A Drunken Decision ( Annabelle Ross )

Chapter 2 

Annabelle got out of bed. Her mind was in a state of chaos right now. After pulling over the bathrobe half hanging on the side of the bed, she wrapped it around her body and entered the bathroom. 

Just as she was using her time in the shower to empty her mind forcibly, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and blushed crimson. 

“My… That man is just like a dog!” Annabelle thought. 

Afraid she would die of embarrassment if she continued to look at herself, she quickly reached for the bathrobe and put it 

1. on. 

Annabelle was in such haste to leave the bathroom that she did not even bother tidying herself up. 

Suddenly, a knock came from outside the door. 

“It must be room service,” Annabelle thought and walked toward the door instinctively. After taking two steps forward, she looked back and glanced at the messy bed and clothes scattered on the floor. The blush in her cheeks had just dissipated, but the blood rushed up to them again. Ignoring her sore legs, she lifted the covers, picked up her clothes, and tucked them beneath. Once that was done, she tidied up her hair and moved forth to open the door. 

The hotel attendant greeted her politely while pushing the cart into the room and served the dishes on the table. There was so much food that the table could barely fit all of them. 

Taken aback by the massive spread on the table, Annabelle called out to the attendant, “Excuse me!” The latter was about to leave but turned around to look at her upon hearing her voice. “Did you guys make a mistake? I didn’t order these,” she continued. 

“We didn’t make a mistake, miss. These are all specially ordered by Mr. Walker,” the attendant explained with a smile on their face. 

“Mr. Walker?” Annabelle instantly thought of that man. Although he gave her a scare in the morning, there was no denying that he was quite the gentleman. 

“I see, thank you!” Having sent the attendant away, she sat down at the dining table. Although the spread looked delectable, she lost her appetite when she recalled she had to head home after the meal. 

Her generous, loving father and her gentle, amiable mother had changed because of their new family member, Ashley. 

Annabelle knew they felt sorry for Ashley and wanted to make it up to her. 

“I’m very fond of Ashley, just like them. Can’t we shower her with love together? Why must they cast me aside? Did they even notice that I was not home all night? Perhaps they realized and are now looking for me anxiously?” she thought. 

She stuffed food into her mouth while finding excuses for her family. “Perhaps, they just couldn’t reach me,” she concluded. 

With such a thought in mind, she dropped her fork and went to look for her phone. 

Annabelle fished out her phone from her bag she found under the chair, only to realize it had automatically shut off from running out of battery. 

Without wasting time, she plugged her phone into the charger and eagerly turned it on. It felt as if an eternity had passed when, in fact, booting up the phone merely took a few seconds. 

Annabelle’s spirits were lifted as she listened to the notification sounds that indicated she had received messages. 

Before she had the chance to check on them, Nathan called her, and she immediately answered it. Listening to his anxious voice over the phone, she apologized to him profusely. “I’m so sorry! I’ll go back now!” 

Without waiting for Nathan’s response, she disconnected the call and changed her clothes before heading home. 

To her distress, what awaited her when she arrived home was not her family’s expression of concern for her but a slap from her father and the angry reprimands from her mother. While her brother shielded her, her sister held her mother and mollified the latter in a soft voice. 

“How could I’ve raised such a shameless daughter like you!” 

Annabelle stood dumb from the slap, Covering her cheek, she looked at her parents, who were blocked by Nathan, with teary eyes. 

“Dad, Mom, didn’t we agree to talk things out?” Nathan was eighteen years old that year, with a tall and skinny build. 

old. Annabelle had personally chosen him from the welfare home to be her younger brother when she was four years Madeline was in bad shape from giving birth to her daughters. After four years of trying, she was unable to conceive another child, so they decided to adopt one, 

At that time, Nathan was still a toddler who had just learned how to walk and could not speak yet. Apparently, he was secretly sent to the welfare home shortly after birth. There were quite a few adopters interested in adopting him as he was very young. However, he cried as soon as he was carried by someone else, thus allowing the Ross family to adopt him. 

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10:48 

Chapter 2 

The young Nathan giggled the first time he saw Annabelle. As it turned out, both of them were fated to be siblings since they shared a good relationship from childhood till now. 

Therefore, Braxton’s slap not only made Annabelle cry, but it also made Nathan anxious. 

He could not understand why his father hurt his sister when things were not clear yet. 

Even if Annabelle was in the wrong, she should not be treated in such a way. 

While Braxton choked with fury, Madeline pointed at Annabelle in anguish and yelled, “What’s there to talk about? Look at her she has disgraced our family utterly! It’s okay for you to disgrace yourself, but don’t drag Ashley into it!” 

At that moment, they felt like strangers to Annabelle, for they were no longer how she remembered them. Her parents would never leave her alone at home on her birthday, nor would they deem her guilty without even asking her about the 

matter. 

Tears could not stop flowing down Annabelle’s cheeks, no matter how she kept wiping them away. “You are not my parents…” 

When Nathan heard his sister’s sobs, his heart ached. After all, he was brought up by his sister and thus was the closest to her. 

“Anna, don’t cry!” Nathan patted her on the back and said softly, “That’s not what they truly think. Dad and Mom are just worried about you. We waited so long for you yesterday to celebrate your and Ashley’s birthday, but you went to the bar with someone else and stayed out all night. That’s why Dad and Mom are furious…” 

“Celebrate my birthday?” Upon hearing that, Annabelle raised her head. It saddened her to recall the photo he posted on his Instagram. “You all went out to eat while I waited alone at home for you…” 

“Anna, how can you say that? I called you several times!” Ashley, who had been holding Madeline the whole time, said.