The Grudges Between Them
Not long after the three of them had returned to Toby’s office, the doctor Tom summoned earlier
arrived. Immediately, Sonia cleared away the things on the coffee table to make room for the doctor’s
medical kit.
However, the doctor had only just put down his kit when Toby pointed at Sonia and instructed, “Attend
to her first.”
“President Fuller!”
“No!”
Tom and Sonia protested simultaneously, making their objections clear. As far as Tom was concerned,
Sonia was relatively unscathed, whereas Toby’s foot was swollen.
As such, it made sense for the doctor to tend to Toby’s injuries first instead of checking up on Sonia.
Sonia, on the other hand, thought the same thing. The abrasions on her arm were not any worse than
Toby’s swollen ankle, but more importantly, he had been the one who stepped in and saved her in time.
On that point alone, he rightfully deserved all the medical attention.
At the sight of Sonia’s stony expression and stubborn refusal, Toby parted his lips to say something but
thought better of it when he felt her overwhelming authority loom over him.
It was only after she had seen him give up on his attempt to argue that she looked away and
addressed the doctor in a white coat with a polite smile. “Please attend to him first, doctor.”
“Very well,” the doctor agreed with a perfunctory nod. “President Fuller, could you please lift your leg for
me?”
Toby frowned, seemingly reluctant to follow orders.
Sonia pursed her lips at this and urged like a flustered hen, saying, “Didn’t you hear the doctor? Lift
your leg up so he can examine it! How else do you expect him to go about this?” Without warning, she
bent over to wrap an arm around his injured leg to lift it.
Toby hadn’t expected her to do this, and he stiffened at the sudden gesture. However, this only made it
harder for Sonia to lift his leg, and she reached out to tap him on the shoulder, hissing, “Hey, loosen
up!”
Upon hearing this, Toby snapped out of his daze. He couldn’t suppress a smile as he relaxed his body.
When she felt that his leg was not quite as heavy and stiff as before, she successfully lifted it up and
propped it on the sofa. “You can examine him now, doctor.”
“Alright,” the doctor replied as he walked over to the sofa and crouched down, thereafter checking the
swollen area.
Meanwhile, Tom stood to the side with his hand clasped over his mouth to keep from laughing. He was
highly entertained by how Toby dared not utter a word of complaint even though he was anal about
someone touching his foot, all because Sonia was staring at him like she would not hesitate to put him
in place. Maybe fear really is the heart of love after all, Tom thought in amusement.
Toby seemed to realize what Tom was laughing at, and he narrowed his eyes at the latter as though
saying icily, I can’t believe you have the nerve to laugh at me when you don’t even have a lover.
As if reading Toby’s mind, Tom felt the grin slide off his face. His lips gave a final twitch before he put
on a straight face again, though his pride was definitely hurt. He’s right. I probably shouldn’t make fun
of him when I’ve been a bachelor all my thirty years of life. I really ought to work on my game.
Presently, oblivious to the wordless exchange between Toby and Tom, Sonia kneeled down before
Toby’s injured foot and asked the doctor worriedly, “How’s his foot looking, doctor?”
The doctor pressed down on Toby’s ankle, which made Toby frown. Seeing this, the doctor understood
the extent of Toby’s pain and turned to grab a bottle of cooling spray from his medical kit. Shaking the
aluminum bottle twice, he aimed the nozzle at Toby’s swollen ankle and sprayed it. “It’s nothing serious.
He put a strain on his ligament, which is just another way of saying he sprained his ankle. He’ll be fine
in a couple of days.”
When Sonia heard this, she let out a sigh of relief and said, “Oh, thank goodness.” Then, she looked at
Toby and flashed him a bright smile. “Did you hear that? The doctor said you’ll be fine in a couple of
days!”
Toby nodded, eyeing her with endearment as he answered, “I heard him.”
She stood up. “Thank you for what you did earlier.” They had been downstairs, and she was just about
to get into the car when she heard the sound of an approaching vehicle, but she did not turn to see
where that vehicle was going.
Sonia had thought that it would only pass her by, but to her surprise, the car had intended to run her
down and kill her.
If Toby hadn’t reacted in time and dragged her back to the pavement, Tina would have knocked her off
her feet and sent her flying down the street.
“You don’t have to thank me. Anyone would have done the same thing in my position, let alone
someone who loves you as much as I do. I couldn’t just do nothing and watch you get hurt before my
very eyes,” Toby pointed out gravely, keeping his gaze on Sonia.
If she had gotten hurt while he was there, he might never be able to forgive himself. He would spend
the rest of his days in self-loathe, haunted by the fact that he had failed to save her. With that in mind,
he thanked the heavens that he had been there to drag her back onto the safety of the pavement. If
she had been alone, then she would be…
His fists clenched, and he stopped himself from thinking about what might have happened. He couldn’t
bring himself to accept how dire the situation could have been had he not been there to save her. Just
focus on the present, he told himself firmly. This is the best I could ask for.
Having heard the man’s subtle confession, Sonia felt her heart begin to race, and she parted her lips to
say, “Even then, you shouldn’t have risked your life like that to save me. You could have—”
“I was more terrified about you getting hurt than anything else,” Toby said, cutting her off. At any given
moment, he would have prioritized her life over his own safety.
Sonia’s eyes widened, and she turned around to dab at the tears that had somehow escaped. She
wasn’t sure why she was crying, but she tried to keep her voice steady as she choked out, “Toby, don’t
you know how stupid it is for you to risk your life to save mine? Have you ever stopped to wonder if it’s
worth it?”
“I can’t speak for others, but I know it’s worth it to me,” he answered solemnly.
She bit down on her lip and muttered in resignation, “You’re a lovesick fool! That’s what you are.”
He chuckled. “Well, I can’t help it now. I’ve already put the rest of my life in your hands. It’s too late for
me to play it safe.”
Sonia looked up slightly and drew in a breath, pushing down the exasperation that was welling up in
her as she turned to meet his gaze. “Please don’t act so impulsively if something like this ever happens
again. Do you really think I’d sleep at night if you gave up your life to save mine? For your sake, and
mine, could you please just put yourself first, Toby? I don’t want to see you get hurt because of me ever
again!”
She paused at this, then added, “Someone should go after Tina before she gets away. If she does, who
knows when she’ll pop out of nowhere and run some crazy scheme to hurt me? When that comes to
pass, you’re going to risk your own safety again just to help me, so I’m asking you to butt out of this,
Toby. This is a grudge between Tina and myself, and I don’t want to drag you into it.”
Next to them, Tom nodded earnestly to show that he agreed with her. He was Toby’s assistant and
friend, and he didn’t want to see Toby get hurt. He’d be better off not taking part in all this drama
between Miss Reed and Tina.
However, he also understood that Toby could not keep himself from intervening. Because if he doesn’t,
then who’s going to take his place to step in and protect Miss Reed?
Sure enough, Toby gave a firm shake of his head. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. I’ll put my foot in even
where it’s not wanted. Haven’t you realized that this grudge ties not just you and Tina together, but all
three of us?”
“What?” Sonia gaped at him, a little startled by this revelation.
The air around Toby grew colder as he thought about what had happened just now. “When we were
downstairs, Tina didn’t just try to kill you; she was trying to kill me, too.”
“That’s impossible!” Sonia gasped, her wide eyes filled with disbelief.
He smirked and elaborated, “No, it’s entirely possible. If she wasn’t trying to kill me, then she wouldn’t
have driven her car in our direction again, even after I pulled you to safety. We were on the ground
together, Sonia. There was no way she could have killed you and spared me in the process.”
This made Sonia fall into a stunned silence. She thought about his analysis and found herself agreeing
with him. Indeed, if it hadn’t been Tina’s intention to kill Toby, then she would have sped off after failing
to run Sonia down the first time, but instead, she made a fast turn and hurtled toward her and Toby.
So she really did want to kill me and Toby by running us over with her car.
“But why would she do something like that? Doesn’t she love you?” Sonia demanded, her nails digging
into her palms as her gaze searched Toby’s face.
Disgust flashed in Toby’s eyes as he spat, “Her love is worthless. Besides, she never truly loved me.”
“Never?” Sonia repeated in surprise.
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