“Are you sure?” Rose asked with a faint smile. Toby hardened his tone as he responded for a second time. “Of course! I’ve already said that I had no regrets in the past. I didn’t have any regrets back then, and I won’t have any regrets in the future.”
“Oh, is that so? I see.” The old woman nodded without commenting any further. He said that he has no regrets and will not have any regrets in the future. Is he sure about that? The old lady chuckled. I sure hope he doesn’t feel embarrassed when he looks back at his own words.
“By the way, I hope you can keep our conversation with Sonia today a secret. You should keep your mouth sealed, especially with Tina and the Gray Family, do you hear me?” Rose warned Toby with a stern look in her eyes. He could tell that he would be in trouble if he ever went against her words.
“I got it. I’m not going to tell anyone about it. I’ve already promised Sonia that I won’t help the Grays, so I won’t mention anything to them,” Toby replied as he lifted his chin.
“Alright. Then, you should…” Before Rose finished her sentence, she caught sight of the pineapples lying by the front of the bed. The old woman smacked a hand against her bed. “Sonia forgot about her pineapples!” Rose exclaimed.
Toby’s eyes glinted; he had been aware of the fact that Sonia had forgotten about her pineapples from the very start. Yet, he didn’t remind her about it. Consuming pineapples could potentially lead to uterine contractions, so Sonia wasn’t supposed to have any of it.
“Hurry up and bring some over to Sonia. She’s probably still on hospital grounds now.” Rose shoved a basketful of pineapples into Toby’s arms before she urged him to go after Sonia. Toby agreed to hand it to Sonia, but he simply passed the pineapples to one of the hospital staff members once he walked out of the ward.
Meanwhile, Sonia was still waiting for a cab outside the hospital. All of a sudden, she caught the strong smell of meat that came from a barbeque restaurant opposite the hospital. Everyone else had their mouths watering when they smelled the scrumptious scent of meat, but Sonia’s expression changed as she felt nausea building up within her. She immediately covered her mouth before she rushed over to the bushes by the side. Then, she lowered her body to vomit, but nothing much came out apart from mouthfuls of stomach acid.
Sonia knew that it was her body’s natural response to her pregnancy; she would feel a strong urge to puke whenever she inhaled any strong or oily scents. “Blergh!” She had only felt better for a short while before she felt nausea assailing her again. That made her lower herself to vomit once more. Her entire face was pale, and cold sweat trickled down her forehead; she was clearly suffering.
Toby found her in such a state the moment he walked out of the hospital. With a grim expression on his face, he headed over to the nearest store to buy her a bottle of warm water. “Are you okay?” he said as he edged closer to her. He opened the bottle cap and handed the water to her.
Sonia didn’t want to accept his kindness at first, but she gave in as she couldn’t tolerate the sour taste in her mouth. With the water he gave, she gargled her mouth twice and waited for the sour taste to wear off before she began to drink some of the water. She felt much better after a few gulps of water, and the uneasy feeling in her stomach seemed to have disappeared. Thus, she could finally let out a sigh of relief. “I’m fine. Thank you for the water, President Fuller. How much is it? I’ll bank transfer the amount to you.” She pulled her phone out as she spoke.
His expression darkened immediately. “There’s no need for that. It’s just a bottle of water.”
“Of course there’s a need for me to pay you the money. I can’t just accept your kindness without any reason.” Sonia opened her purse to pull out some cash when she saw that he refused to receive her bank transfer. “This money is for the water and the car ride over to the hospital.” She pushed one of the largest bills she had into his palm.
The air around Toby seemed to freeze when he spoke. “Are you really that desperate to cut all ties with me, Sonia?”
She eyed him puzzledly. “Isn’t that a good thing? We can call ourselves a divorced couple, but in other words, that just means that we’re two people who have nothing to do with each other. Since that’s the case, I believe we should cut all ties so that neither one of us owes the other person anything. Wouldn’t that be ideal for both of us?”
Toby clenched his fist as he found himself at a loss for words. She’s right. We’re practically strangers who aren’t related to each other in any way. What she’s doing isn’t wrong, but I just feel really displeased for some reason.
“Alright, President Fuller. I’ll make a move now.” Sonia wasn’t interested in his thoughts, so she simply tightened the bottle cap before she walked past him. Then, she headed back to the spot where she had been trying to hail a cab earlier. However, she only took two steps before she was struck by a sudden wave of dizziness. Toby rushed forward and held her up the moment he saw her staggering. “Are you okay?” He managed to stop her from collapsing onto the ground.
His brows were tightly knit, and his eyes were filled with concern for her. Sonia was shocked when she first realized it, and she even wondered if she was hallucinating for a moment. After blinking her eyes twice, she saw that he was still looking at her with the same, concerned expression in his eyes. That’s weird, she thought. Does he actually care about me? Is he losing his mind, or is there something wrong with this world?
“I’m fine.” Sonia shook her head as she pulled her arm away from him.
“You nearly fainted moments ago. How could you say you’re fine?” Toby asked as he stared at her ghastly pale face.
“It’s really nothing. My blood sugar’s low, that’s all,” Sonia replied flatly. That was what the doctor told her when she last went for a check-up—she knew she would experience bouts of dizziness whenever her blood sugar was low. It was a pretty common side effect of pregnancy, so Sonia didn’t feel too bothered by it.
“Are you sure?” Toby still looked rather worried.
“Yeah,” she mumbled with a nod.
“What should you do to make sure that your blood sugar levels don’t fall too much?” he continued asking.
Sonia sneered in response. “I’m not Miss Gray, President Fuller. I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to be so concerned about me, right?”
He sucked his lips inward. “I just don’t want my grandmother to get upset. She’d be worried if anything happened to you,” he muttered.
Sonia stopped smirking when she heard what he said. “Alright. There isn’t much to be done. I just have to eat to make sure my blood sugar stays at a normal level, that’s all,” she said with a sigh.
“What type of foods do you need to eat to do that?” Toby looked at her.
When she heard that, she tilted her head sideways. There was a look of slight uncertainty on her petite face. “Um, candy, I guess?”
Toby tugged his lips into a smile. “I thought you’d know the answer to that question.”
“I’m not a doctor. Why should I know the answer? Forget it. Why are we even having this conversation? I’m leaving now. Goodbye.” Sonia waved at him before she turned to leave. Before she could take her first step, Toby reached his arms forward and lifted her into a bridal-style carry.
After freezing for a moment, Sonia felt her entire face turning beet red as she tried to wrestle her way out of his arms. “What are you doing, Toby? Put me down!”
Toby tightened his grip around her as he strode directly toward his car. “I’m sending you home.”
“I don’t need you to send me home. I’ll get my own cab. Let go of me.” Sonia kicked her legs up in the air while she pounded against the man’s chest with both her arms. Toby frowned when he felt himself losing grip of her. “I’m going to drop you if you keep moving around. You wouldn’t want that to happen, would you? Do you know what will happen if you fall now?” He lowered his gaze to stare at her.
Sonia subconsciously fell silent when she looked deep into Toby’s dark pupils. “W-What do you mean? Do you know about—” she mumbled with a look of surprise on her face.
“You might hit and injure your head. Tomorrow’s the day of the final decision for partnership. Would you want to miss out on that because of an injury?” Toby interrupted her words.
Sonia stuck her lower lip into a pout. What? So, all he meant was that I might get injured? I was surprised because I thought he knew about my pregnancy. It’d be suspicious if he actually knew about it; even Charles doesn’t know about it yet.
“Well, I wouldn’t fall if you just let me down, right?” she grumbled with a hostile expression.
Even though he heard that, he didn’t respond to her. He opted for such a gesture because he knew that she’d never agree to get into his car otherwise. Still, he couldn’t let go of her, for he knew she’d leave the moment he placed her down.
Soon enough, Toby brought Sonia to his car. He had to lower her down as he needed to get his car keys out to unlock the car. Sonia seized this opportunity to turn around and leave. However, Toby immediately knitted his brows before grabbing onto her arm and tugging her backward.
“Ah!” Sonia let out a shriek as she felt her back pressing against the car door. Toby pressed both his palms to frame her head as he glared at her with a serious look in his eyes. “Are you going to do that again?”
Sonia was so annoyed that she couldn’t do much but sneer at him. “What exactly are you trying to do, Toby?” She glared at him with her large eyes.
“I’m trying to send you home!” he uttered in a slow and clear voice.
Sonia felt anger boiling within her. “I just said that I’ll get my own cab. I don’t need you to send me home. Don’t you understand what I’m saying?”
Toby shifted his gaze away. “I’m just following my grandmother’s orders to send you home. Get in the car.” He then lowered his hands and pressed a button on the car keys to unlock the door.
