Chapter 339 Visiting Old Mrs Fuller
Upon noticing the dazed look on Sonia’s face, Charles leaned forward and asked, “What’s wrong, baby?”
Sonia snapped out of her thoughts and was initially surprised to see how close Charles’ face was to her own. Quickly taking a step back, she averted his gaze and mumbled, “Nothing.”
Charles narrowed his eyes at her demeanor. What’s going on? Is she hiding from me?
“Sonia, can we go and see Grandma now?” To one side, Tyler was annoyed to see Sonia getting too close to any man other than Toby. As far as he was concerned, she belonged to Toby alone, and as Toby’s younger brother, he was obligated to ward off any other man who tried to get chummy with Sonia.
Sonia nodded. “Okay, let’s go.” With that, she turned to address Charles. “So I guess I’ll get going then, Charles.”
“Go on,” he replied with a nod.
Sonia gave Tyler a look, and they sauntered in the opposite direction of the elevator lobby.
This floor was dedicated to VIP wards, so it was no surprise that Rose would be staying here. “Here we are,” Tyler announced half a minute later, coming to a stop in front of one of the doors.
Sonia looked up at the plaque that bore Rose’s full name and gently knocked on the door. It opened within seconds to reveal Mary, whose eyes glimmered in relief as she exclaimed, “Oh, it’s you, Young Mistress!”
Sonia smiled at her. “Hello, Mary.”
“How good of you to drop by, Young Mistress,” Mary said cheerily. “Old Mrs. Fuller was just talking about you. She’s been calling you, but for some reason, she couldn’t get through your phone.”
“My phone ran out of battery,” Sonia explained ruefully. She had forgotten to charge it after her call with Tyler last night, and when she woke up this morning, she saw that her phone had died but chose to do nothing about it.
She had thought that she could charge her phone once she was back home, but little had she known that Rose would bombard her with calls.
“It’s alright. Come on in, Young Mistress.” Mary ushered enthusiastically as she opened the door fully to allow Sonia’s passage.
“Okay.” With a nod, Sonia stepped through the open door with Tyler and Mary in her wake.
At first glance, Rose was lying in the hospital bed, looking like a frail old person who had just drifted off to sleep. Lowering her voice to just barely above a whisper, Sonia called out in greeting, “Grandma.”
She thought the old woman had fallen asleep, but she was caught off guard when Rose’s eyes fluttered open instantly. A wide smile plastered on Rose’s wizened face when she saw her visitor. “Sonia,” she greeted affectionately.
“Hello, Grandma.” Sonia walked up to the bed and sat down next to it.
Rose took her hand in hers affably and asked, “What are you doing here, Sonia?”
“I just got discharged today, and I ran into Tyler while waiting for the elevator. When I found out you were here, I tagged along with him so I could visit you. How are you doing, Grandma?” Sonia’s eyes searched the old woman’s face with concern.
Rose beamed. “I’m perfectly fine. The doctor said that panic got the better of me, and with my old age, my blood pressure spiked without warning and caused me to collapse. I’m all better now, and I’ll be going home this afternoon.”
“That’s good to know.” Sonia nodded, feeling reassured.
However, the lighthearted moment was quickly disrupted by Tyler’s belligerence as he interjected tearfully, “That’s not true! The doctor said that Grandma only got lucky this time, but if the same thing were to happen again—”
“Tyler!” Rose cut him off with a warning look on her face, no longer patient and affable as she signaled him to keep quiet.
Nevertheless, Sonia caught on to the insinuation that Rose’s collapse was a sign of something graver, and she pursed her lips before urging, “Tyler, go on.”
Tyler nodded and picked up where he left off. “If Grandma were to collapse because of her blood pressure once more, then she would be at high risk of getting a stroke, and she’d be paralyzed forever.”
“What?” Sonia’s eyes widened in alarm, and she tightened her grip on Rose’s withered hands. “Grandma…”
Rose heaved a sigh but resumed her gentle facade as she placated, “Don’t you worry about that right now, Sonia. With old age comes sickness; it’s inevitable. Besides, if I’m not too strung up about it, you shouldn’t as well.”
“But—”
Sonia was about to protest, but Rose interrupted. “By the way, Sonia, I’d like you to be honest with me—did Toby ask you to end the pregnancy?” She had only collapsed the night before thinking that her grandson was the reason why Sonia terminated the pregnancy.
“No, he didn’t,” Sonia answered with a firm shake of her head.
“Really?” Rose gazed at her intently.
“Really,” Sonia reassured. “President Fuller didn’t force me to do it; I chose to end the pregnancy.” She lowered her gaze then, looking guilty. “I got into an accident, and I couldn’t keep the baby.”
“An accident?” Rose repeated in astonishment.
Sonia’s eyes shone with tears. “I slipped and fell, and the miscarriage followed.”
“I see,” Rose said mournfully, patting her chest as though to soothe the heartache. A bitter smile tugged on her lips. “I suppose there’s nothing we could do. Maybe it was fate that we never got to meet the baby.”
Sonia could tell the old woman had really hoped to see the baby greet the world, and a twinge of guilt seized her as she whispered, “I’m sorry, Grandma.”
Rose patted her arm. “You don’t have to apologize. You have never once hurt our family in any way, which is more than I can say for the rest of the Fuller Family. Toby put you through so much.”
Initially, Rose had planned on doing everything she could—even if it meant casting her own dignity aside—just to push Sonia and Toby back together, given how Sonia was already pregnant with his child anyway. However, now that Sonia had lost the baby, that plan had as good as gone to the dogs.
This is all Toby’s fault. If only he’d told me sooner about the pregnancy, I’d have done everything in my power to fix his relationship with Sonia! Alas, her goodwill could not beat out the cards dealt by fate; perhaps Toby and Sonia really weren’t meant to be together after all. At the thought of this, Rose shook her head in bitter resignation.
In the following hour, Sonia kept Rose company until she decided to get going, seeing how Charles was still waiting for her out in the gardens. She hated to let him wait for much longer in this cold weather.
“Sonia, are you—are you going to see Toby?” Rose asked in a slightly hesitant tone, regarding the younger woman with an unreadable look in her eyes.
Biting down on her lip, Sonia finally shook her head curtly and said, “I don’t think so. The string that tied me to President Fuller snapped the moment I lost the baby. I’m grateful that you took it upon yourself to punish him for me, Grandma, but as of now, President Fuller and I will no longer have anything to do with each other.”
By the time she paid back all that she owed Toby, she would cut him off entirely.
Seeing the somber gleam in Sonia’s eyes, Rose sighed wistfully and said at last, “Very well, then. Tyler, could you escort Sonia out, please?”
“Okay.” Tyler was sulking as he agreed to see Sonia out. He couldn’t understand how she could be so heartless as to not visit Toby, who was a patient. Surely it wouldn’t be an issue to visit a patient!
Presently, Sonia bade Rose goodbye, then fell in step behind Tyler as they walked out of the room and toward the elevators.
Just as they were drawing close to the elevators, Tyler abruptly stopped in his tracks and turned to give Sonia a wounded look. “Toby’s in the ICU ward up ahead, Sonia. Are you really not going to see him?”
“No,” Sonia replied with an air of finality.
Upon hearing this, Tyler clenched his fists and pleaded, “Sonia, he’s in really bad shape. Can’t you please just go over and visit him for a bit? Please?” Then he bowed deeply before her, with his waist bent at a sharp angle.
Sonia was startled by his desperation. Frowning, she argued, “Don’t you think you’re forcing me more than you’re asking me for a favor?”
“I’m not. I didn’t think much of it, but I know that there’s a higher chance of you caving if I did this,” Tyler admitted gravely as he straightened up and looked her in the eye.
Without waiting for her to respond, he reached out and grabbed her by the wrist, then hauled her along as he ran down the hallway ahead of them.
It wasn’t until after they had stopped in front of Toby’s room at the ICU ward that Sonia realized where she was. The ICU ward was different from the typical hospital ward. The walls were all made of glass, and Sonia didn’t have to go in to see what was happening inside.
She could clearly see Toby, who was deathly pale as he lay on the hospital cot, his bare torso heavily bandaged. More astonishing was his back, which looked as if the doctors and nurses had taken care to drape a fitted white sheet over it.
