Chapter 1012 Sudden Change
Besides, he wanted the person he liked to be happy rather than expecting them to break up, and that the person who could make her happy would be another man instead of him. Even if he despised that man, he was willing to put in a good word for him.
After all, he was just a great and selfless man. Charles’ thoughts were bitter, but he still had to be strong and deliberately praise himself inwardly. Only by doing this could he somewhat alleviate the bitterness and helplessness in his heart.
Sonia didn’t know what Charles was thinking, but as she listened to his analysis of Toby, she felt that it was not impossible either. Toby’s emotional intelligence had never been stable. Sometimes he was extremely perceptive, but other times he would be so dense that it was appalling. Perhaps she really had been thinking too much into it.
At that thought, she temporarily let go of her worries and smiled at Charles. “Thank you for comforting me. I feel so much better now.”
“That’s good.” Charles nodded before reminding her anxiously, “Of course, it’s best if there is nothing between you and Toby. If something happens, don’t hide it and give yourself a hard time. If he ever bullies you or treats you badly, you must tell me, and I’ll avenge you even if it costs me my life.”
As he said this, his expression was extremely firm and serious.
Sonia felt her eyes sting with tears as his words moved her. “All right. Thank you, Charles.”
“You don’t have to thank me.” After the lights turned green, Charles retracted his gaze and started driving again. As he looked at the road ahead, he said, “You treat my parents as your second parents. In that case, I’m your brother as well. As your brother, it’s natural that I have to protect you all the time. Caring for you is also my responsibility, so you don’t have to thank me. This is what I should do for you.”
No one knew how painful he felt when he admitted that he was her brother. If they could help it, nobody would want to be the brother of the person they liked either. However, he could only be her brother, and only the identity of being her brother could bring him closer to her without being pushed away.
Sonia didn’t notice the loneliness and rue in Charles’ eyes as he stared at the road ahead, and she was only moved by his words. With slightly red eyes, she replied, “I’m really glad to have a brother like you.”
“Really? I’m glad. All’s good as long as you’re happy.” Charles nodded.
That was right. Didn’t he wish for her to be happy when he let her go? As long as she was happy, what was wrong with him being her brother? He could still achieve his original intention. He should be content just by protecting her as a brother.
While talking, they arrived at the place where they had an appointment with the bank manager, which was a private room in a hotel. When Sonia and Charles followed the waiter to the room, the manager was already sitting and waiting inside with a drink.
Upon seeing the manager, Sonia and Charles were both taken aback as neither of them expected the manager to arrive before them. They had even thought they were the first to arrive, but unexpectedly, the manager had arrived earlier, which made Sonia feel a little embarrassed.
After all, she was the one who had something to ask of him, and yet he had arrived earlier. What would he think of this? Would he think that she thought little of him despite having a favor to ask of him?
Sonia had a headache just from thinking about it. After rubbing her temples, she quickly stepped forward and walked to the manager before bowing. “Sorry for being late, Mr. Smith. The road was a little congested. I apologize for making you wait. I didn’t expect you to arrive so soon.”
Charles joined her by her side and apologized as well. “Mr. Smith, we’re really sorry. Please forgive us.”
If he refused to give them a loan because they were late, they would be doomed.
Brian Smith looked at the two uneasy people and put down the red wine in his hand, smiling happily as he said, “You don’t have to worry. I just arrived not long ago as well, mainly because this place is close to my office.
I happened to finish my work and had nothing to do, so I just came here to have something to drink and take a break while waiting for you to arrive. Besides, you aren’t late. There’s still more than ten minutes before our scheduled time, so there’s no need for the two of you to apologize to me.”
Hearing Brian’s words, Sonia and Charles looked at each other before breathing a sigh of relief. Although they knew that they weren’t late, Brian had still arrived earlier than them, and they were the ones who had a favor to ask.
If he hadn’t cared about the time and only thought that they were late as long as he arrived before them, they couldn’t even refute it. After all, they had a request for him. Fortunately, Brian wasn’t as unreasonable as they expected, and he seemed cheerful and relatively easy to talk to, so they would most probably get along with him easily.
Sonia let out a small sigh and straightened her posture before pulling the chair opposite Brian out and sitting down. Charles stood next to her and poured wine for the three of them, playing the part of her assistant. After all, he had tagged along this time to be Sonia’s temporary assistant.
“Mr. Smith, I’ve already told you why I invited you out on the phone. This is the building plan of the Reed Residence and the property rights. Please take a look,” Sonia said with a smile before opening the briefcase she had brought and taking out a stack of documents from it, which she handed to the man opposite her with both hands.
Brian took the documents from her and began flipping through them. Seeing that he was focusing, Sonia and Charles fell silent in order not to disturb him. For a while, in the huge room, there was only the sound of the paper flipping while Brian read the documents, and there was no other noise besides that. As there were many documents, he naturally took a long time to read through them.
After half an hour passed, Brian closed the folder in his hand and placed his hand on top of it as he raised his head to look at Sonia with a smile. “Miss Reed, I’ve mostly read through the documents. There aren’t any problems.”
Sonia clasped her hands together and smiled along with him. “Since that’s the case, then my mortgage should be fine, right? As for the mortgage funds I mentioned on the phone before, is that—”
Brian suddenly raised his hand and interrupted, “Let’s not talk about the funds for the time being. Before that, I want to confirm something with you, Miss Reed.”
“Confirm something with me?” The smile on Sonia’s face froze as she suddenly felt uneasy.
How could she not be uneasy? She thought that since he had said that the documents were fine, then she would naturally get the mortgage she wanted as well.
However, just as she was about to succeed, he suddenly suppressed the topic for the time being to ask her something else instead. How could this situation not make her nervous? In fact, she even began to worry if her mortgage would be rejected this time.
Next to her, Charles had not expected that what was about to be a smooth and successful event would have such a change. He couldn’t help but frown, wanting to ask Brian what he meant by this. Was he making a fool of them?
Seeing that Charles was about to stand up unhappily, Sonia panicked, her expression faltering, and she hurriedly tugged on his sleeve under the table, causing him to turn his head and look at her. Sonia shook her head at him, indicating that he should not act impulsively in case they made things worse.
