Free Web NovelChapter 103: Chapter 103: She Will Not Give Up the Opportunity
The hospital wasn’t far from the Preston residence, but Mrs. Preston still arrived much faster than Sonia Quincy had expected. ’Liam Joyce must have sped the whole way here to ease her anxiety,’ she figured.
Sonia hadn’t given Lynn Preston the full story behind Felix Preston’s injuries. On the phone, she had only said that Felix was in a car accident. But as for why, where, or who else was involved, she hadn’t mentioned a thing, so naturally, Lynn didn’t know either.
So when Mrs. Preston asked about the cause of his injuries, Lynn could only say that Felix had gotten into an accident.
Fiercely protective of her son, Mrs. Preston immediately pulled the doctor aside and questioned him thoroughly about the injuries the moment she arrived. After she was done, she sat by Felix Preston’s bedside, watching over him and wiping away tears, completely forgetting to ask Sonia for any other details about the accident.
Sonia, for her part, was relieved by the oversight. It meant she could finally rest for a little while tonight, without having to stay on edge, racking her brain for ways to handle the situation.
The private room was spacious. Sonia asked a nurse for a folding cot, then ordered a pillow and blanket from a delivery app, preparing to stay the night by his side.
"Sonia, you should go home and rest. I can watch over him here," Mrs. Preston said, rubbing her red, swollen eyes and forcing a kind smile for Sonia.
"No." Sonia’s voice was completely hoarse, but her tone as she said that single word was incredibly firm.
"Felix is unconscious. I’m not going home to sleep by myself. I wouldn’t be able to rest. I’m staying here with him."
Mrs. Preston knew how much she cared for Felix, so she naturally understood how Sonia felt. The last thing a pregnant woman needed was to be put through turmoil, especially emotional turmoil. After a moment’s thought, Mrs. Preston decided it was better to let her stay peacefully by Felix’s side than to force her to go home unhappy.
Being able to see Felix at all times might ease her heart a little.
"Sonia, go get washed up. I’ll make the bed for you." Mrs. Preston didn’t press the issue further. Instead, she wiped her hands and walked over to take the blanket from her.
"This sofa unfolds into a bed. In a little while, I’ll push it together with the cot, and we can sleep side-by-side."
"Mhm." Sonia was so exhausted she felt like her soul was about to leave her body. She hadn’t clearly heard the details of what Mrs. Preston said; all that mattered was that she wasn’t being forced to go home.
The hospital room couldn’t accommodate so many people. Since Sonia and Mrs. Preston were staying, Lynn Preston naturally had to go home. Although Liam Joyce had already approved her time off, she felt that since she was just an extra body at the hospital, she might as well go back to work.
Ever since she last saw Milly at Azure Studio, she had been intentionally working to restore their relationship. More than half a month had passed, and Milly was gradually beginning to trust and rely on her. Lynn was confident that if she just persisted a while longer, she could definitely wheedle something out of Milly.
And tomorrow was the day of her long-planned dinner with Milly.
She didn’t want to miss it.
...
Sonia was utterly exhausted. She slept deeply and soundly on the makeshift bed on the sofa, not waking up until after ten the next morning.
All the while, doctors and nurses came in and out. The constant clatter of bottles and medical equipment, and the murmur of conversations between the doctor and Mrs. Preston, didn’t disturb Sonia in the slightest.
"Oh, Sonia, you’re awake?"
Seeing Sonia’s eyes open, Mrs. Preston immediately put down the water pitcher and hurried over from the doorway.
"Did you get enough sleep?" Mrs. Preston leaned over and gently brushed the stray hairs from Sonia’s face. "The doctor has already been in to check on him once. It should be quiet for the next few hours, so they won’t disturb you. Do you want to sleep a bit more? Or maybe eat something before you go back to sleep?"
Sonia threw back the blanket and groggily shook her head. "Mom, I’m hungry."
Mrs. Preston patted her cheek. "I’ll go get us some food right now. You just sit up for a bit and wake yourself up. Once you’re more alert, you can get up and get washed."
Sonia: "Okay. Thank you, Mom."
Mrs. Preston didn’t feel comfortable leaving Sonia to watch the room alone, so she didn’t go outside the hospital to get food. Instead, she had a nurse show her to the hospital’s cafeteria, where she quickly grabbed a few dishes and hurried back.
The hospital cafeteria offered a wide variety of dishes, but none of them actually tasted very good.
Especially when compared to Mrs. Preston’s cooking.
"Ugh, this food is awful," Mrs. Preston said with a look of disgust after just two bites, immediately setting down her chopsticks.
Sonia managed a weak smile. "Hospital food is always like this—pretty bland. If you don’t like it, Mom, I can order something else for delivery."
"No delivery," Mrs. Preston said with a frown, her expression unreadable as she stared at the food on the table. After a few seconds of hesitation, she picked up her chopsticks and started eating again.
"Delivery food is so unsanitary. I’d rather eat this bland stuff."
"How about you, Sonia? Can you stomach this food?"
Sonia nodded. "I’m fine. I used to eat hospital food all the time, so I’m used to it. It doesn’t seem that bad to me."
"You ate hospital food often?" Something about that didn’t sound right to Mrs. Preston. "Sonia, why would you have eaten hospital food so often? Were you frequently sick and in the hospital before?"
"Er..." Sonia faltered.
’A slip of the tongue, and I actually brought up being hospitalized for cancer before I transmigrated...’
"Y-Yes, I was sick a lot." The cat was out of the bag, so Sonia had no choice but to muddle through with a lie. "My health... wasn’t the best back then. I—I had to stay in the hospital a lot."
"Oh... you’ve really been through a lot." Mrs. Preston didn’t suspect a thing; her heart just ached for Sonia. "Sonia, dear, I know the food is terrible, but please just make do for the next couple of days. As soon as Felix wakes up and I can step away to go home, I’ll cook you lots of delicious food and bring it here."
"Okay." Sonia wasn’t in the mood to fuss over such things.
The food was bland and tasteless, and the two women—mother- and daughter-in-law—could only grimace as they ate.
After they finished eating, Sonia fished her phone out of her bag, only to discover a backlog of unread messages.
The most were from Mina Jennings.
Ever since she had left with Jasper Linden yesterday afternoon without a word, Mina had been sending her a steady stream of messages.
First, she asked what had happened, then expressed her concern for Sonia’s safety. Finally, she’d written to say that Julia Dawson had agreed to the partnership and wanted to know when Sonia would be free to come to the studio to discuss the details and sign the contract.
Staring at the wall of text, Sonia let out a long sigh before tapping open the chat window to reply.
—Thanks for your concern, Ms. Jennings. I’m fine. I’ll take the deal with Julia Dawson, but it might be a couple of days before I can come to the studio to discuss the details.
Felix Preston was still in a coma, but life and work had to go on. Sonia refused to let herself fall into despair and waste the opportunity she had fought so hard to secure.
She sat on the sofa by the hospital bed, and after replying to her work messages, she opened Spudster and another social media app, then went back to mindlessly gossiping in the comment sections.
At 12:30 p.m., Lynn Preston pushed open the door to the room, muttering curses under her breath.
"So damn unlucky... How can I run into them everywhere..."
