Chapter 44: Husband's Tenderness

He kept wiping the corner of her eye with his fingertip, like he was trying to dry her tears without saying a word.

Anna, who had already pulled herself together, felt a weird sting in her nose because of his touch. It was like her tear ducts were working overtime.

Before her vision got all blurry, she quickly turned her head to choke back the lump in her throat. She didn't want her voice to give anything away. "Charles, cut it out, you..."

Charles lifted her chin with his fingertip. Out of nowhere, he leaned in and kissed her.

Anna's voice cracked, and she couldn't hold it back anymore. A soft, low sob came out.

Anna couldn't fight the sting. She didn't want to cry in front of him, but right then, she used his kiss as an excuse to let it all out.

Her clear eyes fluttered shut. But under her trembling lashes, a few silent tears slipped out. Soon, the teardrops rolled down the corner of her eye.

Charles half-opened his eyes, watching the silent tears fall one by one, and his hand on her waist tightened. Only when no more tears flowed did Charles slowly pull back, ending the kiss.

He acted like he just noticed her tears, gently patting her back, lightly kissing her tear-stained eyes with a smile. "Are you made of water? You cry so easily."

Anna blinked, staying quiet.

Charles lowered his voice to soothe her, "I won't make you cry again. My Anya's eyes are all red, and it breaks my heart."

His words were wrapped in a deep, indescribable affection. It felt like a confession to someone he loved.

Anna's eyes twitched, sensing something off in his words. But before she could figure it out, Charles suddenly scooped her up, grabbed the lunch box with his other hand, and carried her to the resting room inside.

"Are you hungry?" He still held Anna on his lap, not letting her move, one hand wrapped around her waist, keeping her in place, the other hand opened the lunch box and took out the food.

Anna shifted slightly, her emotions calming down. Her voice was still a bit hoarse, and she licked her dry lips, saying, "Put me down first. I'm not a baby. Why do you like this position so much?"

"How are you not a baby?" Charles looked at her. "I'm six years older than you. When I turned eighteen, you were just a twelve-year-old girl."

He lowered his head and kissed the corner of her lips, coaxing and teasing, "So you are, of course, my baby."

Anna's eyelid twitched. Her heart tightened unexpectedly.

Charles carefully looked into her eyes.

After making sure Michael's impact on her that morning had completely faded, he started to pick up food. He first picked up a shrimp and brought it to her lips.

Anna looked at him a few times, and after confirming that Charles wouldn't let go, she opened her mouth and ate the shrimp. But in the next second, her eyebrows scrunched up tight. She almost swallowed it without chewing much.

"Why is it so sour?" she blurted out.

Charles raised an eyebrow and said casually, "Are you unwilling to be jealous? Eat this, and you'll know what it's like to be on the sour side."

"Charles, are you being childish?" Anna shot back.

"Childish about what?" Charles shrugged, "Can't I feed my wife some vinegar?"

After saying that, Charles picked up a piece of meat. He stuffed the meat into Anna's mouth and stared at her intently. When the taste hit her taste buds, Anna almost spat it out!

"Don't spit it out, Anya. We must cherish food," Charles said.

Swallowing the meat like it was a fishbone, Anna quickly grabbed the water cup beside her and took several big gulps to wash down the weird sweet and sour taste.

"Mr. Percy, you really are something," Anna said.

Not only the shrimp was made sour. Anna took the knife and fork herself and tried the other two dishes. No surprise, they were all sour.

After finally finishing lunch, Anna drank two large glasses of water to dilute the sourness in her stomach.

Charles cleaned up the table, wrapped his arms around her waist, and held her close. Looking down at her with a smile, he asked, "Will you be jealous in the future?"

"Childish!" Anna said.

She slapped his hand away and planned to go to bed for a nap. But Charles had already bent down and scooped her up before he placed her on the bed.

"Sleep, honey." He lay beside her, finding a comfy spot for her to lean against him.

Two days passed, and Tina and Thalia were discharged from the hospital one after another.

Tina was busy filming. Her leg injury wasn't completely healed, but she insisted on being discharged.

Thalia, on the other hand, couldn't stay in the hospital any longer because Michael's visits to Radiant Life Hospital had drastically decreased. She couldn't see Michael even after waiting in the ward all day.

She had Samuel handle the discharge procedures and returned to Aurora Mansion.

Anna had a relatively peaceful time these past two days. She saw patients when there were any and worked on her research when there weren't.

Except for one thing.

This week, Charles seemed to be getting more and more clingy.

For a whole week, he came from afar to bring her lunch every day and then stayed in her resting room for a nap. Out of the twenty-four hours in a day, he spent almost eighteen hours with her.

Charles appeared in front of her so frequently that it made Anna a bit uneasy.

Today, Anna, who finally had a day off, met Aurora at a café. Seeing the tired look between Anna's brows, Aurora teased, "Anna, you haven't really been overindulging, have you?"

Anna lifted her eyes to look at her, staring daggers.

Seeing the lingering gloom on her face, Aurora took a sip of coffee, straightened her expression, and asked, "Anna, what's the problem?"