Charles’s Invitation
“Why don’t we get someone to run an investigation?” Charles suggested.
Sonia nodded in response. “Of course. We have to look into this. I won’t be able to sleep well if we
don’t dig deep to find out all that we can about them.” Jessica and her mother were in hiding, while
Sonia was out in the public’s eye, after all. Sonia wouldn’t even have found out about Jessica’s return
to Seafield if Charles hadn’t found out about Jessica. If I didn’t know that they were back, I wouldn’t
even have the chance to react in time if Jessica and her mother were to do something to me. Now that
I’m aware of their return, I have to investigate their whereabouts, so that I can be prepared if they try to
do anything to me.
“Who’s going to do the investigation? Should we hire a detective, or…” Charles’s voice faded off. “Let’s
get a detective,” Sonia replied after thinking for a moment. “Jessica showed up near Paradigm Co.—I
believe she was trying to gain information about us. If we send our own people over, she might
recognize one of them, so I think it’s better if we hire a detective.”
“That’s true. There’s a private detective office that I’ll pass by on the way back later, and I’ve heard
good things about the place. I’ll go ahead and arrange things since it’s more convenient for me,”
Charles offered as he poured himself a glass of water.
“Okay. Sorry for the trouble. By the way, what brings you here?” Sonia asked.
“Daphne,” Charles replied as he pulled a chair over to sit down. “She told me that you seemed troubled
by something and she was a little worried, so she told me to come over and take a look,” he explained.
Sonia wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry after hearing him. “I was just feeling rather moody. I didn’t
expect her to think that something was up with me.”
“She cares about you a lot,” Charles commented.
“I know. I’m really touched by her actions,” Sonia said with a firm nod.
“Are you really okay, darling?” Although Sonia claimed that she was just a little moody, Charles still
checked on her as he was worried.
This time, Sonia gave him a slight nod. “I’m really okay.”
“Why were you in a bad mood, then?” he asked once more.
She massaged her temples as she spoke. “It’s nothing much. I just felt rather displeased because I felt
like I was tricked by someone.”
“Who did it?” Charles leaned closer as sparks of curiosity lit up in his eyes.
Upon hearing his question, Toby’s gorgeous face and sharp features surfaced in Sonia’s mind. She
seemed dazed for a short while. When Charles realized how she was zoning out, he raised his hand to
wave it in front of her eyes. “What are you thinking about, darling?”
When she came back into reality, she immediately lowered her gaze to conceal the emotions in her
eyes. With her head low, she forced a smile. “It’s nothing.” That’s weird. Why did I just think of Toby?
Sonia shook her head lightly as if to fling Toby’s image out of her mind. Then, she took a sip of water
from the glass on the table in order to calm herself down.
Charles narrowed his eyes as he observed her entire series of odd facial expressions and actions. A
cryptic look flickered in his eyes, but he quickly pretended as if nothing had happened. “Oh! By the way,
I need your help, darling,” he uttered with a smile.
“What is it?” Sonia lowered her glass as she looked at him puzzledly.
He grinned cheekily as he leaned closer to her. “I need you to be my partner for an event.”
Spurt! Sonia couldn’t control herself and spat out the water that she was drinking as she was too
surprised by his words. Charles squeezed his eyes shut as the water struck his face. His entire face
was covered in water, and there were even water droplets dripping down his chin.
Sonia knew that it was her mistake. After sticking her tongue out in embarrassment, she pulled a few
pieces of tissue out of the tissue box to dry the water on his face. She only apologized once she made
sure that his face was clean. “I’m sorry. So sorry! I didn’t do that on purpose.”
“Darling…” Charles had a rather helpless expression on his face, and there was a hint of resentment in
his eyes as he gazed at her.
Sonia giggled bashfully. “I’m sorry, Charles. I really didn’t mean to do it.”
Charles rubbed his face before reaching up to fix his hair. His hair had been combed backward, and he
had used wax to make it stay in position. This hairstyle made him look especially cool, like one of the
gangsters in old movies. But after Sonia spat water in his face, his hair had gotten wet and messy. He
no longer looked as smart and neat as he did before.
Yet, Charles couldn’t help but laugh when he saw Sonia’s flushed face. Forget it. She’s so cute; what
else does she expect me to do? I can’t do much apart from forgiving her, right? “It’s fine. It was just
some water. I’ll tidy myself up later,” Charles uttered carelessly while waving his arm.
Sonia got up and headed to the storeroom to retrieve a clean towel for him. “By the way, you were
saying something earlier. You wanted me to be your partner, right?”
“Yeah,” he replied as she took the towel and began to clean himself. “There will be a few famous
figures coming from overseas tomorrow, and one of them is pretty close to my dad. He gave my dad an
invitation but my dad has no plans to go, so he suggested that I go in his place. He wanted me to get
some exposure to the scene. I agreed to it, but I then found out that those foreigners are known for
being playboys that like to enjoy their nights out. They requested each guest to bring a female partner,
and you’re practically the only female friend I have—” Charles gave her a lengthy explanation.
“I don’t want to do it.” Before he could finish, Sonia spoke up to decline his request.
“I’m glad that you agreed… Wait, what?” Charles widened his eyes and stared at her in surprise. “What
did you say, darling? Did you say no?” He had assumed that she would agree to his request, and he
was about to celebrate it. However, he then realized that she had rejected him. The surge of joy within
his chest immediately turned into ice.
With a stern expression on her face, Sonia gave him a nod. “Yeah. I said no.”
“Why?” He held onto her arm, but she pulled away from him. “Well, I previously agreed to go to the
same event with Toby. Now that he says that I don’t have to go with him anymore, things would be
really awkward if I went to the event. It’d still be weird even if I went as your partner. Do you get where
I’m coming from?” she uttered.
“What? You agreed to be Toby’s partner previously?” Charles’s voice turned louder as he was surprised
by her words.
“Yeah,” she replied with a nod.
“When did you agree to that? Why didn’t you tell me about it?” Charles clutched her shoulders and
began to shake her.
She felt her head spinning as he shook her, so she quickly pushed him off as she answered his
question. “What’s there to tell? Anyway, I won’t be able to accompany you for this event. You can find
someone else.”
“Please, darling. I can’t find anyone else.” Charles didn’t want to find anyone else and insisted on
having Sonia as his partner.
However, Sonia was just as stubborn. “I would’ve accepted your invitation if you had asked me to go to
some other event, Charles. But I really can’t do it this time. First, I’ll feel extremely awkward to see Toby
there. Secondly, I promised Toby that I wouldn’t show up in front of him, so I’d be breaking my promise
if I went there tomorrow. What would he think of me then?”
“Well…” Charles parted his lips to speak, but no words came out of his mouth.
She patted him on the shoulder. “You should find yourself another partner, Charles.”
He let out a long sigh. “Well, since you’re in such a situation, then I guess I have no choice but to do
that.”
Sonia gave him a smile, but she no longer said anything after that. After a moment of silence, Charles’s
phone began to ring. He glanced at the screen to see that it was his assistant calling him. “What is it?”
He picked the call up immediately.
“Mr. Lane is here at the company, President Lane. He wants you to come back,” the assistant uttered
once the line got through.
Charles frowned. “My dad is at the company, huh? What’s he doing there?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t explain himself. Just hurry back, alright?” the assistant replied.
He massaged his temples as he spoke. “Okay. I’ll head back immediately.” After ending the call, he
turned to look at Sonia. “I need to go to the office now, darling. You can contact me if you need
anything, but I’ll leave for now.”
“Sure. Drive safe.” Sonia bid him goodbye and stood up to send him out of the office. She only returned
to her desk once she made sure that he had entered the elevator.
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