The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven) novel Chapter 291

Milton replied that he was home at the moment.

Zane then informed him that there would be people sending toys over and told him to sign for the delivery.

After he finished his instruction, he walked over to me and asked, "What did you want to buy at the mall? Let's go pick it out now."

Only then did I head over to the snacks section and fill an entire small shopping cart with snacks that I liked, after which I proceeded to check the items out. I had bought a lot, enough to fill two full shopping bags.

After I paid for the snacks, Zane picked up the bags and moved to leave the mall, with me following after him. When I used to visit the mall with Steven, we would always go on shopping sprees. We would always end up with more than what Zane and I had right now, never less.

However, Steven was never afraid of tiring me and would always walk casually ahead while I followed after him, carrying all the bags. The bags had been very heavy, but the idea of asking Steven for help didn't seem to have ever occurred to me.

Before today, I had always assumed that there was nothing wrong with his behavior, but now…

Even if Zane and I were neither a couple nor husband and wife, we would politely share each other's burdens.

I walked up to him and said, "Give me one of the bags, Zane. I'm really strong. I can carry it."

Zane had no intention of handing a shopping bag to me.

"Just rest," he said. "The hard labor should be left to men."

No matter how hard I tried to get him to relent, he refused to budge. In the end, I had no choice but to watch him carry the bags into the office.

Once I was seated on the couch, looking at the enormous pile of snacks in front of me, I finally realized that back then, Steven hadn't been careless or lacked awareness. He had known that I was struggling with the shopping bags and had deliberately pretended not to see anything.

Perhaps while our marriage had still persisted, he only held dislike toward me.

I shook my head, chuckling softly.

Since Steven was that annoyed at me, shouldn't he have kept his distance from me? What did he mean in pressing closer to tell me he loved me now?

I didn't understand his actions, nor could I be bothered to.

I pulled out a bag of snacks and was just about to open it when I suddenly thought of something.

Looking toward Zane, I asked, "I'm finished with my work for today. May I eat some snacks and watch a video?"