Listening to her words, Toby nodded and said, "It was Zonny Hohann, which is also the short form of my name on Messenger. I've told you about that before."
Sonia hummed in response and said, "I remember. You told me that you had followed your mother's surname. You only changed your name after that."
"Before my father met my stepmom, he had always been in love with my mother. Moreover, since my mother is the only daughter that my grandfather had, my father intended to have two kids with her. One of their kids would be named after my mother's surname and be the heir of the Johann Family to prevent the family from being in the hands of the collateral branch. Vice versa, the other will be named after my father's surname and be the heir of the Fuller Family. That was why I was named John Johann when I was born. At that time, my father didn't know that she did not intend to have another child with him," Toby explained.
"I know what you mean. It's the best your mother can do to give birth to a child for the Fuller Family when she always loved Connor." Sonia sighed.
As a woman, she understood what Valerie was thinking. After all, she was at her limits when she bore the child of a man she didn't love. So, how would she want another child?
"That's right." Toby nodded as he agreed with Sonia's words. "To be honest, they made an agreement when they were married. When my mother had given birth to the Fuller Family's heir, my father would let her have her freedom. However, he loved her unconditionally back then. Even if he couldn't agree with it when he heard her words, it was hard for him to be mad at her simultaneously. Hence, he could only endure it and accept my mother's agreement. Nevertheless, he had his motives too. After all, my mother only said to leave once she had given an heir to the Fullers, but she didn't specify how many children. So, my father took this as an opportunity and told her that the first child would be named after the Johanns and not the Fullers."
Hearing his words, Sonia rubbed her chin and said aloud of Homer's intention, "Your father dragged the time. He did it on purpose to make her stay longer."
Toby nodded and said, "You're right. It was true that my father had such a plan. As long as my mother's first child wasn't part of the Fullers, he would then have a reason to make her give birth to another one. That way, he could make her stay by his side and at the Fullers for a long time. Moreover, he would also have the time to bond their relationship. It was a good plan since he felt the relationship was bonded by spending time together. Even if my mother was in love with Connor, they couldn't see each other much as one was in Seafield while the other was in Westsanshire. Plus, the technology back then was not developed. So, my father thought she would love him and forget about Connor as time passed. In the end, perhaps she would love him."
"Unfortunately, your father's plan didn't make it. He didn't think things through and underestimated the feelings that your mother had for Connor." As Sonia spoke, she looked at Toby dishearteningly.
However, Toby was expressionless and said, "You're right. My father didn't overthink it. He just thought she would give up on Connor and love him if given enough time. However, my mother was not a fool either. Although she had seen through my father's plan, she didn't expose him and waited until she was pregnant with me through IVF. After giving birth to me, she listened to my father and named me after the Johanns. At that moment, my father was delighted when he saw that my mother was not reluctant to do so. He thought that she was starting to have feelings for him and was willing to stay by his side. Little did he know what my mother was thinking."
"I could guess it. Ever since the beginning, your mother did not intend to let you be the heir of the Johann Family and did not intend to have another child. So, she didn't care who you were named after, right?" Sonia looked at Toby as she spoke.
While listening to her words, Toby didn't look at her and was focused on the road ahead. All he did was hum slightly and say, "Exactly. My mother's thought was that she would only give birth to me regardless of which surname I was named after. In the end, I could still be the heir of the Fuller Family and the Johann Family, connecting both families. After all, she didn't care about the Johanns' future. To her, nothing was more important than her love for Connor." As Toby spoke, a hint of mockery flashed across his face.
When Sonia saw it, she sighed deeply in her head and thought, Valerie was hopelessly in love. She's the most hopeless romantic woman I have ever seen in my life. Although Sonia knew that she was also kind of a hopelessly romantic person when she couldn't forget about Toby for the past six years, she was not as hopeless as Valerie.
After all, she became aware of her condition and made a stop to it, reducing her losses. However, Valerie was the opposite. She was madly in love with Connor and killed herself in the end. She was a pitiful woman but hateful at the same time.
Valerie was a suitable partner and a loyal simp to Connor. However, she was never a good wife or mother to Homer and Toby. Even if she indeed loved Toby, she treated him as a replacement for Connor in her own comfort, which meant that her maternal love was impure.
"In the end, it's good that your father is not in love with your mother anymore. Otherwise, if this went on, your father would've been another copy of her." Sonia flipped her hair and sighed softly.
It was fortunate that Homer had realization struck upon him in the end, and he fell in love with Jean. Otherwise, he would also have killed himself if he had fallen for her deeply and seen that Valerie had left.
At that moment, Toby gripped the steering wheel tightly and said deeply, "My father loved my mother deeply from the start. Ever since I was born, and she didn't refuse to name me after her family, my father really thought that she had feelings for him. However, as my mother slowly recovered, she became cold toward my father and was unwilling to sleep with him, insisting that they sleep in separate rooms. It was then my father realized that she had never loved or accepted him, even if they had a child. At that moment, something in my father snapped. Not only did he act cold toward her, his behavior also changed drastically. He became a man of few words and was gloomy, which was different from what he used to be—a talkative and positive man. At the same time, he started to smoke and drink. He never did such things before, and he always made himself pass out."
When Sonia heard his words, she opened her mouth slightly and said, "It… It must have been a heartbroken sight for Grandma to watch, right? To see her son in such a state…"
"Yes, Grandma was indeed devastated. After all, her son, whom she had poured her heart out and cared for many years, had changed drastically. As a mother, she was the one who took it the worst. Although I was young then, I could still remember seeing my father getting drunk while Grandma wept in tears," Toby said as he frowned.
Looking at him, Sonia asked, "What about your mother?"
When Toby heard her words, he pursed his lips into a thin line. "My mother? She did nothing. My father was just a man that she didn't love. So, she wouldn't have cared for him no matter what he became. As long as it did not stop her from leaving and affect her life, she did not care."
"All of a sudden, I feel like she is too cold-blooded." Sonia sighed.
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Same story i read about Jarred and Amber Reed...