BXBX NOVEL Chapter 337 Tom's POV
Chapter 337 Tom's POV
As Sonia walked down the hallway with Tom, she cast a glance at him, contemplating if she should talk to him or not about Lucy's marital decision."I'm sorry..." Sonia started, and Tom who had been walking beside her silently as he thought of Lucy's sad eyes, turned to look at her in confusion.
"Are you talking to me?" He asks, wondering who the apology was meant for.
"Yes."
"What are you sorry about?"
"Lucy told me about your misunderstanding earlier. I caused it," Sonia said, and Tom looked at her with a puzzled expression, wondering how she could have caused it when she hadn't even been at the mall with them.
"How? What did you say to her?" Tom asked calmly as he led her into the Den instead of returning outside to join the others. Neither of them sat down. Instead, they stood, facing each other as they talked.
"Well, the thing is, the issue of marriage came up while we were talking at her office earlier this morning. And when she insisted on not wanting to get married as she had always said in the past, I kind of reacted wrongly since I thought dating you meant she had changed her mind about marriage. I think she felt pressured by me, and that was why she had to bring it up the way she did. I'm sorry," Sonia explained, and Tom nodded in understanding.
"It's fine. I will appreciate it if you don't talk to her about it anymore or pressure her about it next time either. Just let her do things at her own pace. It's better for us that way," Tom said, and Sonia looked at him curiously.
"What about you? What do you plan to do about it?"
"Nothing. As I said, I'm going to let her do things at her pace. I'm sure none of this is easy on her. Lucy is someone I deceived just to have her in my life. It's a miracle that she still loves me and wants to be with me despite all of that."
"Does that mean you are willing to let her have her way? You will just date her without getting married to her? For how long before you decide to move on?" She asked cautiously, and Tom shrugged.
"I'm hoping she will change her mind. But even if she doesn't, it won't change the way I feel about her. If she could give up wanting to be single to be with me despite my screwups, then maybe giving up the idea of having a family with her shouldn't be too much of a sacrifice."
Seeing the confusion on Sonia's face, he went on, "I'm not saying I have given up on the idea of marriage. I'm just trying to keep my mind open to the possibility of not ever getting married. If that's the only way I can have Lucy in my life, then I will find a way to adjust to it. She has given up something for me, so I should be able to do the same for her. It's compromise," Tom said with a rueful smile.
"You do realize that she doesn't want to have kids either, right?" Sonia pointed out, wondering how Tom would be able to live with something like that. She knew that there were men who didn't mind, but she didn't see Tom as one of such men.
She loved Lucy very much, and she cared for Tom too, even if Lucy would always be her priority. He wasn't just Lucy's boyfriend to her. He was also Bryan's brother, so she had to look out for them both, and to do that, she wanted to make sure Tom understood what he was getting involved in so that things wouldn't be hard for either him or Lucy. Not forgetting that she was also writing about them, so she couldn't just sit by and do nothing or know nothing.
"What if we were married and she couldn't have kids? Would I leave her? Listen, Sonia. I know you don't understand how I feel about your friend. Even I do not understand my feelings for her most times," Tom said as he went to sit on the couch, and Sonia did the same, sensing that he had more to say.
"I don't think I can explain this, but for me, it was love at first sight. It was like I knew she was mine the moment I watched her walk through the door into the club," Tom said, and Sonia looked at him with keen interest.
She had no idea it was love at first sight for Tom. Lucy had said he caught a glimpse of her checklist, and she had assumed the feelings came after he took her home.
"I was seated there waiting for Anita to come in so I would end things with her and leave, but instead of Anita, Lucy walked in dressed for the occasion but looking so lost and out of place. My eyes were glued to her as she made her way to the bar, and like fate, Sam brought her to sit right next to me. If I tell you I remember every word she said to the barman even before I spoke with her, you'd call me crazy, wouldn't you?" Tom asked, and Sonia just stared at him in disbelief.
"I've been with women in the past. But not once have I ever brought any woman to my home, but with Lucy, it felt so right bringing her here even without knowing much about her. The thought of taking her anywhere else was wrong. I will tell you something crazy... Although I had never said this out loud to anyone, when Lucy lay on my bed that first night and I watched her sleeping so peacefully, I thought of asking her to marry me the next morning when she wakes up, just because I didn't want her to disappear from my life the next day," Tom said.
This time Sonia's eyes widened in surprise, making Tom chuckle.
"I know you think I'm crazy, don't you? Anyway, I'm glad I didn't do that. That crazy move would have certainly sent her bolting out of my life forever," Tom said with a sad smile.
"You wanted to marry her from the first day you met her, and she doesn't even want to get married," Sonia murmured, feeling sorry for him.
She realized for the first time that she had never really thought of things from Tom's perspective or tried to find out why he had been interested in Lucy enough to tell all those lies. She had always written their story mostly from Lucy's point of view, but now she admitted that Tom's viewpoint was just as important. She was going to have to edit the story again.
"If I may ask, why didn't you do it? I mean, since you wanted to ask her to marry you, what stopped you?" Sonia asked curiously.
"I confirmed from Harry that she was our recently transferred director. So I decided that since she won't be entirely disappearing from my life, there was no need to hurry. I wanted to take my time to know her better before asking her to be my wife."
"Let me get something straight. You wanted to propose to her when you didn't know her, yet when you got close to her, you were trying to see if she was a golddigger. Why?" Sonia asked, pointing out the flaw in his logic.
"Not exactly. Pretending to be her driver was to get to know her personally, not to see if she was a golddigger. I didn't exactly think she was a golddigger...."
"If you didn't think so, you would have walked up to her normally and gotten to know her," Sonia countered.
"As Thomas Hank? Her boss? I don't think so. People generally pretend and butter up things when you're as wealthy as I am. I only decided to test her to see if she would fall for the 'CEO' because she gave me a reason to believe she was looking down on me for being a mere driver and handyman, and when Bryan said she wanted me to know of her relationship with you, I thought she might be interested in the CEO. I desperately wanted her to prove me wrong because I didn't think she was that sort of person," Tom explained.
"What would you have done if she had fallen for the 'CEO' then?"
"I wouldn't have been happy about it, but I would have married her regardless because I am in love with her. I understand that it is natural for most people to choose wealth over poverty. Even I would prefer to be rich than poor after all," Tom said with an amused smile now.
"If you know that, why give Lucy a chance when you didn't give Anita a chance?"
"First, I wasn't exactly in love with Anita. Also, she didn't even want to spend any time with me after I told her I wasn't wealthy. Lucy, on the other hand, is someone I'm in love with. And although she did not like that I was a driver or a handyman, she didn't let that stop her from treating me like a friend most of the time when she didn't have her guard up. She even managed to fall in love with me," Tom's eyes lit up as he said that, and Sonia smiled too.
"I know I went overboard in trying to understand her kind of person and get her, but I did all I thought I needed to do to... And then when I found out about Jamie, I realized just how wrong it all was," Tom explained, and Sonia sighed as she tried to process it all.
"Lucy is my soulmate, Sonia. And if what she wants is to stay by my side without officially becoming my wife, I will let her do so. It will be difficult for me, I know it. But Lucy is my only chance at love," Tom said, and this time Sonia teared up.
"I'm glad I had this conversation with you. Thank you for loving my baby the way you do," Sonia said tearily as she embraced him. Glad that she had been right to have trusted him.
Now she didn't have to worry so much about Lucy ruining her relationship with Tom. He deeply loved her and was mature enough to handle things.
Tom sighed, "What is it with all the ladies crying on me today? I can't offer you my handkerchief. I already gave it to Janet," Tom said, and Sonia laughed as she pulled away.
"I love you, Tom."
"Unfortunately for you, I'm taken," Tom said with a wink, and she laughed again.
"I'm taken too. So I will have to settle for a secret affair," Sonia said, and Tom chuckled.
"Talking about a secret affair, I hope this conversation can remain between us? I would still like to see if she can change her mind," Tom said, and Sonia smiled.
"Sure. I would like to see her change her mind. One of my secret desire is to help her plan her wedding as the maid of honor and watch her walk down the aisle," Sonia said with a sigh.
"Mine is to see her with a big baby bump. I can clearly picture it. Twin girls," Tom said, and Sonia laughed aloud.
"I've been looking all over for you. What are you both doing here?" Bryan asked irritably from the doorway, glaring at the both of them like he had caught them cheating on him.
"Oh, no! He finally caught us in the act, baby. What are we going to do? I guess it can't be kept a secret anymore. Go and tell him it's over baby," Tom said dryly as he kissed Sonia's cheek, and laughter bubbled out of her as she went to meet Bryan while Tom looked around until he found Lucy's phone.