Treasure in the Box
“I’ll go with you after we have breakfast.” Toby pushed his hair back as he spoke. Sonia didn’t have an
issue with that, so she nodded in agreement with his words. They got out of bed and washed up before
they left the room. Sonia had been about to prepare some food in the kitchen when she heard the
doorbell ringing in the living room.
“Someone’s here, Toby,” Sonia told the man, who was bent low in front of the coffee table making them
some hot coffee. Once he poured the drinks, he responded to Sonia. “Tom’s here with breakfast, I
think.”
“Did you tell him to buy breakfast?” Sonia asked with an eyebrow raised.
“Yes, I texted him after I woke up,” Toby replied as he walked toward the foyer to open the door.
Indeed, it was Tom who was standing outside. “Come in.” Toby kept the door open for Tom before he
led Tom into the living room.
Tom entered with lunch boxes that consisted of their food, and he gave Sonia a polite nod when he saw
her sitting on the couch and sipping on coffee. “Good morning, Miss Reed.”
“Good morning, Tom,” Sonia responded with a smile. Tom placed their breakfast on the dining table
and set up the table as he spoke. “By the way, President Fuller, I asked some of the staff earlier.
Apparently, both Paradigm Co. and Fuller Group’s front entrances are surrounded by reporters.”
“I got it.” Toby’s expression remained calm upon hearing Tom’s statement, seemingly not bothered by
the fact that reporters were crowding the office. He wasn’t the only one—even Sonia didn’t show much
of a response. She continued sipping on her coffee calmly. This wasn’t the first time she trended on the
Internet—she was more of a hot topic than some celebrities were. Every time she became a trending
topic, the reporters would immediately show up at her workplace, so she wasn’t surprised to hear that
they were camping outside Paradigm Co. today. She was used to it, after all.
Tom scratched the tip of his nose awkwardly when he saw how calm both of them were. Woah. They’re
so calm. I’m just the one bringing the message to them, yet I feel more nervous than them. Tom
shrugged and quietly set up the rest of the table after that.
Soon enough, breakfast was ready, and Tom turned to look at the couple sitting by the coffee table. “It’s
time for breakfast, Miss Reed and President Fuller.”
“Come on.” Toby lowered his coffee cup and pulled Sonia over to the dining table. By the time they
were done with breakfast, it was almost 8.30AM. They had slightly less than 2 hours until the press
conference, so it was just right for them to collect the videos at the bank before returning to Paradigm
Co.
While they were on the way to the bank, Toby recalled something and he turned his head sideways to
look at the woman who was typing away on her phone. “Hey, darling.”
“Yes?” Sonia looked up when she heard him calling. “What is it?”
“You mentioned that you have the videos stored in the bank’s safety deposit box and that these videos
will prove Jessica and Sandra bullied you, but you didn’t say anything about your adoption letter. If you
don’t have the document, how are you going to tell others that Henry and his wife adopted you?” Toby
frowned with a rather serious look on his face. She might not know that she’s Titus’ daughter, but I do.
Henry stole her from Titus; he didn’t adopt her from an orphanage, so I’m sure she doesn’t have any
adoption documentation. Back then, Lina must have been dumbfounded when she lost her real child,
so Henry might have wanted to keep Sonia around to comfort his wife. He probably used Sonia as a
replacement for their dead child. If Sonia took over the role of their dead child just like that, then I don’t
think they obtained any letter of adoption for her. It’s been more than 20 years, yet no one apart from
the Lanes know that Henry’s daughter is actually dead and that Sonia isn’t Henry’s biological daughter.
The public has never even heard of Henry adopting a child, so it’s not likely that Sonia will have any
adoption documents.
Sonia knew what was going on in Toby’s mind when she saw the look on his face. She placed her hand
on his thigh as she responded with a smile. “Don’t worry. I have the documents.”
“You do?” Toby was shocked.
Sonia nodded. “Yeah. I thought I didn’t have it at first, but I gave the Public Security Bureau a call while
I was brushing up this morning. I figured I’d just try my luck to see if my dad had gone through the
procedures at the Public Security Bureau when he adopted me. My parents never told the public about
their dead child, so they didn’t make an announcement when they adopted me. This itself shows that
they had no plan of telling the world that their biological daughter was dead. It seemed like they wanted
to tell the world that I was their daughter, so they technically didn’t have to complete the adoption
procedures.”
“That’s right.” Toby nodded. That was precisely what he thought.
Sonia continued smiling. “I was nervous when I first made the call. I was thinking that I would call my
grandfather to prove my identity if I couldn’t find any adoption papers. Fortunately, my parents actually
went through with the adoption procedures, and the Public Security Bureau agreed to provide a copy. I
got Daphne to help me collect it, and she just gave me an update a while ago. She already has it with
her.”
“I see.” Toby relaxed his knitted brows. “I don’t have to worry about that, then.” He initially thought of
forging some adoption documents if Sonia didn’t have any. Forging documents was an easy job to him,
after all. But since she actually had a copy, he didn’t need to go the extra mile to get that done for her.
A fake document might be able to help her to get through some tough times, but a fake is a fake—
having an actual document will definitely give her a better sense of security. I didn’t want to forge the
documents as I didn’t want her to have to worry about this matter in the future.
They arrived at the bank a while later. Sonia had pre-booked an appointment to access her safety
deposit box, so it only took a while to collect her items. Once they got in the car, Sonia placed the
leather box on her thigh before running her fingers across the rather old leather surface. “This is such a
huge box. I wonder what else is inside apart from the video recordings,” Sonia uttered.
“Don’t you know?” Toby took a glance at the box.
She shook her head. “I don’t. I know about the few things that my dad told me about, but I don’t know
what else is inside.”
“You’ll find out when you open it.” Toby rested his head against his palm as he spoke to her. “You’ll
have to open it to take the videos out later, anyway.”
“That’s true.” Sonia smiled before she keyed in the passcode for the box. She knew the passcode—it
was her birthday. That was something that her father told her when he kept the box in the bank, and
she hadn’t forgotten his words ever since. Click! When Sonia keyed in the last number of the code, a
sound came from the lock.
“It’s open,” she said excitedly. Toby lowered his arm from the car’s armrest while Sonia grabbed the
box with both hands to lift the lid up.
She knew about the memory cards and property ownership documents that were in the box, but she
didn’t expect the few other things in the box—a well-folded silk product and a set of baby’s clothes.
“This…” Sonia froze in shock. “Why would Dad keep a set of baby’s clothes here? What’s this piece of
silk doing here?” She reached out to feel the soft fabric. “This can’t be a blanket, can it?”
When she took the folded piece of silk out to open it up, she realized that it was actually a blanket. It
looks more like a baby’s swaddle.
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