Respect for Her
“The hospital,” Sonia adjusted her position as she answered him truthfully.
Toby tensed up right away. He held her hand and looked at her closely. “The hospital? Why? Are you
feeling unwell?” He sounded worried.
“No.” Sonia felt touched that Toby was so worried about her, and she smiled. “Dr. Lancaster said it was
time for my followup, and he gave me a new prescription.”
“I see.” Toby heaved a sigh of relief, and he could rest easy after knowing that she was fine. Then he
asked, “Did he say anything about your condition?”
“He did.” She nodded.
“What is it? How’s your recovery going?” Toby looked at her with great concern.
She met his gaze, then she remembered what Tim told her, and she started to blush once more.
Toby was surprised that she was starting to blush instead of answering his question, and he arched his
eyebrow. “What is it? Is it something you can’t say?”
She stared down, and her voice was barely a whisper. “Ahem. Not really.”
But that only piqued Toby’s interest. “What did he say? Tell me.”
“Must I really?” She pushed a lock of her hair back. Sonia was reluctant to talk.
When he saw her ears turning red, he could guess that Tim must have said something really private. He
was curious about it, so he nodded. “Yes. You said it’s nothing big, so it’s no big deal if you tell me,
right?”
Sonia shut up for a moment. A while later, she finally arrived at a decision, and she looked at him. “Fine.
It’s nothing big anyway. You’ll ask him even if I don’t tell you, so let’s just cut out the middleman.”
Toby smiled, since Sonia was right. If she wouldn’t tell him, he would ask Tim, and he would know what
she was hiding in the end. It would be better if she told him right away. “Tell me then.” He nodded, telling
her to talk.
She took a deep breath and told him the gist of what Tim said to her.
Toby wasn’t embarrassed at all. Instead, he nodded seriously. “I see. I’ll do as he says then.”
Embarrassed, Sonia buried her head in his embrace and refused to get up.
Her embarrassment made Toby chuckle. “You’re already shy now? What will you do when we get to
fourth base then?”
“We’ll talk about that when the time comes,” she said softly. She knew sex would happen sooner or later
after she dated him, so she didn’t say she wouldn’t do it. She just needed time.
The light in Toby’s eyes dimmed, and he huddled closer to whisper to her, “And the time will come soon
enough. I know your period’s over.” It’s been so many days. She has to be done. If not, I’ll have to send
her to a hospital to get checked.
Sonia’s eyes widened. “You’ve been counting the days, haven’t you?” He counted my days? Oh my god.
Toby knew she was misunderstanding something, so he explained, “Yes, but not because I want to have
sex. I just want to know about your cycle so I can take care of you the next time it comes.”
Sonia rolled her eyes. “I believe you, but I know you’re also counting the days to know when to have sex
with me.”
Well, she got me. Toby was embarrassed that Sonia exposed him right away even though he was
usually shameless. He coughed awkwardly, and he laughed. “Fine, I admit it. Yes, but I won’t force you. I
said I would give you time to prepare.”
He did want to get intimate with her and secure his spot as boyfriend in the relationship, but compared to
that, he would rather respect her wishes first.
Sonia knew Toby was being genuine, and it calmed her pounding heart down. She blinked a few times,
and she finally smiled. “Thank you. I-I’ll do my best to fully accept you.”
They did have sex once, but she had been drunk and drugged. It had happened out of nowhere, and she
didn’t even remember anything. She didn’t know if she was embarrassed or not about it then, but now
that she was sober, she knew that if she wasn’t prepared, she wouldn’t be able to do it with him.
Toby kissed her forehead. “Alright. I’ll wait for you then, but can you raise your head? Don’t you feel
suffocated?”
“No.” Sonia shook her head.
Since she wasn’t getting up, Toby chuckled and stopped persuading her. As long as she’s fine with it.
And I really like her sticking to me. He placed his hand on her waist and hugged her tightly.
Sonia suddenly remembered something, and she said, “Oh. I saw Julia and Taylor at the hospital today.”
Toby wasn’t surprised. He played with her hair and asked lovingly, “And?” He knew Titus was
hospitalized again, so he wasn’t surprised she met them. He only wondered what their conversations
were like.
“And it’s weird.” She finally got up and looked at him, then she frowned. “Something’s wrong with them.
They kept saying weird stuff to me, especially Julia. I met her first, and we were in the same elevator.
She actually asked if I was sick. But weirdly enough, she wasn’t being sarcastic. I could see that she was
concerned about me. That was shocking.”
Toby tightened his hug, and he finally got serious.
Sonia noticed that he was quiet and seemed to be spacing out, so she nudged him. “What are you
spacing out for?”
Toby looked away. “Nothing. What did you say?”
“Nothing.” She shook her head. “More precisely, before I could say anything, she realized that she must
have sounded a bit mad, so she quickly said she wasn’t concerned about me. That’s why I didn’t say
anything. I got to my floor and went out, but she wouldn’t stop seeing me off. I didn’t look back, but I
know that there was no malice in her gaze. For some reason, there was… love in her eyes. God, that
gave me goosebumps. What’s wrong with her? Why did she change her attitude toward me?”
“Maybe she still suspects you,” Toby suddenly said.
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