Life in Old Age
This solution is… Sonia fell silent. Honestly, she thought that this was feasible. It was just that if they
were to give up on the batch of spare parts, they would need money to pull through, which meant that
they would undoubtedly need a large amount of money. If Paradigm Co. were to take out such a huge
loan, they had to offer something valuable as collateral.
At the moment, the most valuable collateral Paradigm Co. had was its building. It was very risky to
mortgage the building, for the slightest bit of carelessness could cause her to lose the building.
Therefore, she had to think about it carefully. At the thought of this, she massaged her temples, took a
deep breath, and replied, “Let me think about it, Charles. Just give me a day.”
Charles knew what she was hesitating over. If it were him, he would also hesitate like this. He replied
with a nod, “Okay, take your time. Whatever your decision is, remember to tell me. Don’t make me
worried.”
“Uh-huh,” Sonia replied with a forced smile.
The two then exchanged a few more words before hanging up.
Putting down her phone, Sonia sat on the edge of the bed and lowered her head slightly in
contemplation.
A few minutes later, the room door was opened, and Toby came in. He asked in a gentle voice, “What’s
wrong? Are you daydreaming again?”
Sonia’s eyes flickered before she looked up at Toby with a smile. “Nothing. I was just thinking about
some stuff. By the way, what do you think about my outfit?” She stood up while suppressing her
restlessness. Not wanting Toby to notice it, she quickly changed the subject and did a twirl in front of
him to show him her outfit.
Toby rubbed his chin and nodded with unconcealed admiration in his eyes. “Not bad. It looks beautiful
on you.”
“That’s of course. You picked this outfit for me, after all,” Sonia said with a smile while putting down her
arms.
Toby curled his lips into a smile. “So I’ve got pretty good taste, right?”
Sonia gave him a thumbs up. “That’s right, Mr. Fuller. You’ve got good taste, or you wouldn’t have been
able to pick such a good-looking outfit for me.”
Toby came up to her. Putting his arm around her slim waist, he lowered his head and whispered in her
ear, “In that case, how about I match clothes for you every day from now on?”
Sonia looked at him. “I’ve got no problem if you want to, of course.” Why not use a stylist if it’s available
for free?
Seeing the hint of slyness in her eyes, Toby chuckled in a deep voice. “Okay. From now on, as long as I
have time to do so, I’ll choose your outfit for the next day. Alright, our meal is ready. Let’s go and have
lunch.”
Toby made two bowls of hearty pasta that had prawns, meat, and braised pork in them with half a
boiled egg and two little bok choys for garnish. The sight of the pasta alone was mouthwatering.
Holding down her hair, Sonia bent down and took a sniff at the pasta. She said with a smile, “It smells
so good! This is gonna taste amazing. Thanks for the hard work.”
“Not at all. As long as you like it, I’ll think that it’s worth it,” Toby said while pulling out the chair for her.
After she sat down, he put the fork in her hand. “Hurry up and give it a try.”
“Okay.” Sonia clutched her fork and nodded heavily. Then, she forked up the pasta and dug in.
The pasta was al dente, the prawns were chewy, the meat was tender, and the braised pork was
sweet. These food ingredients were far from the top-grade ones, but they tasted great when combined
together.
Sonia couldn’t help but say as she chewed her pasta, “Toby, if you open a pasta restaurant one day,
just sell such pastas. I’m sure that your business will do well.”
Toby ate a spoonful of soup gracefully before replying, “Good idea. After we grow old and retire in the
future, let’s hand our company over to the kids and open a pasta restaurant. I’ll make pastas, while
you’ll be the cashier. How about it?”
Sonia didn’t expect that Toby would respond to her suggestion and even paint a picture of what their
lives would be like in their old age. As a consequence, she couldn’t help but subconsciously imagine
what he had described. Well… It seems like a pretty good idea to open a pasta restaurant as he
described when we get old. At the thought of this, she couldn’t help but blush and lowered her head to
stuff herself with pasta.
She didn’t answer Toby’s question, but Toby knew her thoughts and answer from her reddened cheeks.
He fell silent as a hint of joy flashed across his eyes. If I speak again, she’ll feel even more shy.
He refused to let her clear the dishes away after lunch. Instead, he let her sit on the sofa and rest while
he brought the dishes to the kitchen to wash them.
Sonia relaxed with pleasure as Toby didn’t allow her to wash the dishes. Sitting on the sofa, she quietly
waited for him to finish doing the dishes and come out.
After she waited for a while, her cell phone vibrated. She picked it up to take a look, only to see that it
was a message from Charles.
We’ve just spoken on the phone. Why would he message me at this time? She curiously opened the
message and found that Charles had sent her a document. With a few taps of her finger, she accepted
the document and opened it to take a look, finding that it contained very detailed personal information
about Connor. She skimmed through the document, finding that it contained some secret information
about Connor—including his past relationships and all kinds of shady stuff he had done in secret—as
well as everything else. Not only that, but it gave a succinct description of Connor’s character.
A few question marks popped up in her head as she read through the document. Obviously, she didn’t
understand why Charles would send this to her. Without the slightest hesitation, she immediately texted
him to ask him about it.
Charles texted her back soon afterward. ‘Aren’t you gonna meet him the day after tomorrow? You
probably still don’t know much about what kind of a person he is, so I made a special effort to ask my
connections in Westsanshire for help to get my hands on detailed information about Connor. Just read
it carefully and try to memorize as much information about him as possible. Try to understand him
better so that you won’t be at a disadvantage when you meet him by then.’
A warm smile played across Sonia’s lips when she saw his reply. As expected, a real friend will go to
such an extent for me. He probably spent a lot of money to get his hands on such detailed information.
Feeling deeply moved, she began to reply with a few taps of her fingers, ‘Alright, I got it. Thank you,
Charles.’
She didn’t ask Charles how much it had cost him to buy such information, nor did she mention that she
wanted to return the money to him. She knew him very well, so she knew that he would definitely be
angry and sad if she were to bring this up. To him, everything he had done for her was of his own
volition, so he didn’t want her to give him money. If she did, he’d take it as a sign that she wanted to
keep her distance from him. Since she knew him, she knew not to mention or ask about these things.
As she had expected, there were undertones of apparent joy and cheerfulness in his reply message.
‘Why thank me? I’m your brother. Alright, I gotta go. I’ve got to attend a meeting.’
Sonia let out a chuckle. ‘Alright. Just go ahead with your meeting.’
As soon as she put down her phone, she heard footsteps from behind, which was followed by Toby’s
inquiring voice. “Who were you chatting with? You smiled so happily.”
Sonia looked back at the man who was walking toward her and replied without hiding anything from
him, “It was Charles.”
Hearing that it was Charles, Toby instantly knitted his brows. “Charles? Why would he text you?”
“Why can’t he text me?” Sonia let out a chuckle. “Friends can have a casual chat when they have
nothing to do.”
Toby turned his gaze to her cell phone and pursed his lips. “Hmph! He’s got to be up to something,” he
said uncomfortably.
Sonia’s smile deepened as she propped her head in her hand. “Are you upset?”
Toby sat down next to her. He didn’t answer her question, but he had annoyance written all over his
face.
He’s just being jealous again, thought Sonia.
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