Zane couldn’t stop himself. He lifted his hand to his nose and took a sniff to inhale the faint, pleasant scent that lingered on his palm. Immediately, he knew that it was the smell of Sonia’s perfume that had remained after they shook hands. The perfume smelled fresh and elegant, just like the aura that Sonia gave off.
He couldn’t help but want to inhale the scent for a while longer, and that was precisely what he did—he lowered his head a little to smell the perfume on his hand. While doing so, he pictured Sonia in his arms, with his head pressed against the space around her neck. He could imagine the whole scene where he’d be able to smell the perfume on her body.
Zane felt the tips of his ears turning red as his heart rate began to increase. At that very moment, his body jolted in response to the sudden ding of the elevator. Charles walked out from inside with a thermos in his hand. He nearly bumped into the person before him as he hadn’t expected anyone to be standing outside the elevator. Fortunately, Charles managed to stop just in time to avoid knocking into Zane.
“Why are you here?” Charles asked puzzledly when he saw that the person in front of him was Zane. “What are you doing here?”
Zane’s expression darkened as the mesmerizing scene in his head had been disrupted. He looked even grimmer when he recalled Charles and Sonia’s relationship. Therefore, Zane only scoffed before he strode into the elevator without replying to Charles’s question. Charles cocked his head sideways as a series of question marks popped up in his head. “What’s going on?” I didn’t insult Zane in any way, did I? Why would that brat, Zane, stare at me like I was his enemy? “Is he crazy?!” Charles rolled his eyes as he couldn’t comprehend the situation. After a little more grumbling, he headed directly toward Sonia’s office.
“Hey, baby.” Charles pushed the door to enter the room. Sonia had been going through some documents, but she raised her head when she heard his voice. “What are you doing here? Are you done with your work at the office?” she asked. It was rare for Charles to visit the office ever since Paradigm Co. was able to manage on its own. He had his own company to handle, after all. “There’s nothing much going on today. I’m here to send you food. My mom made some braised ribs, and she got me to send some over as she knows that you like it a lot.” Charles held up the thermos in his hands.
Sonia’s eyes lit up immediately. “Braised ribs! I haven’t had that in a long while. Do help me thank your mom!”
“Hurry up and try it. It’s going to turn cold soon.” Charles placed the thermos on her table before twisting the top open. The strong scent of meat lingered in the air the moment he opened the top. Just moments after that, the smile on Sonia’s face stiffened as her face turned visibly pale after inhaling the smell. Then, she hastily clamped a hand over her mouth before she pushed her chair back and ran off to the toilet.
“What’s going on?” Charles was utterly stunned by her sudden actions, and he only came to his senses when he heard the sound of her vomiting in the toilet. He immediately lowered the bowl and cutleries in his hand to help her out in the toilet.
By the time he got there, Sonia had her hands pressed against the sink for support. She lowered her body to puke, and she looked weak and frail after throwing all of her food up. “What’s the matter, darling?” Charles frowned as he stared at her worriedly.
Sonia caught her breath and shut her eyes for a while before she leaned her body against the wall beside the sink. “I’m fine,” she replied weakly.
“How could you say that you’re fine? You’ve puked so much that you look like you’re about to faint. Look at how pale you are! No, I have to call for the doctor to come.” Charles took his phone out to make a call as he spoke. She immediately opened her eyes and reached forward to push his arm down. “There’s no need for that, Charles. I’m not sick.”
“You’re not?” He gazed at her confusedly. “Then…”
She let out a sigh. “I guess I shouldn’t hide this from you any longer. You’ll find out about it sooner or later anyway. I’m pregnant.”
“Ah, you’re pregnant. I thought…” Charles’s voice faded off as he realized what was wrong with his sentence. “Wait, you’re pregnant?!” The pitch of his voice increased as he widened his eyes to stare at her.
“Mm hmm.” She nodded.
He was completely dumbfounded. After a long while, he finally managed a croak. “How long?”
“Nearly two months,” she replied with her gaze fixed on the ground.
Two months… Isn’t that about the time when she had a divorce with Toby? Charles swallowed a mouthful of saliva before he spoke in a rather bitter tone. “It’s Toby’s, isn’t it?”
“Let’s talk outside.” Sonia didn’t answer his question.
After that, he nodded and helped her out to the couch for her to rest. He poured her a glass of water after helping her to get comfortable on the couch. “Have some water. You just puked earlier, so your stomach must be feeling really terrible. You’ll feel better after drinking some water.”
“Thank you.” Sonia smiled and took the glass over. She only answered his question after taking a sip of water. “The baby isn’t Toby’s.” Now that she thought of it, she found it hilarious how Toby hadn’t laid hands on her once in the six years that they were married. He didn’t love her, and he even held himself back to maintain chastity for Tina. How can I possibly be pregnant with Toby’s child?
“What?” The look of confusion returned to Charles’s face. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before he finally got his question out. “If it isn’t Toby’s, then… whose child is it?” He would’ve felt hurt if the baby was Toby’s, but at least he would have been able to accept it. Sonia and Toby had been married in the past, so it was no surprise if she was pregnant with his child. However, she was now claiming that the child wasn’t Toby’s. That made him uneasy; he was furious at the man who had made her pregnant.
“I don’t know who the father is; I don’t even know his name or how he looks.” Sonia pressed her hand against her stomach as she gave Charles a bitter smile. “I was completely dazed after the incident, and I was so terrified. All I could do was glance at the person once before I left. I didn’t even think of asking for his name.” She had attempted to ask for the man’s name when she got his contact details, but the man hadn’t shown any intention of complying with her requests. That explained why she had no clue about the person’s real identity.
Charles clutched onto her hand as he questioned her anxiously, “Did you get assaulted by someone else, baby?” He couldn’t think of any other probable explanation since she didn’t even know the child’s father.
However, Sonia simply shook her head in denial. “I wasn’t assaulted. I was drunk, and I did it with some guy while I was out of it. This happened on the night of your birthday.”
Charles recalled what had happened back then. “So, the marks that I saw on your neck the next day… Those weren’t what you claimed them to be…”
“I’m sorry that I lied to you, Charles,” she uttered apologetically. She thought that whatever happened that night would remain hidden from everyone else as long as she never spoke about it, but she hadn’t expected herself to get pregnant. Naturally, she would no longer be able to keep the incident a secret.
Charles clenched his fists before he slammed his hand against the coffee table, and that made Sonia jump in surprise. “What is it, Charles?”
“I’m mad. I’m mad at myself for not being there with you when it happened. If I were there, you wouldn’t have…” Charles lowered his head as he blamed himself. His voice broke as tears welled up in his eyes. Sonia quickly took his hand into hers to check if he had injured anything. Once she was sure that he wasn’t hurt, she let out a sigh of relief. “Alright. It’s not your fault. I simply drank too much that night. That was why this incident occurred.”
“Did you try to look for that man after that night, darling? What if that guy’s presence wasn’t just an accident?” Charles asked. Tina and the rest of them were also in the club during the night of his birthday party, so Charles was worried that Tina might have been the one who arranged for the man to show up that night.
Sonia felt a shudder running down her spine before she shook her head. “I got Zane to look it up. There doesn’t seem to be any issues with the guy. In fact, the guy is Zane’s friend. I have his contact. Purchasing Mr. Williams’s Rentoor Inc. and putting Toby’s land to use—all of that was this guy’s idea.”
“Oh?” Charles raised an eyebrow in surprise. “So, that’s the guy who did this.”
“Mm hmm. Everything that happened that night was really just an accident,” Sonia said.
“Hmph. Even though it was an accident, it’s still a fact that he had assaulted you. I need to have a talk with Zane to ask him who this man is. I need to hunt this man down and teach him a lesson.” Charles stormed out of the door before Sonia could stop him from leaving.
