Free Web NovelChapter 23: Chapter 23: Her Every Move Is Under My Control
These words greatly boosted Evan Yates’s confidence. He rolled up his sleeves, sat down at the computer, and immediately started hammering away at the keyboard!
Felix Preston remained relatively calm. He turned to Sonia Quincy and asked, "What makes you so sure this game will be a hit?"
Sonia Quincy: "...My gut tells me."
Felix Preston: "...Alright, then."
While a gut feeling wasn’t based on facts, it still gave him a little more confidence.
He put the documents away and went back to work on his computer.
Sonia Quincy had nothing to do. After wandering around the room bored for a few laps, she started to feel drowsy.
Mrs. Preston had returned to the tutoring center to teach her classes after lunch, leaving Sonia Quincy as the only idle person in the studio. Sonia sat in a chair and played on her phone for a while, but the more she played, the sleepier she got. Eventually, she just laid her head down on the desk and dozed off.
Felix Preston had taken on a few odd jobs that morning. After modifying some modeling data, he was completely engrossed in his work for the client. He didn’t even notice when Sonia Quincy had dozed off at the desk.
It was Evan Yates who saw her and told him.
He set his work aside for the moment, pulled his chair out, and quietly walked over to Sonia Quincy’s side.
Sonia Quincy was resting her head on her arms, and the side of her face was squished into a chubby round shape. At a glance, she looked just like Crayon Shin-chan.
A faint smile appeared on Felix Preston’s face.
Sonia Quincy was sleeping soundly, and soft snores could be heard with each breath. Felix Preston didn’t have the heart to wake her, but he knew he had to.
He leaned down, gently patted the back of Sonia Quincy’s head, and called out to her in a soft voice, "Sonia? Sonia?"
"...Hm?" Sonia Quincy groggily opened her eyes, so sleepy she couldn’t even see Felix Preston’s face clearly. "What is it? Is it time to eat again?"
"No." Felix Preston’s voice was very gentle, with a hint of a smile in it that made Sonia Quincy’s heart beat a little faster.
"It’s not comfortable sleeping hunched over like that. Come with me, I’ll take you to a bed so you can sleep properly."
Sonia Quincy sat up, looking at him with a dazed expression. "Where is there a bed here?"
Felix Preston took her by the wrist and helped her stand up, leading her toward the office desks. "For convenience, Evan Yates bought a couple of folding cots online two days ago. I’ll get one out for you. You can lie down on it and sleep."
"It might not be as comfortable as home, but at least you won’t be so tired."
Sonia Quincy obediently followed Felix Preston and nodded upon hearing his explanation. "Oh."
The folding cots were stored under the file cabinet behind the desks. Felix Preston took one out, unfolded it, and helped Sonia Quincy lie down.
Sonia Quincy rolled onto her side with a contented smile. "This is actually pretty comfortable."
Felix Preston pressed his lips together, unable to smile at all.
Sonia Quincy was pregnant. It was bad enough she had to put up with living in a rented apartment with him, but now she even had to make do with a nap on a hard folding cot.
’He felt truly awful about it.’
But Sonia Quincy didn’t seem to mind. Instead, she said cheerfully, "Well, I’m going to sleep then. You guys keep up the hard work."
Felix Preston took off his jacket and draped it over her, giving a muffled "mhm" in response.
Sonia Quincy wasn’t a picky person. Even on a folding cot, she could sleep perfectly well.
She closed her eyes quietly, and the sound of her steady breathing drifted over intermittently amidst the clatter of keyboards. Listening to it, Felix Preston felt an inexplicable sense of peace and reassurance.
He rushed to finish the client’s job, turning back to check on Sonia Quincy from time to time. Seeing her sleeping so soundly seemed to melt some of his own fatigue away.
"Preston," Evan Yates, who was sitting opposite Felix Preston, called out in a whisper, afraid of waking Sonia Quincy.
"Hm?" Felix Preston glanced up at him.
Evan Yates: "You just showed our project proposal to your wife so casually? Aren’t you afraid she’ll... you know?"
Felix Preston glanced at the sleeping Sonia Quincy, his voice soft but firm. "I’m not."
"She’s willing to trust me, so naturally, I have to trust her too. If we’re constantly on guard against each other, then you can’t call that being husband and wife."
"...Oh."
Since Felix Preston had put it that way, there was no need for Evan to keep nagging him. Still, after a moment’s thought, he couldn’t resist adding one more reminder. "Preston, we already took a huge fall because of Robert Ford. It was a miserable, heavy fall, and I don’t want another Robert Ford to appear in our lives."
"I understand." Felix Preston adjusted his glasses, his eyes sharp and clear behind the lenses. "My trust has its conditions, too. Don’t worry. I have her every move under control. I won’t let her become a second Robert Ford."
The meaning behind those words was a bit deep. It took Evan Yates several seconds to understand the implication.
He raised his eyebrows and gave Felix Preston a relieved smile. "Well, since you’ve got it figured out, Preston, I’ll stop worrying."
"Ngh..."
The moment he finished speaking, Sonia Quincy, on the folding cot, suddenly stretched and rolled over. Felix Preston quickly turned to look at her. Only when he saw that her eyes were still closed did the wary look on his face soften slightly.
"Mhm," he responded in a low voice, reaching out to pull the fallen jacket back over Sonia Quincy.
"Let’s get back to work. I need to head home early today."
Evan Yates gave him an "OK" sign. "Got it."
Sonia Quincy’s nap lasted a full two hours. By the time she woke up, Felix Preston had already finished his work for the client.
"Awake?" Felix Preston put down his phone, swiveled his chair around, and looked at her with a faint smile.
"..." Sonia Quincy’s eyes were unfocused and her expression was blank, as if she hadn’t heard him at all.
She had slept for so long it felt like her brain had turned to mush. She was completely dazed and not fully awake.
Felix Preston waited for a moment. Seeing her just sitting there, staring blankly without moving or speaking, he waved a hand in front of her face.
"Sonia, are you awake?"
"...Huh?" Sonia Quincy finally regained some awareness and slowly, sluggishly looked up at Felix Preston. "Mhm... I’m awake."
"Do you want some water?" Felix Preston asked patiently.
Sonia Quincy: "Yes."
Felix Preston turned and called out to Evan Yates, "Evan, get your sister-in-law a glass of water."
Evan Yates happened to be changing the water bottle on the cooler. Hearing this, he let out a helpless laugh. "Preston, how am I supposed to get her water? Our studio’s budget has always been tight. Besides a jug of purified water and our two mugs in the break area, where am I going to find a spare container for water?"
"Huh?" Felix Preston was completely unaware of this. "No containers for water? Not even any disposable paper cups?"
Evan Yates shook his head. "Nope."
"..." Felix Preston’s expression immediately became a bit awkward.
Seeing the two of them in a bind, Sonia Quincy thought for a few seconds. She was about to say she wasn’t thirsty after all, but Felix Preston suddenly handed her his own mug.
"If you don’t mind, you can use my mug."
"..." Sonia Quincy stared at him, stunned. She hesitated for only a second before taking the mug with both hands.
"I don’t mind."
As soon as she said it, she tilted her head back and drank all the water in the mug in one go. After finishing, she handed it back to Felix Preston. "Thank you."
Felix Preston blinked, his expression becoming slightly unnatural.
"You’re welcome."
BUZZ—BUZZ—
Just then, Felix Preston’s phone suddenly started vibrating. He glanced at the caller ID and immediately answered.
"Hello, Mom."
Mrs. Preston’s voice came clearly through the receiver. "Felix, when can you get off work? Just come and pick me up directly when you’re done. Lynn has to work overtime again today, so she can’t have dinner with us."
"Overtime again?" Felix Preston’s brow furrowed, a cold glint instantly appearing in his eyes.
