Boss, Your Wife's Asking For A Divorce, Again

Sonia was silent for a while. "Yeah. Maybe I was too hung up on that. I was drowning in their comments for years. It has stopped now, but it left a mark. I just couldn't brush it off."

"And now you can." Toby patted her head.

"Yeah, now I can. You talked me through it. If I still can't brush it off, I might kill off our relationship eventually."

"Don't say that." He frowned in displeasure and put his finger against her lips.

She took his hand away in amusement. "Lighten up. It's just a joke. Don't be so uptight about it. I didn't say anything that bad."

"But you mentioned 'killing our relationship'. That's bad enough," he said solemnly. "It's not a good word. I want us to be safe and sound." The last time she fell down a cliff left a traumatic impression on him. He had thought he lost her. From then on, he refused to let her risk her life, or he might do something really drastic just to save her.

"Alright, alright. I'll stop." Sonia noticed how much he was frowning. She knew he cared a lot about this, and she wouldn't challenge him. Going with the flow was the best thing to do now.

He slowly stopped frowning after she stopped bringing that up. "It's great that you're brushing their opinions off. It's the only way we can live our lives without any burden. We don't need that negativity in our lives. It's a sad life to live according to someone else's wishes. The only people who'll be happy about it are them, and not us." He held her tightly, patting her head and kissing it.

She leaned against his chest. Sonia said nothing, but she was listening to him.

Toby eventually stopped, then he looked at her. "If you don't care about the public's opinion anymore, you won't feel too much pressure asking for my help now, will you? I know you still won't do that, since you have your reason to settle this yourself, but you know you don't have the power to settle your problem yourself, don't you?"

Sonia looked at him again, and she was reminded of what Brian and Charles told her in the hotel. She shook her head. "I… Yeah, I know." She didn't know much about the business world or how to survive in it. Sonia was just a newbie, and she had no organization to call her own, nor did she have any connections. They were important elements to survival in business, but she had none of it. There was no way she could solve anything on her own. She didn't want to admit it, but that was the truth. She was in a bad condition. All she had was a company. She might be the boss of it, but that alone wasn't enough to take her into the center of the business world. She couldn't even deal with the D-listers of the business scene either.

Toby cocked his eyebrow. He was surprised that she would admit her powerlessness so easily.

Sonia caught that, and she pouted unhappily. "What? Surprised I'd say that?"

Toby nodded. "Yes. You probably don't know this, but you're actually a stubborn woman who'd push herself to the limits. I thought you wouldn't admit it, but…"

She snorted. "Yeah, but I have to face reality. I can't deal with it on my own, and that's the truth."

Toby smiled. "Why didn't you tell me about it then? Why didn't you ask for my help if you know you can't settle it on your own? I know why you want to do it, and I support it, but you need to at least have enough strength and a big enough team to deal with your problems without my help. However, you still have some way to go before you can stand on your own, and yet you hide things from me. That's just pushing yourself, and it'll only make things worse, you know that?"

Sonia lowered her eyes. "Yeah. Of course. I can't deal with it on my own for now. I'll only make it worse." Brian and Charles had told her that as well. She had taken some time to think it through and realized that it was true. That was the reason she admitted to that so easily.

Toby was surprised she got over that so easily, but only for a moment. Since she could understand that she had nothing, it was natural she would think about the future. It was a good thing, as that meant she could accept what he had to say more easily. "Why didn't you tell me then?" He pretended to look serious. "You'd rather ask Charles for help, but not me. Do you have any idea what that feels like? It feels like you don't see me as your lover. It feels like you think Charles is more important than I am. Do you have any idea how it feels to be less to you compared to an outsider like Charles?"

"That's not what I meant." Sonia shook her head quickly. "I never asked Charles to help me. I never had any plans to do that."

Toby froze for a moment. "Really?"