Chapter 0296
Hannah & Noah
Hannah’s POV
The next few days passed in a blur of awkward silences and forced interactions. Noah showed up every day, like clockwork, for our two–hour ‘bonding‘ sessions, seemingly unfazed about missing work.
I couldn’t decide if I liked it or hated it. On one hand, it was nice to have some company and to see him making an effort. On the other, it felt like a constant reminder of my trapped situation. Despite my last outburst, he still seemed convinced that he could force me to stay married to him, or maybe change my mind.
Well, it wasn’t happening. I just needed some time to think and plan, and then I would get the hell out of here. I had been telling the truth that night after the nursery store; I had no intentions of staying with him.
Still, during these sessions, Noah tried various activities to engage me as if that would somehow help.
One day, as I was hiding in my room in the hopes that he would leave me be, he burst into the room with a box in his hand and tossed it on the floor next to the bed.
“I thought we could work on this together,” he said, sitting cross–legged on the floor.
Slipping down from my bed, I eyed the box warily and picked it up, turning it over in my hands. “A… puzzle? Really?”
He shrugged. “Why not? It might be… fun.”
I snorted but sat down anyway, knowing that he wouldn’t leave until the puzzle was finished–so it was easier and faster if we both worked on it.
Still, as we sorted through the pieces, I couldn’t help but notice how careful he was not to touch my hand, how he seemed to be walking on eggshells around me. Good, I thought, suppressing a sneer. Keep your distance
I tried to pretend that the moments our hands almost touched but didn’t weren’t actually incredibly painful to me.
Another day, he suggested we cook dinner together. The kitchen felt too small with both of us in it, and was hyper–aware of his presence as we chopped vegetables side by side.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, not looking up from his work. “Any improvements with the morning sickness?
I shrugged “I’m fine.”
“That’s good,” he said, and I swore I could hear the relief in his voice.
These moments of apparent concern only confused me more. Was this the real Noah, or just another act? I was leaning toward the latter, he only “cared‘ about the morning sickness because it impacted the health of the baby
Nothing more
+25 BONUS
To him, I was just a prisoner, a broodmare carrying his heir. Not his wife. Not his mate.a
One evening, I finally managed to escape for dinner with Viona. We met at our usual haunt, where we ordered too much food and settled into a corner booth. For the first time all week, I finally got out of my two–hour session with Noah–only because I lied and told him that Viona had a personal emergency.
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