Zane buckled up with a smile as he replied, “It’s nothing. I simply told her a horror story.”
“Do I look like someone that gullible?” Sonia stared at Zane, rendered speechless by his reply.
After starting the car, Zane wore a defeated expression as he said, “But I’m telling the truth! I can’t do anything about it if you don’t believe in me.”
“This is such a pointless conversation.” Sonia rolled her eyes before averting her gaze.
Abruptly, Zane turned to look at her. “President Reed, I just noticed that you bear some semblance to Julia.”
“Huh?” Sonia was slightly dumbfounded. “I look like her?”
“Yeah.”
“How could that be possible?” Sonia shook her head. “Stop joking!”
“I’m not joking. This is serious. The outline of your face and eyes look exactly like her.” Zane nodded solemnly before adding, “Yeah, they look almost identical. People might believe it even if you claim that you’re her daughter.”
It wasn’t until then that Sonia was certain that Zane wasn’t kidding, which startled her. However, she soon regained her composure enough to wave her hand. “Our likeness with each other doesn’t mean much. There’re a lot of people who look alike, so this isn’t that strange.”
“I guess you’re right,” Zane answered. Neither of them took the discovery to heart, so it was soon forgotten.
After that, Sonia lowered the window to allow some cold air to blow on her face. “By the way, I have a question for you.”
“Speak.” Zane was listening to music as he drove, his body swaying to the rhythm of the music.
Rolling her eyes at the irresponsible driver, Sonia asked, “Do you have a friend whose Messenger’s username is Z-H?”
“What did you say?” Due to the loud music, Zane didn’t catch the question at first.
Annoyed, Sonia pinched the space in between her brows before yelling, “Who is Z-H?”
Screech! The car came to a stop after a screeching noise that was produced by tyres sliding across the surface of the road. Both passengers were thrown forward, nearly crashing into the windshield before slamming back into their seats when their seatbelts pulled them backward.
Sonia’s face paled. It took her a moment to recover herself before she turned to face Zane. In her rage, she slapped him on the arm. “What are you doing?”
Knowing that he nearly caused an accident, Zane released the steering wheel to rub his face. “Cough, cough! I’m sorry. It was my mistake.” I wouldn’t have stepped on the brakes in shock if she hadn’t asked about Z-H though.
Sonia rubbed her temple. “Alright, you should reveal your true identity to Rebecca. I can’t afford to keep a driver like you.”
“Please don’t repudiate me just because of a single mistake I made.” Zane watched her smilingly.
Sonia let out a dry chuckle. “Drive then!”
With a shrug, Zane continued driving, but he kept on stealing glances at Sonia. “You were asking who Z-H is, right?”
“Yeah.” Sonia nodded.
Zane scanned his surroundings. “Why do you ask?”
Sonia lowered her gaze to hide the emotions in her eyes before explaining casually, “It’s nothing. He had helped me twice ever since I added him as a friend on Messenger by chance. He told me he’s your friend, so I decided to ask you since I want to know more about him.”
“I see.” Zane dared not even look at Sonia for fear that she might notice how sheepish he seemed. “Although he is a friend of mine, we aren’t that close. I don’t even know his name, since we only had a few drinks together. He has gone abroad now.”
“I see.” Sonia nodded. The fact that he had gone abroad meant she wouldn’t be seeing him, which was a relief. She was actually dreading to meet him, for she knew they would be awkward around each other since she was quite close to Zane.
Now that she knew Z-H was abroad, she figured she had nothing to worry about. Yet, she couldn’t shake a sense of dejection while she watched the scenery outside the car window in silence. Meanwhile, Zane heaved an inaudible sigh while thinking that he should go get Toby later on to get some reward from him. After all, it took him a lot to help cover up Toby’s tracks.
Half an hour later, they arrived at Bayside Residence. Sonia got out of the car to enter the building while limping on her two crutches. The moment she stepped out of the elevator, the eyes of a young boy who had been squatting in front of her apartment unit lit up as he stood up.
“You’re finally back! I’ve been waiting for a long—What happened to your leg?” The boy stared at the cast on her leg and the crutches underneath her armpits in surprise.
Instead of answering Tyler’s question, Sonia frowned while examining him. “Why are you here?”
Tyler hung his head low before muttering, “I fought with Mom. She wanted me to quit the basketball team, but I didn’t want to, so I ran away.”
With a smirk, Sonia questioned, “What does my place mean to you? Why are you always coming over to my place when you run away from home?”
“I have no other place to go,” Tyler said uncomfortably. In fact, he had no idea why he came to Sonia’s place. All he knew was that he could calm down whenever he dropped by.
“The Fullers are a prestigious family with so many estates all over the city. How could you have nowhere to go?” Sonia took out her keys. “Get out of my way. I need to open the door.”
Tyler stepped aside to make way for her to the entrance. When she unlocked the door, he stood behind her as if he would actually follow her inside at any moment. Sonia paused in her movements to turn to meet his gaze. “Are you really planning to follow me inside?”
“As I said, I have nowhere to go. Let me stay for the night.” Tyler lowered his gaze to look at her, seemingly intent on staying no matter what she did. Although he was a teenager, he had a height of more than 180 cm because he played basketball. Therefore, Sonia had to raise her head to see his face.
“You can stay here if you wish to, but I have no reason to take you in for free. It’ll cost you a hundred thousand per night.” Sonia made a gesture of counting money.
Tyler was astounded. “A hundred thousand? Why don’t you just go rob a bank?”
“What is it? Can’t you afford it? Don’t stay here if that’s the case.” Sonia spread her palms out to indicate her reluctance to compromise.
Meanwhile, Tyler’s face flushed. “Of course I can afford it! It’s just that I don’t have money with me. Can’t I just pay you next time?”
“Nope. Get lost if you can’t pay right away. I don’t allow debts. Besides, I don’t have a reason to take in my enemy’s son.” With that, Sonia opened the door to go into the house.
Upon hearing Sonia refer to him as the son of her enemy, Tyler’s face paled, but he recovered quickly to try to follow her inside. Immediately, Sonia closed the door until a crack was all that was left. “As I said, leave if you don’t have money.”
“I won’t!” Tyler glowered at her through the crack. “I know my mom did you wrong. I will pay you more money next time as compensation.”
Sonia smiled. “Nope.” Money isn’t enough to compensate for all the hurt you caused me for the past six years.
“What do you want when you’re not going to make any concessions?” Tyler stomped his foot.
Sonia stared at him. “Easy. I want you gone.”
“I won’t!” Tyler insisted on staying.
“Stay there if you don’t want to leave. I’m not good-natured enough to let you in.” With that, Sonia shut the door.
Tyler gawked at the door in front of him, seemingly finding the fact that she would shut the door in his face without hesitation somewhat unbelievable. At the same time, he was also feeling aggrieved as he slumped down on the ground while mentally complaining about Sonia’s cold-heartedness. All the while, there was a tinge of regret in the mixture of his emotions as he reflected on his treatment toward Sonia for the past six years. The more he dwelled on it, the more uncomfortable he felt.
On the other hand, Sonia didn’t leave after entering the house, for she kept watch from the surveillance system behind the door. The fact that Tyler was determined to stay was giving her a headache. Are the heavens sending him to torment me? Later on, she took out her phone to give Toby a call.
A peculiar glint crossed Toby’s eyes when he saw the caller ID. Then, he picked up the call. “Hello?”
