Chapter 444 Full of Scars
Subsequently, Toby looked around and noticed the cave and the supplies in it. What is going on?
“Where did these come from?” Toby asked as he lifted the quilt from his body.
Sonia sat down and explained, “From the cave itself.”
“From the cave?” Toby raised his eyebrows, obviously surprised by this answer.
Sonia nodded. “Yes, I carried you out of the forest to see if there’s anyone living outside. As long as there is someone living around here, we would be saved, but before we could leave, it began to rain. Then I found this cave and brought you in to take shelter from the rain. After I came in, I found these things.”
“I see.” Toby nodded, then frowned and said, “Could this cave be where wanted fugitives live?”
Some prisoners who were wanted for being on the run liked to hide in the deep mountains and forests. Thus, with the presence of daily necessities in a cave, it was hard not to see it in a negative light.
“No.” Sonia shook her head. “At first, I also doubted if it was a fugitive living here, but later I found this.”
She pointed to the left breast pocket of the camouflage uniform she was wearing. Toby lowered his eyes to look, and when he saw the label, he immediately felt relieved. “It’s good that it was a ranger.”
He did hear that some rangers would build some grass huts or wooden huts on the mountains so that when the patrol was late, there was a place for them to stay in the mountain. So, it made sense that this cave would be used by the rangers.
“Yeah, that’s why I’m comfortable taking you here for the night.” Sonia smiled. “Speaking of which, we should thank these two rangers. They left clothes and quilts here, and most importantly, they also left a medical kit and food. Otherwise, even if we have a fire tonight, it would be difficult to survive.”
Suddenly, she remembered something and looked at the man’s pale handsome face. “Right, President Fuller, how is your head now? Are your arms and back still hurting badly?”
Toby laughed lightly and said, “My head is still a little dizzy, while I don’t really feel much of my arm. My back doesn’t hurt as much as it did at first. You gave me medicine, right?”
Recalling that she said there was a medical kit, he concluded that she had likely applied the medication on his wounds. As he had anticipated, she nodded. “Yes, the wounds on your back were split open, so without medicine, they would become inflamed, and you would also get a fever. So, I gave the medicine to you.”
“Thanks.” Toby looked at her, but she waved her hand at him. “You don’t need to thank me, as it’s me who should thank you. You suffered because of me.”
“I volunteered, so you don’t have to take it to heart.” Toby comforted her.
Sonia took a deep breath and replied, “Okay, President Fuller, let’s not talk about that. Are you hungry?”
Toby nodded slightly. “A little.”
“Wait a moment.” She got up, went to the place where she had taken the cookies and mineral water just now, and brought a bag of cookies and a bottle of mineral water back.
“There is only an emergency food supply, so you will have to make do,” Sonia said while tearing open the package for him and unscrewing the screw cap.
At that moment, Toby couldn’t help but look at her with eyes full of tenderness. “It’s okay. In this situation, it’s already good to have food.”
“Yes.” Sonia nodded in agreement. “So, we should thank the rangers who left the food here, but I don’t have my phone nor wallet on me, and I don’t know how to—”
“The wallet in my pocket should still be there,” Toby said, pointing to the pants by the fire.
Looking in the direction he pointed, she didn’t think twice before commenting, “No wonder I felt something when I took off your pants just now. It should be the wallet.”
Toby raised his eyebrows. “Took off my pants?”
Sonia met his deep gaze, and only then did she realize what she had said. Blushing with embarrassment, she replied, “W-Well, you fainted, so I needed to help you change into a set of dry clothes. But don’t worry! I did not do anything to you, and I did not look more than I should either.”
“Is that so?” Toby looked at her with a smirk, and Sonia met his smiling eyes, which caused her face to redden even more. Then she guiltily looked away. “O-Of course, it’s true.”
Indeed, she did not do anything to him and could not do anything to him. It was just that she had seen what she shouldn’t see.
“Okay, I believe you.”
Seeing the woman’s face so red, Toby laughed and stopped teasing her. Otherwise, what if she becomes annoyed later?
“Oh, right.” Sonia turned her head back. “What’s with the surgery scar on your chest?”
When Toby, who was drinking water, heard her question, his movements paused for a moment. However, soon, he returned to his normal self and put down the water bottle. “Had a heart replacement surgery.”
“Heart replacement?” Sonia exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock. What she could think of was that it must be heart-related, such as a heart bypass or mending a hole in the heart. However, she never thought that it would be a heart replacement. This meant that the heart that was in Toby’s chest at the moment was not his own, but someone else’s.
“How could it be a heart replacement?” Sonia looked at the man in surprise.
The man took a bite of a cookie and chewed slowly and methodically. “I have congenital heart disease; there have been holes in my original heart since childhood. They were the kind that cannot be filled, so when I was born, the doctor concluded that I would not live to be 20 years old, but because the Fuller Family had money and poured everything into my treatment, I lived until I was 24 years old before I had a heart replacement surgery.”
“24 years old…” Sonia opened her mouth wide. “Isn’t that six years ago?”
“Mm.” Toby nodded, then met her eyes. “Six years ago, I wrote a letter and asked you to meet, just to tell you that I’m in love with you. You agreed to meet up and even called me, asking me on which day to meet, and then I gave the answer one month later.”
“I know,” Sonia replied.
Toby swallowed the cookie in his mouth. “The day you called me was the day of my surgery. The reason why I made an appointment to meet a month later was that I was able to get out of the hospital bed only a month after the heart replacement surgery.”
“So that’s how it was.” The tip of Sonia’s nose burned slightly when she understood everything. No wonder his voice that she heard that day was so weak and breathless. It turned out that he was sick and had to undergo surgery. Otherwise, she would have been able to recognize that he was the one she had always loved, the gentle person who loved to smile and wear white shirts. Unfortunately, all that had passed.
Taking a deep breath, Sonia suppressed her sadness inside, then smiled and asked, “I remember that congenital heart disease is inherited, so whose disease did you inherit?”
“My mother,” Toby replied. Then, he thought of something and added, “Not Jean. Jean is not my biological mother. She’s my stepmother. My disease was inherited from my biological mother.”
“I know Jean is your stepmother because Grandma said it before.”
Hearing his words, Sonia was not the least bit surprised.
“However, I’ve always been curious why Jean would treat you so well. She doesn’t look like someone who would be a good stepmother either.” Sonia was curious.
Toby smiled. “Indeed. She is snobbish and vulgar, and she is also a calculating and unforgiving person. So, how would she look like a good stepmother? She should be a vicious stepmother, but she is not really a bad person. She’s good to me because she feels guilty.”
“Guilt?” Sonia raised her eyebrow. “Could it be that she’s the homewrecker between your parents? Is that why she feels guilty about destroying your family? However, something’s not right. If that’s the case, with your character, you would definitely not be able to spare her. How could you see her as your own mother?”
