Chapter 1417 Tom Is Heartbroken
Chapter 1417 Tom Is Heartbroken
The nurse doing their rounds meant that they had to go to sleep. Not wanting to be rushed to rest by the nurse later on, Sonia immediately nodded in agreement. Then, she was lifted off the bed and into Toby's arms before they headed toward the bathroom.
She said exasperatedly, "What are you doing? Hurry up and put me down. It's not like I can't walk."
She was just a little ill, but it didn't mean that she was paralyzed. She didn't need him to carry her there at all.
Even so, he refused to put her down and even replied with a serious expression, "But I want to carry you there."
"You aren't even fully recovered yourself. Why would I need you to carry me?" Sonia rolled her eyes.
Toby chuckled under his breath. "It's fine. It's just a few steps, so it won't do any harm to me. All right, let's go and wash up."
With that, he placed Sonia down in front of the sink and handed her a toothbrush.
After giving him an eye roll, Sonia accepted it and began to brush her teeth, while Toby remained next to her and joined her in brushing his teeth.
Washing up and brushing their teeth together had become their daily routine, and although they were not used to it at first, they had come to terms with it now. Of course, this change was only experienced by Sonia—someone as thick-skinned as Toby had never felt unaccustomed to this.
After they were done, Toby carried Sonia out of the bathroom and returned to her bed. This time, she did not tell him to put her down as she was well aware that it would be useless. Besides, he didn't seem to be affected after carrying her around, so she left him to his devices.
On the bed, Toby wrapped her in his arms before taking a book and flipping it open.
Sonia raised an eyebrow at his actions. "What are you reading?"
"A fairy tale," Toby said, breezily showing her the cover of the book.
At first, she was taken aback, but she soon chortled with laughter. "Toby, why didn't I know that you liked reading fairy tales?"
The idea of a grown man like him reading a fairy tale that not even toddlers enjoyed reading anymore was too hilarious for her not to laugh out loud.
"I'm not the one liking it." Toby retracted his hand and elaborated, "I'm reading it for our child."
"Huh?" Sonia blinked. "For the baby?"
She caressed her stomach, a little dumbfounded.
Toby jutted his chin noncommittally. "That's right. The book said that a child's prenatal education has to start early, and it's important to the baby. We can play some music and read some stories to the baby regularly. Music is fine, but I don't know what kind of stories babies like. I asked my subordinates, and they said that fairy tales are good for children, so I made them buy a few books to test it out."
Sonia's lips twitched. "Oh, please, even if it's for prenatal education, you should wait after the baby starts moving. It's way too early now."
She was both exasperated and amused as she continued, "Besides, the baby won't understand even if you read it out now. Also, normally toddlers are the ones who enjoy fairy tales. How would you know that the baby likes it?"
"I don't know. That's why I'm trying now." Toby's large hand covered her stomach as well. "Besides, our baby is definitely a genius. I know our baby will understand even if it's still early."
Looking at his certain expression, Sonia placed her hand on her forehead in amusement. "All right, read it then. The baby's mother would like to hear it too."
"Okay." Toby nodded in agreement before he flipped to the first page and began to read. "Snow White…"
As he read, he maintained perfect pacing and diction, making it extremely pleasing to listen to, and Sonia couldn't help but close her eyes. However, just then, he stopped reading all of a sudden.
She opened her eyes dubiously and saw his tightly furrowed brows as he stared at the book in his hand, deep in thought.
"What's wrong?" she asked in confusion.
Toby flipped a few pages of the book, his expression dark as he said, "This book won't do."
"How so?" she questioned, bewildered.
Toby said with a stormy expression and a disdainful tone, "This is a fairy tale, but the queen gets jealous of her stepdaughter and even tries to end her life by taking her heart? Is this a fairy tale or a murder mystery?"
"Well…" Sonia's lips twitched. She hadn't expected that this was what he meant when he said the book wouldn't do.
However, after listening to him, it did seem that the fairy tale was a little too dark.
Toby flipped to the rest of the story and continued, "Also, it says that after the queen failed to kill her stepdaughter, she used a poisoned apple to harm her. How can such cruel behavior show up in a fairy tale that's meant for children? Have they never thought that this is the age where they're supposed to be learning? Aren't they afraid of the children following what was written in the book? Even if they don't, what if they learn from the queen's cruel jealousy?" Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.
"Oh…" Sonia was rendered speechless.
It did seem a little inappropriate.
"Besides, in the other story, after the mother died and the father remarried, he ostracized his biological daughter and forced her to become a maid and serve them. Is this what a child is supposed to read? Won't it scare the children with stepmothers? Or, what if the stepmother was kind to the child, but after the child reads this and fears their stepmother, would they be able to remain kind to the child?"
Looking at the man who was relentlessly nitpicking the fairy tale, Sonia shook her head in amusement. "Honey, aren't you reading too much into this?"
"I'm not." Toby replied seriously, "This book won't do at all. Besides promoting negative behavior, the rest are all advocating for romance. Should a child be reading this? What if they start dating at a young age?"
At the thought of the possibility that the child in Sonia's belly might be a girl and she might have her heart stolen away by some brat at a young age, Toby found it unacceptable. He might lose his mind then.
Smack!
Toby closed the book in his hand expressionlessly and tossed it aside. "I can't read this story anymore or it might influence our child negatively. I'll buy a few more books tomorrow, and they better not have any weird crimes or romance in them. These aren't appropriate for children."
Sonia laughed again. "All right. Since it's inappropriate, don't read it and anger yourself."
"Okay, I won't. Let's sleep." Toby lay down and embraced her waist.
Sonia nestled into his arms and closed her eyes, and she soon fell asleep. As she was pregnant, she slept a lot more than usual, and Mary even said that she would sleep even more in the days to come.
Toby listened to the soft breathing of the sleeping woman in his arms, his gaze practically oozing with affection.
He lowered his head and dropped a kiss on her red lips before turning off the lights and saying in a low voice, "Good night."
After wrapping her in his embrace, he drifted off to sleep.
When he woke up the next day, Sonia was still asleep. He got off the bed lightly in order not to wake her. After eating the breakfast prepared by Mary and leaving her with some instructions, he left the hospital.
Upon seeing him in the parking lot, Tom hurriedly put out the cigarette in his hand and greeted, "President Fuller."
Toby frowned at the smell of tobacco and said, "Don't smoke in front of me anymore. Do you want to get the smell of cigarettes all over me so that I can bring it home and give my wife thirdhand smoke?"
Tom touched his nose guiltily. "I'm sorry, President Fuller. I didn't think about that."
"What exactly happened?" Toby asked while staring at him. "You never smoked in front of me. Are you in a bad mood?"