Chapter 1030
Sonia was silent for a while. "Yeah. Maybe I was too hung up on that. I was drowning in their
comments for years. It has stopped now, but it left a mark. I just couldn''t brush it off."
N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive ? material.
"And now you can." Toby patted her head.
"Yeah, now I can. You talked me through it. If I still can''t brush it off, I might kill off our rtionship
eventually."
"Don''t say that." He frowned in displeasure and put his finger against her lips.
She took his hand away in amusement. "Lighten up. It''s just a joke. Don''t be so uptight about it. I
didn''t say anything that bad."
"But you mentioned ''killing our rtionship''. That''s bad enough," he said solemnly. "It''s not a good
word. I want us to be safe and sound." Thest time she fell down a cliff left a traumatic impression
on him. He had thought he lost her. From then on, he refused to let her risk her life, or he might do
something really drastic just to save her.
"Alright, alright. I''ll stop." Sonia noticed how much he was frowning. She knew he cared a lot about
this, and she wouldn''t challenge him. Going with the flow was the best thing to do now.
He slowly stopped frowning after she stopped bringing that up. "It''s great that you''re brushing their
opinions off. It''s the only way we can live our lives without any burden. We don''t need that negativity
in our lives. It''s a sad life to live ording to someone else''s wishes. The only people who''ll be
happy about it are them, and not us." He held her tightly, patting her head and kissing it.
She leaned against his chest. Sonia said nothing, but she was listening to him.
Toby eventually stopped, then he looked at her. "If you don''t care about the public''s opinion
anymore, you won''t feel too much pressure asking for my help now, will you? I know you still won''t
do that, since you have your reason to settle this yourself, but you know you don''t have the power to
settle your problem yourself, don''t you?"
Sonia looked at him again, and she was reminded of what Brian and Charles told her in the hotel.
She shook her head. "I... Yeah, I know." She didn''t know much about the business world or how to
survive in it. Sonia was just a newbie, and she had no organization to call her own, nor did she have
any connections. They were important elements to survival in business, but she had none of it.
There was no way she could solve anything on her own. She didn''t want to admit it, but that was the
truth. She was in a bad condition. All she had was apany. She might be the boss of it, but that
alone wasn''t enough to take her into the center of the business world. She couldn''t even deal with
the B listers of the business scene either.
Toby cocked his eyebrow. He was surprised that she would admit her powerlessness so easily.
Sonia caught that, and she pouted unhappily. "What? Surprised I''d say that?"
Toby nodded. "Yes. You probably don''t know this, but you''re actually a stubborn woman who''d push
herself to the limits. I thought you wouldn''t admit it, but..."
She snorted. "Yeah, but I have to face reality. I can''t deal with it on my own, and that''s the truth."
Toby smiled. "Why didn''t you tell me about it then? Why didn''t you ask for my help if you know you
can''t settle it on your own? I know why you want to do it, and I support it, but you need to at least
have enough strength and a big enough team to deal with your problems without my help. However,
you still have some way to go before you can stand on your own, and yet you hide things from me.
That''s just pushing yourself, and it''ll only make things worse, you know that?"
Sonia lowered her eyes. "Yeah. Of course. I can''t deal with it on my own for now. I''ll only make it
worse." Brian and Charles had told her that as well. She had taken some time to think it through and
realized that it was true. That was the reason she admitted to that so easily.
Toby was surprised she got over that so easily, but only for a moment. Since she could understand
that she had nothing, it was natural she would think about the future. It was a good thing, as that
meant she could ept what he had to say more easily. "Why didn''t you tell me then?" He
pretended to look serious. "You''d rather ask Charles for help, but not me. Do you have any idea
what that feels like? It feels like you don''t see me as your lover. It feels like you think Charles is
more important than I am. Do you have any idea how it feels to be less to youpared to an
outsider like Charles?"
"That''s not what I meant." Sonia shook her head quickly. "I never asked Charles to help me. I never
had any ns to do that."
Toby froze for a moment. "Really?"
"Yeah."
"So how did he know about the case about the parts?"
"Did you forget? Charles is a director-in-name at Paradigm Co., and he was the one who hooked
Paradigm Co. up with Dwells. Mypany''s guys would tell Charles that someone took the deal
from us, and that''s how he found out," Sonia exined. Toby was getting angry, and she had to
defuse him.
Oh, that''s one question answered. I see. He had no idea this happened. "So you didn''t ask for his
help?" he asked, pursing his lips.
She nodded. "Of course. He came to Paradigm Co. after he found out about it. He asked me if I
could handle this. I couldn''t, so he gave me a suggestion."
"What kind of suggestion?" Toby squinted.
She rubbed her head against his chest. "He suggested that I use coteral to get a loan from the
bank and throw money at the problem. I epted his suggestion and used the Reed Residence''s
deed as coteral. I called Brian, the president of Bank of Caruna''s Seafield branch."
"So you went to see Brian after you had lunch with Charles?" He looked at her.
"Yes." She nodded. "And he approved the loan. I got it half an hour ago. I was about to give it all to
Daphne and have her handle everything about the missing parts, but you got the parts back for me
before the loan was approved. So I guess this is extra money." She smiled. Sonia looked like she
was happy to get the money, as if it was a windfall.