Chapter 330: Blaming One’s Own Carelessness
Adrian Lancaster barely slept a wink that night.
The minutes and seconds ticked by, and before he knew it, the sky had lightened to a pearly dawn.
Suddenly, Wren Sutton woke up.
Her mind had been unusually calm the night before. There was no tossing and turning with racing thoughts, no troubling nightmares. She had slept soundly until she woke up naturally.
She opened her eyes and stretched her arms in a long, lazy stretch. A languid sense of relaxation permeated her entire body as she slowly sat up in the soft bed.
Just like any other morning, Wren washed up, casually tied up her hair, and headed to the nursery with light steps.
’I wonder if Owen and Nina are awake. They’ll need their diapers changed after sleeping all night.’
Wren pushed open the door to the nursery and saw Adrian Lancaster preparing baby formula.
Hearing the familiar, soft footsteps behind him, Adrian turned around. The tension in his brow instantly smoothed out, and a gentle smile bloomed in his eyes as he looked at Wren.
"You’re up early today."
"Mm," Wren replied faintly, saying nothing more. She walked forward with a neutral expression, getting ready to change Owen and Nina’s diapers.
Before her hand could even touch the babies, Adrian’s low, gentle voice came from behind her.
"I’ve already changed their diapers, cleaned their little bottoms thoroughly, and applied diaper cream."
"I’ve also wiped their faces and hands with warm water. Now they’re just waiting for their milk."
As he spoke, he walked over to Wren’s side and handed her one of the prepared bottles. The temperature was just right, warm in her hand.
He looked at her, his eyes gentle and questioning. "Same as yesterday? I’ll feed Owen, and you feed Nina. Is that okay?"
Wren was more than willing and didn’t refuse. "Okay."
She bent down, gently lifted her daughter into her arms, and sat on the sofa to feed her.
As she was feeding the baby, Wren looked up, her gaze inadvertently falling on Adrian’s face.
Heavy, dark circles were etched under his eyes, which were filled with fine red veins. His face was pale and weary from a sleepless night, and his jawline was taut with exhaustion.
It was obvious he hadn’t slept at all.
...
A flicker of a complex emotion crossed Wren’s eyes.
’She didn’t know why Adrian had stayed up all night. She wanted to ask him.’
But just as the words reached her lips, the memory of that cloying, sweet voice saying "Adrian" on the phone yesterday echoed in her mind without warning. It was like a thin thorn piercing her heart, instantly and forcefully suppressing the flicker of concern that had been about to surface.
Wren pulled her gaze away and lowered her eyes, her long lashes hiding her expression as she held the baby in silence.
The only sound in the quiet air was the baby suckling on the bottle.
A moment later, Adrian broke the silence.
He swallowed his pride and made himself vulnerable, his voice thick with weariness. "Honey, I didn’t sleep at all last night."
Wren’s feeding motions paused. She pressed her lips together and remained silent.
’That thorn was still in her heart. She didn’t respond to him.’
Seeing this, Adrian swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. His exhaustion was tinged with a pitiable look and a hint of almost imperceptible awkwardness.
’His wife was ignoring him. She didn’t even care that he’d been up all night.’
"It wasn’t because of the babies that I was up. I was on my phone, searching for something online... all night long."
Adrian paused, his eyes fixed on Wren.
"Honey, can you guess what I was searching for?"
How could Wren possibly guess? She shook her head in confusion. "I can’t."
’She wasn’t a mind reader, after all.’
Adrian didn’t beat around the bush. "I was searching," he said frankly, "’Wife suddenly becomes cold for no reason, doesn’t fight or argue, and won’t say why. What’s going on?’"
...Wren froze. The hand holding her daughter trembled slightly, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
’Did I hear that right? Adrian actually...’
"Starting from yesterday when I called you for dinner, I felt something was off. You suddenly became distant—it was a quiet, subtle kind of coldness. I panicked. I didn’t know what I’d done wrong, and I couldn’t sleep all night."
"I asked you, and you said it was nothing, but I didn’t believe you. My only choice was to scroll through all sorts of posts online, trying to guess why you were angry, why you were suddenly ignoring me."
Adrian laid it all out, hiding nothing. His sleepless night, his utter exhaustion—it was all because of Wren’s sudden coldness.
"Adrian, you..." Wren opened her mouth, but the words wouldn’t come.
’She never imagined that the coldness she had so deliberately hidden would be seen so clearly by him.’
’She never would have thought he’d stay up all night over it, like a helpless child, forced to search for answers online.’
Adrian, holding Owen in his arms and a bottle in his right hand, scooted closer to Wren.
"You might think what I did was childish, that it sounds ridiculous."
"But I had no other choice. I had to ask for help to figure it out."
Wren listened to him quietly.
His words, "’Wife suddenly becomes cold for no reason,’" were like a soft feather tickling her heart, yet they also brought a sour, aching pain that managed to blunt the sharp thorn that had been lodged there for so long.
"I wasn’t ignoring you."
Seeing that Wren was finally willing to speak, the tension in Adrian’s shoulders eased slightly. He quickly moved even closer, his eyes full of sincerity.
"But I felt like you’d suddenly become a different person."
"Honey, please tell me, what did I do wrong yesterday to make you unhappy? Tell me, and I’ll change. I promise I’ll change."
Wren looked at him, and a storm of conflicting emotions raged within her.
’She wanted to demand an explanation from Adrian—who was on the phone yesterday? And who was that woman calling him "Adrian"?’
But the words got stuck in her throat. She couldn’t bring herself to ask.
"You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s my fault. My period is coming soon, and my hormones are making me emotional."
At her words, Adrian froze, his eyes filled with astonishment. It was clear he had never considered that possibility.
He had spent the entire night guessing at countless reasons, imagining he’d said or done something wrong, but he had never once guessed it was because of her period.
Adrian’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He still seemed to find it hard to believe.
"Is... is it really just because your period is coming? No other reason?"
"Mm." Wren wasn’t lying; her period really was due soon.
Her cycle had returned to normal in the second month after giving birth, which was earlier than for most new mothers.
Adrian was still worried. "So it’s not because someone tried to stir up trouble and make you misunderstand something?" he pressed.
Wren’s fingertips curled instinctively. Just as she was hesitating over how to answer, the phone on the nightstand in the master bedroom suddenly rang, breaking the tension.
She immediately stood up, seizing the opportunity to change the subject.
"I’ll get the phone. I wonder who’s calling so early in the morning."
Adrian didn’t stop her. Watching Wren’s retreating back, the anxious, frayed nerves that had been on edge all night finally began to relax.
At the same time, he mentally kicked himself, blaming his own carelessness for not noticing the changes in Wren’s body.
Wren carried her daughter into the master bedroom and picked up the phone. Seeing it was Sean Sterling, she figured it was most likely about Isla.
She didn’t hesitate to answer.
Before Wren could even speak, Sean Sterling’s anxious, frantic voice came through the receiver.
"Wren, Isla is missing! Do you know where she went?"