Chapter 938 No Regrets
Upon Sonia’s question, Daphne released her grip on the door handle. “I was in the hospital, but decided to leave halfway through.”
“Halfway through?” Sonia frowned. “What do you mean? You’re not going through with the surgery?”
“Yeah.” Daphne nodded slightly.
“Why not?” Sonia was even more confused. “Does this mean that you regretted your decision just before the surgery?”
There was that possibility after all. There had been many women who had chosen to give up on their children out of impulsiveness. However, they would regret the moment it was time for them to go past the point of no return. Thus, it would not be out of place for Daphne to suddenly back out from her decision.
However, contrary to Sonia’s assumption, Daphne shook her head. “No, I’m not regretting it now. It’s just… I can’t go through the surgery today.”
“What do you mean?” Although confused, Sonia went over and supported Daphne over to the sofa, as Daphne would have a sore back from standing for a long period of time due to her pregnancy.
Feeling grateful to Sonia, Daphne smiled at her before she answered, “I was in the hospital to prepare for the surgery today. However, just before it was time for my surgery, I met Mrs. Lane.”
“Mrs. Lane?” Sonia was surprised to hear that name popped up.
“Yeah.” Daphne bit her lip.
“What’s wrong with her?” Sonia’s shock turned to anxiety instantly. “Is she sick?” But, that’s impossible. She looked fine when I met her last night!
Sure enough, Daphne shook her head. “No, she’s not sick. She’s just there for a routine medical checkup.”
“So that’s what it was.” Sonia heaved a sigh of relief upon Daphne’s clarification. Phew. As long as she’s fine. That really gave me a scare. She patted her chest to calm the anxiousness in her before she fixed her attention squarely on Daphne. “So, you suddenly decided to leave before the surgery after meeting with Mrs. Lane out of fear of her finding out about your pregnancy?”
Gazing at Sonia, Daphne nodded slightly. “Yes, President, you should know that I was classmates with President Lane back in university. Ever since we graduated, I’ve been his secretary by his side for many years, which is why Mrs. Lane knows me. In the past, when she came to visit him in the office, she would always bring along some homemade snacks for me as well. Over time, we became much closer to the extent that I would be the one accompanying her for meals and walks whenever President Lane was not around. It would not be wrong to even say Mrs. Lane had already treated me as her friend at that point. Hence, if she finds out just what surgery I would be going through today, she would definitely be curious as to the identity of the father of my child. At that point, even if I do lie to her, she might just mention my pregnancy as a topic of gossip to President Lane. By then, he would find out that I am pregnant with his child.”
With her brow wrinkled, Sonia nodded in agreement. “It’s indeed possible for that to happen. After all, you used to be Charles’ secretary. If Mrs. Lane finds out you’re pregnant, she would definitely mention it to Charles.”
“That’s why I immediately asked to postpone the surgery right after meeting with Mrs. Lane,” Daphne said bitterly with a sigh.
Sonia kept her gaze on Daphne. “Mrs. Lane wasn’t suspicious of you being pregnant, right?”
Daphne waved her hand. “I doubt it. She did ask me about why I was in the hospital, but I explained to her that it was just a problem with my neck. Since many office workers who sat in the office the whole year round would have some sort of problem with their necks, Mrs. Lane did not doubt my explanation and only urged me to get some massage device to help relieve my neck.”
“She is a kind person, after all.” Sonia smiled faintly.
Daphne forced a smile. “Yes, Mrs. Lane is a kind person.” For her, anyone fortunate enough to have Grace as their mother-in-law would be lucky indeed, as Grace was a kind person and wasn’t like those kinds of evil mother-in-law that would spite their daughter-in-law. Unfortunately, she would never have the opportunity to become Grace’s daughter-in-law.
Noticing Daphne’s mood slightly taking a turn for the worse, Sonia gently patted her shoulder and assured her, “Alright, time to stop drowning in your thoughts. It was unexpected for you to meet Mrs. Lane in the hospital. Since you couldn’t go through the surgery today, you should take this time to compose yourself before going to the hospital next time.”
“Yeah.” Daphne forced another smile at Sonia.
With that, Sonia took her hand off Daphne’s shoulder. “However, why did you come back to work instead of just going back home to rest?”
“Rather than being bored at home with nothing better to do, I would much prefer coming back to the office and having a look at everyone’s face. President, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be extra careful myself,” Daphne replied.
Since Daphne had already said this much, there was nothing more Sonia could say. Thus, she only nodded in response. “Fine. Oh, right, did you have any business meeting me?” asked Sonia, as she noticed that Daphne had no documents with her when she came in. Probably something that isn’t work-related?
As Sonia expected, Daphne sighed helplessly upon her president’s question. “It’s nothing serious. It’s just that I was sent here by the others in the secretary circle.”
“What do you mean?” Sonia became interested.
Daphne shrugged her shoulders while smiling. “It’s all because everyone found out about the many gifts President Fuller gave you and were just full with curiosity as to what those gifts were, as they saw their low-profile president show off the gifts during her entrance here. Since they were too embarrassed to come over and ask you themselves, they pushed me into coming here to ask you, as they thought that you would certainly tell me, the one you’re closest with in the office, about it. Since I had no other choice in the matter, I came here to ask you about it. So, President. You wouldn’t just let me go off without anything to offer to the other secretaries, right?” At this point, Daphne had swept away the despondency and bitterness she felt when she was talking about her pregnancy and was smiling at Sonia.
Noticing that Daphne had perked up, Sonia felt relieved as she had thought that Daphne—despite what she had said about herself—was not at fault. Sonia always felt she was partly responsible for what had happened with Daphne, which was why she always felt a twinge of guilt whenever she was with Daphne. Hence, it was only when Daphne was happy did the heavy feelings in her heart stop weighing her down.
“Naturally I won’t leave you out to dry. Since they want to know about it, I’ll naturally oblige. After all, happiness is meant to be shared, right?” Sonia said with a smile before pointing at the coffee table. “Look, it’s all there. Give me a hand here, would you?”
“That wouldn’t be appropriate of me.” Daphne quickly shook her head while waving her hands. “These are all President Fuller’s gifts to you. How could I help you unwrap them?”
“It’s fine. They’re just presents. Just think of it as me having not enough hands to unwrap them,” Sonia said nonchalantly with a smile.
Daphne’s mouth twitched as a response. “President, what you said is just annoying. If possible, I too would like to have so many gifts that I couldn’t unwrap them all by myself.”
“You will.” Sonia looked at Daphne. “With how wonderful of a person you are, it’ll definitely happen to you eventually.”
“Then I’ll accept your kind words.” Daphne smiled once more.
Saying nothing further, Sonia gave Daphne one of the gifts and asked for her help unwrapping them.
Daphne—who said nothing as well—proceeded to help Sonia unwrap the gifts. Although the gifts were hers, she still felt the simple joy in unwrapping the presents, especially the sense of satisfaction one would have upon seeing what the gifts were. For Daphne, it was truly an indescribable feeling.
In no time, the gifts were all unwrapped with the combined efforts of the two. Looking at the various luxurious gifts, Sonia had not much change in her expression, as she already knew exactly what the gifts were even before they unwrapped them, but she was still happy nonetheless. After all, these were all from Toby.
As for Daphne, she was so shocked that her jaws had dropped to the floor. It was only after a moment passed did she manage to compose herself. Pointing at the gifts on the table, she gulped and said, “Chairman Reed, President Fuller is just too good at winning over a woman!”
