“Why would I ask Toby to come over to my place, then?” Sonia swung the feather duster around while she questioned Jean in a calm voice.
Jean stuck her hands on her waist. “Why else? You’re obviously still hung up on Toby.”
Her words thoroughly amused Sonia. “If that’s the case, and he comes over because I want him to, that just shows that he isn’t over me either, right?” Sonia asked.
“What a load of nonsense! Do you think he isn’t over you? Stop dreaming! He never loved you to begin with.” Jean held her head up arrogantly, her nostrils pointing toward Sonia’s face as she spoke.
Sonia shifted her gaze away annoyedly. “If that’s true, then do you think I could have convinced him to come over?”
“Well…” Jean cleared her throat as she fell silent. Soon enough, she stuck her chest out and replied in a firm voice once more. “You used some sneaky tricks to get Toby to come over, didn’t you?”
“Hah. You’re not even making sense.” Sonia narrowed her eyes to form a threatening glare. “Listen up, Jean. If you continue talking nonsense, I’ll actually shove my toilet plunger against your mouth.”
“H-How dare you!” Jean widened her eyes.
“You think I’d be afraid to do it?” Sonia scoffed. She swung her feather duster around, and Jean instinctively took a step backward. However, her movements had been too rushed, and her left heel accidentally stepped on her own right toes, so she lost her balance and fell on her bottom. Her facial features were squeezed together in agony as she let out wails and cries on the ground.
“Mom!” Tyler, who had been silent earlier, rushed over to help his mother up. Jean massaged her own bottom as she got to her feet.
“You deserve it!” Sonia uttered bluntly.
“You—” Jean started.
“What? You came here just to accuse me of causing Toby’s car accident. I’m already being nice to you right now.” Sonia shot the other woman a cold glare. “I want you to leave now, or else I’ll cause even more trouble for you!”
“I’d like to see the sort of troubles you can cause me!” Sonia’s words didn’t threaten Jean at all—Jean even pushed Tyler aside to stand right in the middle of Sonia’s front door. “I won’t leave until you give me an explanation for Toby’s accident!”
“Mom…” Tyler pressed a palm against his forehead in embarrassment. “Stop this.”
“Don’t meddle with my business.” Jean stared at him in a displeased manner.
Sonia was annoyed, but she couldn’t do much except chuckle. “Fine. You don’t want to leave, right? Don’t regret your decision.” She turned around and walked into her house after that.
Tyler had a feeling that something was wrong, so he raised his voice to question the owner of the house. “What are you going to do, Sonia?”
Sonia ignored him and headed straight for the bathroom, where she filled up a bucket of water before bringing it back to the front door and splashing it all over Jean.
Jean hadn’t expected Sonia to do such a thing, and her expression darkened the moment she realized what was going on. She didn’t have the time to dodge the water, and her entire figure was soaking wet within a matter of seconds.
When she rubbed her hand over her face and saw the random color stains mixed with water, she knew that her makeup was totally ruined. “Ahhhh!” She let out a cry as she couldn’t stand it any longer.
Tyler had intended to show her some concern, but he got rid of that idea and held his head low instead. Gosh! How embarrassing. I never want to admit that this crazy-looking woman is actually my mother.
Meanwhile, Sonia tugged her lips into a satisfied smirk when she saw the pathetic-looking Jean before her eyes. “I told you that I’d only cause more trouble if you didn’t leave!”
Jean pulled her hand away from her face to reveal her hideous face covered in dark spots. “Just you wait! This isn’t over yet! I’m not going to let you go so easily!” she hissed as she glared at Sonia. Once she finished her sentence, she turned around and stormed toward the elevators.
Tyler gazed at his mother before looking at Sonia. He parted his lips as if he were about to say something, but Sonia couldn’t be bothered to talk to him anymore. She shut the door in his face. Tyler was disappointed—he had no choice but to swallow his words and chase after Jean. He figured that he could get back to his basketball team once he was done comforting Jean.
Once Sonia returned to her own living room, she placed the bucket of water on her coffee table before picking her phone up and giving Rose a call. Sonia didn’t care about Toby’s condition—Rose was the only person she was worried about. Between Toby and Tyler, Rose was more fond of Toby, so she would certainly be shocked to hear that Toby had an accident.
Soon enough, the call went through, and Rose’s weak voice sounded on the line. “Sonia. Do you miss me already?”
“Yeah. Of course.” Sonia’s facial muscles relaxed as she spoke to the old lady in a gentle tone. “Are you okay, Grandma?”
Rose knew what she meant, and a kind smile spread across her face after she heard Sonia’s question. “I’m fine.”
“But your voice… You sound really weak…” Sonia was still a little concerned.
Rose glanced at her grandson, who hadn’t woken up since the accident. “Don’t worry, Sonia. I just didn’t get enough rest. It’s no big deal.” How could she sleep when Toby got into such a huge accident? Rose had spent the entire night by his side—she didn’t get a wink of sleep.
“I see,” Sonia muttered. She finally began to calm down once she decided that the old lady wasn’t lying to her. “I understand that President Fuller got into an accident and you’re worried about him, but you still need to get some rest. You’re old; you need to take care of your health,” Sonia advised.
Rose chuckled before she replied, “Okay, okay. I got it. I’ll get some rest once Toby wakes up; how does that sound?”
“He hasn’t woken up yet?” Sonia raised an eyebrow. The accident had happened at about 11.00PM the night before, and he hadn’t woken up even after nine hours. It seems like he’s quite badly injured, Sonia thought.
Rose shook her head. “No. The doctor said that he hurt his internal organs and his brain, so he’s not going to wake up so soon. By the way, would you like to pay Toby a visit, Sonia?”
“It’s fine, Grandma.” Sonia lowered her gaze as she rejected Rose’s suggestion with a smile. “We’ve gotten a divorce, so I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to go.”
“Okay, then,” Rose said with a dejected sigh.
After that, they chit-chatted on the phone for a while more before ending the call. By the time she got ready and left the house, it was nearly 9.00AM. As Sonia drove out of the parking lot and passed by the road where the accident occurred, she slowed the car down a little to glance out the window. The spot of the car crash had been cleaned up—it was almost as if nothing had happened there. Now that I think about it, I still don’t know why Toby ended up getting into an accident here. Well, it’s none of my business, is it? Sonia smiled as she put on her shades and continued driving.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Rose was sitting beside Toby’s bed. She used a glass of water and some cotton swabs to dab water onto Toby’s dry lips. All of a sudden, she heard someone knocking on the door. “Come in,” she answered without looking up.
The door opened to reveal Tina with a bouquet of lilies. Tina looked shocked to see Rose in the room, and her tone grew timid as she spoke. “You’re here too, Old Mrs. Fuller.”
Rose knitted her brows in distaste. She couldn’t stand Tina’s weak and obedient demeanor—it made her seem like she was the victim who was bullied all the time. Someone like Tina was nothing in comparison to Sonia.
I don’t even understand what Toby likes about Tina. Rose shot Toby a sideways glare before she replied to Tina, “Where else could I be when my grandson got into such a huge accident?”
“No, no. That’s not what I meant. I’m just surprised that you would come here to care for Toby instead of getting some rest at home. You’re getting old, after all.” Tina suppressed the anger within her as she explained herself. I would’ve come a little later if I knew that she was here. She never treats me with respect at all! Once I become Toby’s wife, I’m going to torture this old lady so much. She’s going to regret treating me this way.
Rose lowered the glass of water onto the table. “Are those flowers for Toby?” she asked.
Tina nodded as she glanced at the flowers in her hand. “Yeah. I didn’t know what flowers Toby likes, so I decided to buy lilies after giving it some thought.”
“Hold on. Did you just say that you don’t know what flowers Toby likes?” Rose narrowed her eyes abruptly.
