All It Took Was One Look
Sonia let out a small laugh as well, but her smile faded when she suddenly thought of something. She
glanced over at the woman in the wheelchair, who was fuming in the corner of the room, and pointed out
mockingly, “But it looks like I’m not the only one who’s waiting for your precious President Fuller to wake
up.”
“What?” Tom blinked, but he quickly caught on to what Sonia was implying, and when he turned to look
at the woman in the corner, there was not a shred of warmth in his eyes.
Sonia had no intention of letting this woman off the hook. She had tried to go easy on the woman when
she first came, but her patience and tact had run out after she saw how insistent and stubborn the
woman was. Fine, then, Sonia thought wickedly. If it’s humiliation you seek, then so be it.
“This lady has been here taking care of President Fuller before I came in. I asked her to leave, given that
President Fuller is my boyfriend and I’m the one who should be taking care of him instead of some
stranger, but she refused to budge. She was going on about how she caused the accident and how she
simply must stay by his side to nurse him back to health, claiming that doing so was the only way to ease
her conscience. She even tried to force me to give the green light, too, saying that she’d take her own life
if I wouldn’t!”
Tom was rendered speechless after hearing this, and the corner of his lips twitched with the urge to
sputter. Wow, who would have thought that something this dramatic would happen in the short time that I
was away?
Presently, he fixed his icy stare on the woman and accused, “So that’s why you asked me about
President Fuller’s girlfriend when we were outside the emergency room—you’ve got your eyes on him!”
“No, that’s not true!” The woman panicked as she quickly shook her head and waved her hands
vehemently to deny this. However, the flustered look on her blushing face was incontrovertible proof of
her lying.
Sonia frowned in disgust. “Mr. Brown, I’ll leave her to you. I want her out of my sight at once.” No woman
in the right mind would tolerate seeing her own boyfriend surrounded by scheming skanks. Just seeing
one of them makes me sick, she thought.
“Of course, Miss Reed.” Tom nodded solemnly, then shot her an apologetic look as he said, “Miss Reed,
I’m truly sorry about what happened. I promise I didn’t put her up in here; she wheeled herself in while I
was settling President Fuller’s admission paperwork. I even warned her to stay out of the room and
remain in the hallway, but I didn’t think she would… Anyway, Miss Reed, you have to know that President
Fuller is a decent man, and he would never be entangled with anyone else, especially with the likes of
this lady. I hope you won’t jump to any conclusions.”
He was actually terrified that Sonia would suspect Toby was cheating on her and break up with him
unilaterally while he was unconscious. Tom would lose his head for sure if Toby woke up to discover that
his girlfriend, whom he had just gotten back together with, had fled his side in a fit of rage.
As if sensing Tom’s latent worries, Sonia clapped a hand over her mouth and giggled, then said, “Don’t
worry, Mr. Brown, I’m not jumping to any conclusions here. President Fuller was still unconscious when I
came in earlier, so it wasn’t as if he and that lady could get up to anything scandalous.”
Now, if Toby had been awake while the lady was cleaning his face and he allowed her to take care of
him, then Sonia might feel very differently. She might implode.
Upon hearing her reassurance, Tom let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, that’s good. Excuse me while I take
out the eyesore, Miss Reed. You can stay here and keep President Fuller company in the meantime.
He’s alright, just hit the back of his head during the collision. The doctor said he could be discharged
tomorrow.”
“I know,” Sonia said with a nod. “You told me just now.”
“Just a friendly reminder,” Tom teased as he pushed his glasses up his nose bridge. The next second,
his expression turned grim again, and he maneuvered the lady in the wheelchair out of the room.
The lady had kept her head down the entire time after Sonia called her out about her nonsense, and she
did not utter a word of objection. It was as if she had turned into a different person altogether, shedding
her skank persona and adopting an ashamed and guilty stance instead.
Sonia highly doubted the woman was ashamed of what she had done. Skanks didn’t have the capacity
to feel shame, and they were already thick-skinned, to begin with.
As such, Sonia didn’t believe the woman had become quiet and demure after the humiliation. She
probably has something up her sleeve.
Then, Sonia shrugged off the thought. There was no point dwelling on this when the woman could very
well be sent away by the time Toby regained consciousness tomorrow. When that happened, Sonia
wouldn’t ever cross paths with the woman again and pondering on what tricks she might have up her
sleeves would be a waste of time.
But for some reason, she kept thinking there was something familiar about the woman in the wheelchair.
It’s like I’ve seen her somewhere before, but where?
Lowering her gaze in thought, Sonia still couldn’t quite put her finger on where she had seen the woman
before this. She gave up, then gently nudged Toby closer to the other side of the hospital bed to make
room for herself. Having done so, she folded her arms on the bed and rested her head on them, then
drifted off into sleep.
She was exhausted; her body ached everywhere and coupled with her constant worry over Toby’s
condition, she had been listless for the better part of the day, which in turn took a toll on her nerves.
Now that she had seen Toby and knew he was going to be alright, the uneasiness in her finally waned,
but it was quickly replaced by a strong sense of fatigue.
She didn’t torture herself by insisting that she would stay awake the whole time until Toby regained
consciousness and chose to rest instead. If she expended herself now, she couldn’t very well take care
of him the next day.
Outside, Tom had successfully sent the woman in the wheelchair off on her way and asked her to only
return tomorrow. He sauntered back to the room and raised his hand to knock on the door, asking, “Miss
Reed, may I come in?”
When he heard no response from within the room, his brows furrowed. Is Miss Reed not in there? As the
thought crossed his mind, he pushed open the door and peered in, only to see Sonia holding Toby’s
hand while she slept by the bedside. He let out a small breath of relief and muttered quietly, “Oh, she’s
still here.”
Well, of course she is. Where would she go at this hour?
Just then, his gaze fell upon Sonia and Toby’s overlapping hands and seeing how sweet they were even
while they were sleeping exasperated him all of a sudden. To keep himself from wallowing in self-pity,
Tom promptly left the room and closed the door so he wouldn’t have to look at them.
He didn’t think it was strange to feel sorry for himself. He and Toby were the same age, but where the
latter had already been married, divorced, and subsequently reconciled with his ex-wife, Tom was still a
bachelor with no prospects whatsoever, and seeing Toby and Sonia stick together like glue only served
as a sore reminder of his lonely, partner-less life.
Time passed quickly, and within a blink of an eye, it was past midnight.
Toby was stirred from sleep by thirst. Frowning, he opened his eyes.
He was first greeted by a bright white light, which made him wince and shut his eyes. He waited a while
before opening them again, and this time, his eyes had adjusted to the brightness, so he could register
his surroundings.
He took in the pristine white ceiling above him and the plain, practical fluorescent lights. His brows drew
together as he thought, Where am I?
He turned his neck, looking around the room, and it was only after he saw the IV pole next to him that he
understood he was in the hospital.
Simultaneously, he could wager a guess as to why he had ended up here in the room. He distinctly
recalled the sharp, stabbing pain that had seized his heart after the car collided with the roadside hedge.
Apparently, the impact had put a strain on his heart and sent his system into shock. Tom had probably
been the one who sent him to the hospital after he blacked out.
Toby pursed his lips. He wasn’t too bothered by his own condition, regardless of whether the accident
had damaged his heart even further. Besides, he was convinced that the absence of pain in his chest
meant he had pulled through just fine. In that case, he wasn’t overly concerned about his heart.
Presently, what he worried about most was whether Sonia knew about the accident. Did Tom tell her? If
she heard about it, did she faint out of shock?
He was just thinking of this when he suddenly sensed something encircling his right wrist. He froze at
first, then quickly glanced over to his right and saw that there was a figure asleep by his bed with her
head in her folded arms.
And the person had instinctively held his hand earlier. She must have been dreaming when she reached
for his wrist, and he was only alerted of her presence when he felt the ticklish sensation.
While he couldn’t see the person’s face, all it took him was one look to know that it was Sonia.
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