Alpha's Regret After Her Rebirth (Hannah and Noah) novel Chapter 81

Chapter 0081
Chapter 0081
Hannah
I couldn’t breathe.
Something dreadful swelled in my chest, my breath lodged in my throat as I stumbled blindly away from the library room, Hot tears streamed down my cheeks, my shoulders shaking with the force of my silent sobs.
Seeing Noah like that, laughing and joking and carrying on with those kids… It was like a punch to the gut. I felt as if all of the air had been knocked out of my lungs, or like the rug had been pulled out from under
me.
He was so good with them. So natural, so playful, so utterly at ease. Sure, it had taken him a few minutes, but…
I guessed a part of me had always known, deep down, that he would make a wonderful father. But seeing it with my own eyes was almost too much to bear.
Especially when paired with the crushing knowledge that I was pregnant with his child. His child that he might never know about, never get to experience this kind of joyful bonding with.
The hallway seemed to spin around me as I finally found a quiet stairwell, sinking down onto the steps and burying my face in my hands. Wave after wave of sobs crashed over me, my shoulders heaving with the effort of holding back the sounds. No, I couldn’t let anyone see me cry.
I had no idea how long I sat there, lost in my own thoughts, before a sudden creak of the door reached my ears. I flinched, hunching my shoulders instinctively as I tried to stifle my cries.
But it was too late.
“Hannah?”
Noah’s low voice drifted toward me, achingly familiar but also filling me with anger just at his presence. So now he decided to come to me, when I had needed him at the haunted house, though, he had gone to Zoe instead. If she were here, would he have come to me at all?
I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling fresh tears slip from beneath my lashes as my cheeks flushed hot with humiliation and anger.
I heard him cross the small space, and a moment later the stair creaked ever so slightly as he settled himself a few feet away from me. He didn’t speak again, didn’t press or pry. I couldn’t decide if his silence was comforting or if it just made me even angrier. Why couldn’t he just f***g say something?
What do you want?” I hissed, maybe a bit more forcefully than intended.
He remained silent. I didn’t look at him, didn’t pull my hands away from my face. But I felt the air shift around me as Noah extended one arm, the warmth of his palm pressing against the center of my back. He didn’t move his hand in a circle, nor did he try to pull me into his arms like a husband should. He simply let it rest there as my body shook with the force of my sobs.
And somehow, impossibly, that simple gesture made me cry even harder.