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.
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?"
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