The doctor’s hand paused in mid-air as he looked up in mild surprise, his gaze flickering from Sonia to the impassive Toby. He didn’t think he was using much force at all, so it was unlikely that Toby felt any pain. Besides, judging from the man’s lack of expression, I highly doubt he’s in pain, the doctor concluded.
As the doctor shook his head, he did not dwell further on Sonia’s remark before dismissing it as a wife’s show of concern for her husband’s wellbeing. Well, I guess I’ll just be as gentle as I can. After having decided on this, the doctor sighed and carried on with the massage.
The massage had continued for quite a while before he opened the medical kit and began to rummage through its contents, selecting the bandages for Toby’s wound.
Sonia patted Douglas on the back as she stood up. “How’s his foot, doctor? Is there a fracture or something?”
While he dabbed antiseptic onto Toby’s foot, the doctor answered dutifully, “Don’t you worry, ma’am. Your husband’s foot will be alright.
There’s no damage to his bones, although he has sprained his ligament and tendon. He just needs to take it easy for about two weeks or so before he’ll make a full recovery.”
Upon hearing this, she let out a breath of relief. Then, she nodded with a smile as she answered, “That’s good to know.”
The guilt she had felt earlier significantly waned after she heard that Toby would recover just fine.
She knew he had only tried to save himself, but it didn’t disregard the fact that he saved her all the same, even though such a feat was more of a coincidence than anything else. She would have been indebted to him had his foot suffered any real and serious injury.
He, on the other hand, was regarding Sonia with a dark look when he noticed the wide grin on her face. She might as well congratulate me, he thought sullenly.
As though she sensed his gaze, Sonia turned to look at him in askance. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” Toby answered curtly as a resentful look flashed in his eyes.
She shrugged and looked away.
A few minutes later, the doctor rose from his seat and declared, “Okay, sir. Your foot is all wrapped up and you’re ready to go. Make sure to keep the bandaged area dry and after a day, you can replace your dressings with a new one
from any clinic or hospital.”
Sonia nodded on Toby’s behalf and replied, “Alright. Thank you so much, doctor.”
The manager saw the doctor out and when he returned to the scene, he had a large Gundam action figure in his arms along with an intricate box. He gave Sonia and Toby an apologetic look as he explained, “Sir, Madam, I'm terribly sorry for the injuries you sustained due to our negligence today. If you don’t mind, we offer you these as compensation.”
With that, the man handed the Gundam action figure and the box over to her.
However, she did not take them and merely glanced at Toby as she pointed out, “You’re the injured one, so you should take a look at the gifts instead.”
Toby scanned the Gundam toy and the box before he snapped icily, “It’s a little too early to dismiss this incident as one of negligence on the restaurant’s part. Any talk of compensation will have to wait until after my assistant has thoroughly looked into this.”
The manager bristled when he heard this and he couldn’t help the panic that seized him. He thought that a hefty compensation such as his offer would be enough to put an end to this matter, thereby allowing him to retain his job.
However, now that Toby was looking into the incident, the manager realized that it would take more than a generous compensation to resolve the matter at hand. And given the previous mention of an assistant, it seemed as if the injured man was not an average Joe.
The manager’s lips twitched into a bitter smile.
He knew how hard it was to placate men with such power like Toby; it looked like he would be out of work soon.
Approximately ten minutes had passed when Tom hurried back to the scene.
Toby looked up at his assistant and demanded, “So, what’s the verdict?”
Sonia was also looking at Tom while even the manager’s posture straightened to listen to the outcome of the investigation.
Tom answered solemnly, “President Fuller, I’ve looked into this and as it turns out, the whole thing was an accident. The attendant who installed the beam lost a couple of screws. When the other attendants saw that the beam held up just fine, they didn’t bother looking for replacement screws. They didn’t report this to the restaurant either, hence the accident.”
The divot between Toby’s brows smoothened when he heard that the incident was not part of some wicked scheme.
Sonia, on the other hand, pursed her lips in dismay and snapped, “How irresponsible of the attendant! He has caused this huge mess all because he couldn’t be bothered to go the extra mile to properly set up the beams. He didn’t even try to explain himself after the whole incident either! We were the only ones hurt by some sheer good fortune. Can you imagine how fatal things might turn out if young children were crushed by the beam?”
It wasn’t like children could duck for safety in time and even if they did, there was no guarantee that the beam wouldn’t fall upon them. They simply had no physical means to avoid danger and they could have died on the spot.
At the thought of that, she shuddered with fear.
It went without saying that Toby shared the same line of thought and his face was stormy as he barked, “Where’s the attendant now?”
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