, said: "Mom asked me to come over for dinner."

"This isn’t some shelter, don’t come here for free meals."

Shane didn’t bicker with her, set up the dishes and utensils on the table, coaxed her like a child: "Stop playing, come and eat first."

Audrey intentionally defied him, turned back to continue building the little castle in front of her, muttering: "I can’t eat with someone who is nauseating here."

Shane said indifferently: "The nauseating person will leave soon."

Saying so, he walked over and gently pulled Audrey’s arm: "If you like castles, I’ll build one for you. Eat first."

"Don’t pull me!" Audrey glared at him with frowning brows, stood up, dusted off her bottom, and impatiently walked to the small dining table in the room, glanced at it, all were dishes she liked.

Shane: "Take care of yourself these days, the floor is cold, use more pads."

Audrey sat by the dining table, picking up food with chopsticks while muttering softly: "Crying cat, feigning sympathy."

Shane pretended not to hear her mutterings, bent over to pick up the empty dessert plate from the carpet, and while walking towards the door, said: "I’m heading back today to handle something, might take two or three days to return."

Audrey paused her picking action for half a second, then snorted coldly: "Like I care."

Shane continued speaking to himself: "Take care of yourself, listen to Mom."

While speaking, he had already reached the doorway.

Before closing the door, he stood at the doorway looking at Audrey for a moment: "So I’m leaving?"

Audrey heard him but kept her head down, eating her food, ignoring him.

"Click—" The door closed, and through it, his footsteps could be faintly heard walking slowly downstairs.

Only then did Audrey turn her head to glance at the doorway, exhaling deeply.

A moment later, she heard the sound of a car outside, hesitating, could it be that her words really made him leave without dinner?

Audrey felt with his thick skin, her few harsh words shouldn’t have made him tactful enough to leave, right?

Perplexed, she secretly crouched at the window, peeking outside through the curtains, and surely saw him driving away.

Could it be he wasn’t here for dinner? Just to tell her he would be gone for a few days?

Audrey watched his car drive out of the yard, slowly disappearing from her sight...

She sighed silently, turned back to the dining table to continue eating.

She found it hard to understand him, unsure if she should forgive him, whether they should give each other another chance.

She was a bit afraid that because of the child, he might feel guilty or sympathetic and want to return to her side.

Perhaps after some days, the same things might happen again...

But when he’s good, he’s really good. When that serial killer appeared, he risked his life to protect her.

If he didn’t care for her at all, he wouldn’t have reacted like that in such a critical moment.

Touching her flat abdomen, she felt conflicted again.

Forget it, the doctor told her to keep a good mood and stop overthinking.

No matter how good or bad he was in the past, she would put it aside, treating it as a new beginning. If he behaved satisfactorily, thinking it feasible to entrust her future to him, she would go back with him.

After making this decision, Audrey buried her head, eating large mouthfuls.

After the meal, Norman Sutton came up to take the empty plates and bowls down.

After eating, Audrey felt a bit drowsy, sitting in the rocking chair by the window, swaying while basking in the sun, her gaze lazily wandered outside, unaware of what she was actually watching.

Just thinking about Shane leaving made her feel a bit lifeless inside.

Although she hadn’t seen him in those days on the island, knowing he was there, not far from home, made her feel at ease, able to sleep soundly.

Now thinking about him leaving, her heart felt empty, as if something was missing.

Clearly she could already make up her mind to divorce him, yet why couldn’t she let him go? Maybe this was why he could have such a hold on her?

Days spent confined in the room were already hard to endure, and now with him not around, Audrey felt even more like everything was meaningless.

Fortunately, Shane reported his schedule to her every day, sending her many messages.

Now when Audrey heard the phone "ding," she felt like she instantly came to life.

Some emotions seemed uncontrollable, stemming from the most genuine reactions within.

Even if she said nothing to anyone, she couldn’t deceive her heart; she missed him.

Seeing him send photos saying the gardenias were blooming in the garden, Audrey suddenly had a fleeting thought of wanting to return.

For the "home" less than a year old, there indeed were so many beautiful memories belonging to them.

Looking at the photo, Audrey started missing those days spent with him.

But she couldn’t go back so soon; she hadn’t enjoyed the feeling of being pursued by him.

She had to let him suffer a bit, so he wouldn’t dare treat her like that again next time.