Sonia was surprised to see Tom, but she was even more surprised when he told her to get into the car. She glanced toward the back seat window. It was tinted, so she couldn’t tell if there was anyone sitting in the back. “Do I have to do what you say?” She was reluctant to go along with Tom’s words.
“President Fuller is the one who told you to get in,” Tom replied.
“No thanks.” Sonia’s gaze darkened when she heard Toby’s name. Similarly, Toby’s expression dimmed when he heard her rejection from his seat in the back of the Maybach. He immediately lowered his window to stick his stern, cold face out in the cold air. “Get in!” His voice made it clear that there was no room for negotiation.
Sonia shifted her calm gaze toward him. “I just said that there’s no need for that, President Fuller. Don’t you understand my words?” What’s up with this guy? Isn’t it normal for me to decline his offer? I’m not related to him, anyway. Who is he to get mad at me? What an odd guy.
He frowned when he heard the impatience in her voice. He was tempted to get Tom to drive off since she refused to get in. But he held his temper back when he saw her rosy cheeks that were flushed from the piercing cold. “What are you doing here?” he asked in a deep voice.
She could tell that he was tempted to leave, yet she didn’t know what made him stay. She couldn’t be bothered to guess what was going on in his mind. “I’m waiting for the tow truck,” she uttered flatly.
“It looks like Miss Reed’s car broke down, President Fuller,” Tom added after he took a glance at Sonia’s car.
Toby raised an eyebrow. I see. That explains why she’s squatting by the side of the road. “A major accident occurred on the highway just miles away from here, and the roads haven’t been cleared. I don’t think the tow truck will reach you anytime soon. You can get into the car now, or you can continue to wait here until the skies turn dark,” Toby uttered.
There was an accident. That’s why the tow truck is taking so long, Sonia thought as she squeezed her brows together. “I’m sorry, President Fuller. I can’t leave my car here; things would get more troublesome for me if I do that.” Sonia pressed her lips together after she finished her sentence. She knew that her license might be revoked if she was caught leaving her car on the road.
Toby shot his assistant a glare after he heard what Sonia said. Tom tugged his lips into a bitter smile when he understood what Toby meant. “Hop on, Miss Reed. I’ll deal with your car.”
“You?” Sonia shot Tom a side-eye.
He nodded. “Yeah. I noticed that you checked your watch a couple of times in the past few minutes, Miss Reed. You must have urgent matters to handle.”
Sonia parted her lips to speak, but no words came out of her mouth. She had already phoned Rose to tell her that she would drop by for a visit before her car broke down, and Rose had been happy about it. She knew that Rose would be disappointed if she didn’t show up in the end. Tom continued to convince Sonia when he saw her contemplating their offer. “That’s why I think you should get in the car, Miss Reed. You don’t want to be late for your appointment.”
Finally, Sonia took a deep breath before she looked into Toby’s dark, bottomless pupils. “Well… Thank you, President Fuller.” Her red lips moved as she muttered her words of gratitude. Toby let out a grunt before he rolled the window up.
Sonia watched as Tom got out of the car. “Hold on. I left some things in my car,” she uttered.
“Sure.” Tom nodded with a smile.
Sonia headed over to her car and retrieved the gifts she had bought for Rose before handing her car keys over to Tom.
After Tom took her keys, Sonia walked back to Toby’s Maybach. She went around the front of the car and opened the door to the front passenger’s seat. However, she realized that Toby had already shifted to the driver’s seat. She immediately changed her mind and shut the passenger’s door with a blank expression on her face.
Toby frowned as he watched her slamming the passenger’s door and opening the back seat door instead. Was that a look of disdain I saw on her face? Did she just refuse to sit in the passenger’s seat beside me?
“Alright, President Fuller. You can start driving,” Sonia said bluntly once she placed the gift down beside her.
Toby felt the urge to laugh amidst his anger. Does this woman think I’m her driver? He looked at the woman through his rear mirror. She had turned her head sideways to look out the window. “Where are you headed?” His thin lips parted as he spoke.
“The train station further down the road,” she uttered without looking at him. His expression faltered as he realized that she would rather get her own transport than let him send her to her destination. In the end, he lowered his gaze to conceal the frustration in his eyes before he started driving.
Sonia seemed caught up in her thoughts as she glanced at the view outside the window. She only turned back and grabbed onto the driver’s seat when she realized that the car had gone past the train station. “You’ve passed the station, President Fuller!” she cried in a furious voice.
“I know.” Toby’s gaze was fixed on the road as he responded in a cold tone.
“Did you do that on purpose?” She bit on her lip.
A smug look unconsciously flashed across his gaze as he nodded. “Where are you headed? You can tell me your new destination now.”
“You…” Sonia smacked the backrest of the driver’s seat in anger.
He smirked when he saw her doing so. “I’m going to continue going straight if you won’t tell me where to go.”
“I’m headed to the hospital to visit Grandma.” Sonia shot him a glare before she gave him the answer he wanted. Since when did this guy ever enjoy driving others to their destination? I’m speechless—how could he play such games just because I didn’t want him to send me directly to the hospital?
Toby seemed somewhat surprised when he heard that Sonia was headed to visit Rose. He had assumed that she was on the way to visit Charles’s parents when he first saw all the health supplements that Sonia had prepared as a gift. For some reason, Toby felt his mood lifting after he heard Sonia’s plans.
Sonia, on the other hand, wasn’t in a good mood at all. Her expression was dark and grim on their way to the hospital. When they finally arrived, Sonia got out of the car and thanked Toby before she strode directly into the hospital’s main entrance. Toby followed behind her, and he chuckled when he saw the way she stormed off into the building. Is she still mad? He had never seen her angry when she was with the Fullers—she always had the same, stoic expression on her face. Even her smiles looked forced back then. Her every action used to be filled with despair—just the sight of it used to annoy him. He had never seen this amount of energy in her.
It was clear that she had never been happy while she was living with the Fullers. Toby decided that the divorce was the right decision after all. Although he knew that the divorce felt like a relief to Sonia, he couldn’t explain why he didn’t experience the same sense of freedom after that. If anything, he felt heavier after their divorce. Furthermore, the sense of heaviness seemed to become more evident as time went on. He was afraid to even consider the reason he felt so heavy—his gut feeling told him that it was something he didn’t want to know. He knew that his life would fall apart once he truly understood his feelings.
At that thought, Toby wiped off the smile on his face and returned to his usual cold demeanor. Soon enough, they arrived at Rose’s ward. The door was open, and Mary was nowhere to be seen, so Sonia knocked on the door before she stepped in.
Rose was reading a book on the bed, and she lifted her head up when she heard someone knocking. A loving grin spread across Rose’s face once she saw who her visitor was. “Sonia! Come in!” Rose gestured for her guest to enter.
“I’m here to visit you, Grandma.” Sonia walked in with her gifts. Rose was about to nag at Sonia for buying her so many gifts when she noticed another figure that was entering the room. “Toby?” Rose shot Sonia a look of utter surprise before she turned back to Toby. “Did you guys come over together?”
“No. I just bumped into President Fuller at the elevator. That’s why we came up together,” Sonia explained with a smile. Toby understood why Sonia told such a lie—he knew that she didn’t want Rose to overthink their relationship. Rose would have gotten her hopes up, and she would have expected them to get married again otherwise.
Although Toby knew that Sonia had made the right move, he still felt uneasy after hearing what she said. Am I some sort of disease? Why does she have to try so hard to avoid me? “That’s right, Grandma.” Toby’s expression was glum as he agreed to Sonia’s story.
Rose let out a rather disappointed sigh. “I see. I thought you guys came over together.”
One look at Rose’s face was all it took for Sonia to understand the situation. Rose has never given up on hoping for Toby and me to remarry to each other, huh? Sonia beamed and changed the topic immediately. “How have you been feeling, Grandma?”
