Chapter 427: Chapter 427

Shawn lowered his eyes with an ambiguous smile, neither denying nor admitting, only saying, "I owe her an apology."

Simon Rhodes: "I don’t even know whether to blame you or to thank you, because it was your mistreatment of her that gave me a chance to be with her."

Shawn: "Actually, I’ve never really understood, when did you and she start seeing each other?"

Simon: "Before you two got married, I already knew her. But when I met her, she had a boyfriend, so I never disturbed her. It was only when you married her that I heard she had broken up long before. I felt quite regrettable at the time, so when I later found out that you didn’t love her, I started to slowly get to know her, mostly because I felt sorry for her, after all, you weren’t treating her well back then." For more chapters visit NoveIꜰire.net

Shawn sighed and then asked, "Still no news from her?"

Simon shook his head: "She’s deliberately avoiding me."

Shawn: "I’ll try to help you guys."

Simon: "How will you help? Do you know where she is?"

Shawn: "I don’t know, but I can change your current situation."

Simon didn’t know what plan Shawn had in mind, but this time he believed that Shawn genuinely wanted to help them.

Truth be told, Shawn not adding insult to injury this time was already a form of help.

It was already early autumn, and there was a distinct chill in the night air.

Shawn opened the door and immediately heard the child’s cries. Before he could investigate, as soon as he stepped inside, Laura blocked the doorway and questioned him, "Where have you been?"

Shawn bent over, changing his shoes as he said, "Meeting a friend."

Laura pressed on, "What kind of friend requires meeting at this hour of the night?"

Shawn didn’t answer, his gaze shifting toward the room where the child was crying, asking in a low voice, "The child is awake?"

Laura’s tone was not very pleasant: "He hasn’t slept at all."

Shawn asked with concern, "What’s wrong?"

Laura seemed impatient: "How would I know what’s wrong with him? He’s crying all the time!"

"Where’s Mrs. Leighton?"

"She went out to buy something."

Shawn took a deep breath, unsure whether it was postpartum depression, but she’d become more suspicious, anxious, and irritable since having the baby...

Not only did she have no warmth for him, but she was the same with the child.

Every time the baby started crying, she would become very impatient.

He silently went into the room, picking up the crying baby from the bed, gently rocking him.

The child still flailed and struggled, crying incessantly.

Shawn softly coaxed the child, but such a small child couldn’t understand.

Laura threw the bottle on the table: "I just made it, he won’t drink it. How should I know what he really wants, it’s so frustrating."

Shawn tried to comfort her, "All little ones go through this stage, it’ll get better when he’s a bit older."

Laura, in a bad mood, turned and left the room alone.

Shawn felt somewhat helpless, and a bit at a loss.

Sometimes he didn’t understand how everything ended up .

This life felt uninteresting and exhausting, held together only by responsibility, as love seemed to be slowly eroding away.

Shawn placed the bottle near the child’s mouth, but the child refused to drink.

He paced the room holding the child, but the child did not improve.

Mrs. Leighton returned, and upon hearing the crying, she immediately went in to check, prompting Shawn to ask right away, "Is something wrong with the baby? He’s been crying continuously."

Mrs. Leighton took the child into her arms, felt the baby’s diaper, and smiled: "Probably just uncomfortable from not having his diaper changed for too long."

With that, Mrs. Leighton laid the baby on the bed and skillfully changed the diaper, thus soothing the child, eventually calming the crying.

Shawn held the baby again, and when he offered the bottle this time, the baby opened his mouth, drinking the milk and gradually closing his eyes, falling into a deep sleep.

Gently placing the child back on the bed, Shawn turned to go to the living room, where he found Laura leaning on the couch, playing with her phone.

From an outsider’s perspective, she didn’t seem like a qualified mother.

She showed more impatience towards the child, with Mrs. Leighton doing most of the childcare.

Initially, Shawn hadn’t thought this much of a problem; what he couldn’t stand was not her laziness, but her unreasonable and erratic temperament.

He didn’t know how much of this he was responsible for, and he feared most hearing her say that he was the cause of her current state.

They both had faults; he chose to let go while she clung to the past, making life a mess.

Shawn originally had something to discuss with her, but seeing her current state, he feared there was no rational way to talk, so he let it go.

He merely said to her, "The baby is asleep, you should rest early too, otherwise when the baby wakes up in the middle of the night, you’ll be disturbed."

Laura looked up from her phone at him and remarked, "You still haven’t told me where you went just now."

Shawn: "A friend, a man."

Laura: "The child is mine alone, isn’t it?"

Shawn furrowed his brow.

Laura: "Every day I feel like an old housewife, tethered to the child at home, and as if the incessant crying isn’t enough, your mom is dissatisfied with me, and you have your grievances too. What exactly did I do wrong?!"

Shawn nearly retorted but remembered that the doctor had mentioned that postpartum women could be emotionally fragile and sensitive.

He took a deep breath and gently said, "I’ll try to reduce work hours and spend more time at home with you and the baby."

Laura paused before asking, "Then when will you marry me?"

Shawn lowered his eyes in thought: "Mom’s been unwell lately, frequently visiting the hospital; once she gets better, I’ll talk to her about it."

He had taken Laura and their child home once, proposing the idea of marriage, but his parents were adamant: they could keep the child, but Laura was not to be welcomed into their family.

This was likely what triggered Laura’s emotional breakdown.

His plan was to give it some time, gradually win over his parents through the child, and slowly persuade them to accept her.

But Laura was in a hurry, unwilling to wait, constantly suggesting that he still harbored feelings for Susan Wilde, which was why he was stalling.

The current Laura was completely different from the Laura he once loved.

Shawn didn’t know what to do to reassure her.

He felt that even if they married now, she would still bring up past grievances in the future.

It made Shawn feel somewhat powerless.

Late at night, after she fell asleep, a restless Shawn climbed out of bed.

Sitting on the balcony, smoking, he thought over his plans for the next morning.

The baby whimpered twice before starting to cry again.

Immediately, he stubbed out his cigarette and went back to pick up the baby, going to the living room to fix a bottle, and rocked the baby back to sleep.

Watching the baby in peaceful slumber, only then did Shawn feel some relief from the heaviness in his heart.