He Wouldn't Claim Me — Another Man Did

Chapter 164 - 149: Family

Just as Annabelle was hesitating, she heard his cousin speak.

"Isn’t it Saturday? Why isn’t he home?"

"Call and ask him," the middle-aged man said.

"There’s no need to call, Dad. Don’t you have the spare key he gave you? We can just go inside, put the dumplings in his fridge, and I’ll just message him to let him know."

’They have a spare key to Morgan’s place too?’

Hearing this, Annabelle quickly opened the door.

She decided it was better to open the door herself than to wait to be discovered.

"He’s h—" Willow Thorne heard the door open and thought Morgan Hayes was home. But when she looked up and saw it was a woman, she froze mid-sentence.

The middle-aged couple behind Willow Thorne also froze.

"You’re..." They looked at Annabelle Leighton, not with scrutiny, but with a hint of pleasant surprise in their eyes. "Are you Morgan’s girlfriend?"

Annabelle nodded, a little shy. "I’m Morgan’s girlfriend."

Willow Thorne’s mother, Lily Colton, immediately nudged her husband, Sean Thorne, with her elbow, her delight plain to see.

Sean Thorne, a bureau chief who had seen it all, remained perfectly composed, unfazed by such a minor development.

"Hello, we’re Morgan’s uncle and aunt..."

"And I’m his cousin!" Before Sean Thorne could finish, Willow Thorne adorably raised her hand and chimed in. "Hi, sis-in-law! I’m Willow Thorne."

Annabelle felt a pang of guilt, remembering how she had followed Willow Thorne at the hospital and revealed her relationship to Morgan Hayes.

"Hello." She smiled at Willow Thorne, then turned to Lily Colton and Sean Thorne. "Hello, Uncle, Auntie. I’m Annabelle Leighton."

"Hello, hello! Our Morgan finally has a girlfriend—and such a beautiful one, too! This is wonderful!" Lily Colton was genuinely overjoyed.

Annabelle flushed, a little embarrassed by the praise.

"So Morgan isn’t home today?" Sean Thorne asked.

"He’s working overtime today."

"I see. We won’t stay long, we were just in the area. His aunt made some beef dumplings for him. Would you mind taking them and putting them in the fridge?"

As he spoke, Sean Thorne handed the two bags of dumplings to Annabelle.

Annabelle hurriedly took the dumplings. "Won’t you come in and sit for a bit?"

"No, thank you. We still have some shopping to do, so we won’t bother you today. We’ll all have a meal together some other time, when Morgan’s free," Sean Thorne said.

"Okay."

"We’ll see you again soon, Miss Leighton."

"Okay, goodbye."

Holding the dumplings, Annabelle watched Sean Thorne’s family of three walk away before she retreated back into the apartment and shut the door.

’Thank goodness his family was so considerate and didn’t actually come in. If they had, I would have been so awkward facing them alone I’d have died of embarrassment.’

Annabelle put the dumplings in the fridge and found her phone on the sofa.

Morgan Hayes had sent her a message when he left that morning, telling her he had to work overtime. He’d said breakfast was keeping warm in the pot and that she should wait for him to get home.

Annabelle sent a voice message to Morgan Hayes, telling him what had happened with his aunt and uncle’s surprise visit.

Morgan Hayes replied, "Actually, my uncle lost that spare key I gave him a long time ago."

Annabelle: "..."

’So that means it would have been fine if I hadn’t opened the door today?’

Still, she didn’t regret opening the door one bit. Morgan’s aunt and cousin were both lovely, and she liked them a lot.

"Your uncle said he wants us all to have a meal together when you’re free."

"My aunt and uncle’s twenty-fifth wedding anniversary is at the end of the month. Even if they hadn’t said anything, I was already planning on taking you to meet my family."