A faint sobbing sound was suddenly heard from the room.
Without much thought, Toby immediately opened the door and found a frightened Tina. It was after a short pause that she turned to walk further into the room.
“Tina,” he called out to her.
She paused and wiped away her tears before turning to face him with a forced smile. “Toby, are you done talking to Tim?”
“Yeah.” Toby stared at her for a couple of seconds before he asked, “Did you overhear us?”
Tina nodded as her eyes turned misty again. “Toby, d-do I really have dissociative personality disorder?”
He opened his mouth to say anything, but he couldn’t form his words and merely ended up grunting.
She covered her face with her hands and cried her heart out. “I’m sorry, Toby. I didn’t know about it. I really didn’t know. Sobs…”
“That’s fine.” As Toby felt sorry for her, he yanked her into a tender hug. “It’s not your fault. There’s no need to apologize.”
“I heard Tim saying that the new identity is evil, though. It is also being hostile toward Miss Reed. Did I do something horrible to her before I lost my memory?” She held his collar and asked with reddened eyes.
Toby looked at his feet and answered somberly, “That identity of yours… She pushed Sonia off the stairs.”
Upon hearing that, Tina inhaled sharply and exclaimed, “How could that be? D-Did I plan to kill Miss Reed?”
“That wasn’t you. Remember, it was your secondary identity.” He touched her hair and corrected her.
She bit her lip and croaked, “Even so, that identity is still part of me. Now I understand why I have been mean toward her in the past few times. I knew I shouldn’t have done that, but I couldn’t control myself. It’s all because I have a mental illness!”
Tina started hitting herself on the head with a dejected and disgusted expression.
“Tina, stop it!” Toby hurriedly pulled her hands away. “I told you that it was not your fault.”
“It’s my fault! Not only did I frame her for running over me, I even caused her to trip. After that, I even pushed her off the stairs. I-I…” Tina was a crying mess by now.
He kissed her on the forehead. “You were under the influence of your nascent alternative identity when you hurt Sonia twice. That’s the reason why you shoved her off the stairs, but it was the doing of your identity. It had nothing to do with you as a person, which is why you have no memory of it. You shouldn’t blame yourself.”
“Miss Reed doesn’t know about my condition, though.” Tina sniffled and thought of something as she pushed him away. “By the way, Toby, is Miss Reed okay? She’s fine, right?”
“She’s fine,” Toby answered.
Tina patted her chest and sighed in relief. “That’s great. Good to hear that she’s okay, but I think she won’t let this slide.”
He pursed his lips. “She will file a police report.”
“A police report?” Tina exclaimed before she gave a bitter smile. “That makes sense. After I pushed her off the stairs, it’s only fair that she reported me. I should serve prison time for my behavior. The only thing is that I heard the female wardens are scary and excellent at torturing the inmates. I wonder if that’s true.”
After that, she stole a glance at him, but he did not notice it because he was busy thinking about Tim’s suggestion.
To help Tina’s new identity merge with her main one, Toby couldn’t send her to prison.
If she went to jail, she would definitely be traumatized again, given how vulnerable her personality was. By then, not only would they be unable to treat her, they might even witness more subsequent identities forming.
At the thought of that, Toby narrowed his eyes and answered, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you head to prison.”
“Is that true?” Tina looked at him with her bright eyes, but the light in them had almost immediately dimmed. “Miss Reed won’t agree with your decision, though.”
“I will talk to her,” he muttered as he stared at the floor.
At this time, his phone buzzed from a call—it was from Tom.
“What’s the matter?” Toby answered and asked with a serious tone.
Tom replied respectfully, “President Fuller, two research teams have arrived from abroad to authorize our alternative energy technology.”
“Okay, serve them for the time being. I will be back soon,” Toby ordered.
After the call, he kept his phone aside in his pocket. “Tina, I need to head back to the office. Get some rest for now and don’t overthink it. I will take care of everything that happens after this.”
Tina nodded obediently. “Okay.”
Toby pocketed his phone and turned around to leave.
Not long after that, Tim returned to the room. “Are you sure this is the best solution? If you fake a mental illness and your lies are exposed, I’m afraid that your reputation will be in tatters.”
“So what?” She shrugged without a care. “My reputation was already damaged at the banquet when I accused Sonia of running over me. I don’t care if my reputation is worsened. Plus, why are you so sure that I’d be exposed?”
He pushed the bridge of his glasses. “Nothing is without risk. I just want you to be careful.”
“Don’t worry, I know my limits. After all, I don’t have other options apart from lying; or else, Toby won’t offer to help me. At that time, I’d really be imprisoned. Most importantly, I have targeted Sonia a couple of times. Even if he doesn’t say anything about it, he must have felt upset at me.”
Tina lifted the glass of water and elegantly took a sip. “I can tell from how he refused to help me before this. If I pretend to suffer from dissociative personality disorder, I can direct all the blame to my non-existent identity and he will not resent my main personality anymore. Instead, he’d feel sorry for me.”
On top of that, even if she wanted to hurt Sonia in the future, Toby would not think of her as evil. He’d only believe that her actions were due to her worsening mental condition.
While staring at the cocky and confident Tina, Tim shrugged helplessly. “Alright. Since this is your decision, I will respect it.”
“You’re the best!” She flashed a sweet smile at him, which caused him to be in a daze.
A moment later, he softened his voice. “You’re my savior and my angel. It’s only fair that I treat you well!”
Her smile froze for a while and she looked to the floor to hide the guilt in her eyes. After that, she seamlessly changed the conversation topic. “By the way, I need you to do me another favor.”
“What is it?” He was oblivious to her change in expression and asked blankly.
Tina pursed her lips solemnly. “She has the voice recording of me pushing her off the stairs. I know that Toby has promised to protect me from being imprisoned, but that recording is a ticking time-bomb that I want you to take care of immediately.”
“That’s easy.” Tim inserted his hands into the coat pockets and assured her with a relaxed look.
She added, “Another thing… She’s pregnant.”
“Whose child is she carrying?” He lifted a brow in amusement.
Her face contorted as she forced the answer through gritted teeth, “It’s Toby’s child, but she doesn’t know. If he knows that she’s pregnant, he will immediately know that it’s his child.”
On that fateful night, Tina had drugged Sonia with the plan of having Sonia sleep with other men. She would then take photos and videos of Sonia to ruin her reputation. Much to her dismay, not only did Sonia not return to her room, she even spent the night with Toby in another room. It was safe to say that Tina’s plan was a colossal failure.
As she was at the end of her wits, she could only launch her plan B after Toby left. She ordered the man whom she hired to pretend to sleep beside Sonia and suppress the truth that Sonia had spent a night with Toby.
It was just that Tina never expected that their one night stand would lead to Sonia’s pregnancy!
