Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 251: Crybaby

Anne couldn’t tell how long she had hugged Kristen for, she would pull back several times to look into his face only to hug him again. Maybe she was looking at him to make sure he wouldn’t just disappear or that it was someone else she was holding and her mind was just making up the image of her brother but it was real, he was real.

Kristen looked a lot different now, he was frail yet there was a manliness to him. His dark brown hair was tousled, strands falling over his face a little longer than usual and messy with natural waves.

His brown eyes were deep and expressive, he would laugh everytime she pulled back to look at him then sigh whenever she hugged him again. Even if he laughed or tried to hide it everytime she looked in his eyes she would see a hint of melancholy In them, a quiet sadness she couldn’t name but she was just really glad he was awake.

"If you keep hugging me like this I might just suffocate, it’s getting too tight." He said lightly tapping her arm and Anne quickly let him go.

"When did you...how did you...?" Questions came but she couldn’t even complete them.

"Calm down, catch your breath first." Kristen said to her with a humorous tone.

Anne had almost forgotten the playful side to him, the way he usually handled emotions with humor.

"For some reason I can’t keep track of time yet, so I’m not sure if it has been a day or two now since I woke up in this place but it felt like I’ve been stuck in a dark place forever, it might have all been in my head but sometimes I heard your voice, sometimes I heard strange voices. Sometimes I dreamt about you crying and telling me you miss me, you know that I hate you crying right, so I would always try to go to you but you would always disappear after that, I really really wanted to come back to you but I...I couldn’t."

Anne had been told by the doctors before that a patient in Kristen’s condition might hear the words when he was being spoken to but he wouldn’t be able to understand them, however Anne had still tried to talk to him a lot back then, she didn’t expect that he would have actually heard her words and sometimes actually understood them. Back then she didn’t care if anyone would think she was crazy talking to someone who was unconscious but she would tell him everything about her day and look after him tenderly.

Anne moved back slightly where she was sitting at the edge of the bed, guilt in her eyes as she lowered her head and muttered,

"I’m sorry." Her voice sounded soft and filled with a lot of self-reproach.

Kristen’s brows drew together as he saw the sudden sad look in her eyes. He knew what she was thinking and immediately moved his hand to flick his finger against her forehead.

"Don’t say sorry silly, I’ve always told you that you don’t look good when you’re sad. Your brother just woke up, shouldn’t you be jumping in joy?" Kristen said jokingly in an effort to make her smile but she only rub her forehead lightly and continued what she was saying without scolding him for treating his older sister like a kid like she normally would.

"I tried everything I could so they could perform the surgery faster, I did everything and even when they performed the surgery you didn’t wake up and I kept waiting everyday, I’m sorry..."

"When will you stop blaming yourself for everything Anne? The accident wasn’t your fault, me being in a coma wasn’t your fault either, I know you must have done everything to bring me back." He cupped her face deliberately squeezing her cheeks to add a bit of playfulness even when he looked serious and was speaking seriously for the first time,

"You’re not my mother Anne, I don’t know when you’ll stop acting like it, you’re my sister, it’s my responsibility to protect you not yours. You gave half your life away providing for me, haven’t you had enough? I should be apologizing for not fulfilling my promise to you. I told you that someday I would give you everything you’ve ever wanted and more right? I failed you." His voice was smooth and earnest as he spoke, there was a deep maturity to his tone when he was serious.

The more he spoke, the more tears filled Anne’s eyes. She remembered all the days she couldn’t sleep because of the restlessness of her brother’s life constantly being in danger. She remembered feeling so sorry for him, all the pain he must have gone through at the moment the accident happened, she remembered wishing it were her who had been hurt instead. Now that she apologized to him and realized he wasn’t truly angry with her nor blamed her, the sudden fading of all that guilt made her tears pour without control, they slid down her face painfully and she could only sob unable to say another word.

The truth was Anne wanted to laugh when he had said she wasn’t his mother, he had always used to tell her that whenever she was taking care of him, but right now there was a weight lodged in her throat and she had to let it out by crying. Perhaps it was the relief from all the months filled with pain she had thought there might be a tiny possibility Kristen wouldn’t be able to come back to her, because every tear that slid down her face made her feel better and better.

Kristen merely sighed and held her as she cried, he knew his sister well enough to know that once she was done shedding the tears she would be okay.

"Crybaby." He muttered but nevertheless patted her back comfortingly. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Minutes flew by and eventually her sobs ceased.

Kristen pushed her away from his chest playfully glaring at her. "You just have to cry everytime don’t you? I still can’t understand how you’re the older one."

She lightly smacked his arm, smiling even with the tears on her face.

"You just escaped danger, but even that hasn’t taught you to be sweeter to your older sister." Her voice was a bit hoarse because she had been crying and Kristen ruffled up her hair.

"I’ll be sweet when you call me big brother."

Anne narrowed her eyes at him, "Never." She muttered lightly rolling her eyes and Kristen chuckled shaking his head.

"But Anne, where is this place?"

As she heard him ask this question, Anne stiffened and realization dawned on her. When the rush of emotions had calmed down, she could think rationally now.

A lot had changed and there were so many things she would have to tell Kristen. Like the fact that she was married now, and even pregnant, and that it wasn’t a real marriage because she would be divorced in a few months, and the fact that her child wouldn’t be hers because she had sold it away even before it was born, and she had only done that because she wanted to be able to raise the money for his surgery.

But...how could she tell Kristen that right now her life was caught up in a big complicated situation, and it had all started because she wanted to save him?