Toby’s Little Ploy
“Grandma asked me to notify you to join her for lunch at the old manor,” Toby replied.
“Lunch?” Sonia was bewildered. “Is it a special occasion?”
“No, it’s not. Grandma wanted me to invite you, so that’s what I did.” As he said this, Toby shook his
head lightly.
A smiling Sonia agreed. “Yeah, sure. I’ll come tomorrow.”
“Let’s go together tomorrow then. I will pick you up from your company,” he suggested while looking at
her.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Sonia saw the anticipation in his eyes and agreed in the end. “Sure.”
“It’s agreed then.” Toby smiled.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the hotel. As they entered, Toby helped Sonia to open the door to the
private room. She accepted his gesture and walked inside. After Toby closed the door, he quickly
caught up to her.
As the others had already arrived, they were all seated and waiting for them. The moment that they
saw those two entering together, the CEOs exchanged looks with one another again. Seeing as to how
they have entered together, they must be rather close now. It’s quite obvious that they have reconciled,
no? Looks like we’ll have to get close to Paradigm Co. from now on!
Not knowing or even having the desire to know their thoughts, Toby simply walked to the two empty
seats in front and pulled one out. As he patted the back of that particular chair, he addressed Sonia,
“Sit here.”
Sonia never expected Toby to be this affectionate in front of many people, which made her feel a tad bit
uncomfortable as she wondered whether she should sit or not. After all, there really wasn’t anything
going on between them. So, for her to accept his advances like that, it was something she couldn’t
bring herself to do. However, if she were to reject him in front of the CEOs, it would only serve to
embarrass him.
With his kind of status, if she humiliated him, it would definitely not blow over easily. As such, he would
be treated as a laughing stock in the entire industry. In fact, there were many people in their field who
wanted to see Toby fall from grace. After all, they had been living in Toby’s shadow for way too long.
Yet, due to Toby often resorting to strong-arm tactics as well as being extremely capable himself, there
was nothing they could do but watch. However, it went without saying that they would still be delighted
to make Toby the butt of their jokes. So, she was only left with one choice now.
Even though she was still thinking about it, Sonia took a deep breath and adjusted the ends of her
clothes to walk to the chair to take a seat. As she turned around, she smiled at the man behind her.
“Thank you, President Fuller.”
Toby smiled in response. “You’re welcome.” The moment he finished his sentence, he pulled out the
chair beside her to sit down.
The waiter, who had remained quiet in the private room for the whole time, knew that Toby was hosting
the dinner, so when he saw Toby sitting down, he immediately handed over the menu.
As Toby took the menu, he didn’t flip it open and instead passed it to Sonia. “What do you want to eat?”
Sonia felt embarrassed as she pushed the menu back to him and whispered, “I think you should order
the meal. I’m fine with anything anyway.” It was already too much when you pulled the chair out for me,
and now you want me to order the dishes? Are you kidding me?
Strictly speaking, how could she order ahead of everyone else when her status here was the lowest? It
might have been fine if she was his wife, but the key point was she wasn’t married to him. So, even if
Toby was the one who told her to order, she wouldn’t do as told. She knew that if she had really done it,
although the CEOs never said anything, they would feel uncomfortable. That was the reason why she
felt she should stay put and not do anything else.
When Toby saw how awkward Sonia was, he instantly knew the reason behind her behavior and
picked up the menu again. “Okay, then I’ll do it.” After saying that, he flipped open the menu before he
proceeded to order a couple of dishes.
His choices had only made Sonia raise her eyebrow to the max. Aren’t all these dishes… my favorites?
She looked at Toby in surprise.
After Toby gave Sonia a smile, he closed the menu. “Also, I would like a mug of mango juice—freshly
juiced, that is. Thank you. That’s it for me.” Of course, it went without saying that the drink was also for
her.
“Okay, Mr. Fuller.” The waiter nodded.
As he placed the menu on the lazy Susan, he rotated it until the menu reached in front of a CEO.
“Gentlemen, please, if there is anything you would like to eat, then by all means, help yourselves.”
“Haha, if you say so, President Fuller. Well then, we shall help ourselves.” The same CEO laughed
before he started to order as well.
By the time everybody had finished ordering, it was already quite some time later. Now that the kitchen
was busy preparing their order, the first item to arrive was the said mango juice. As he poured a glass
of it, Toby then set it in front of Sonia. “Don’t drink too much, else you won’t have any appetite later.”
The moment Sonia heard his gentle reminder, it warmed her heart and with a smile, she said, “I know.”
Then, she held the glass of mango juice and slowly sipped on it.
At this moment, one of the CEOs suddenly looked at both her and Toby. “President Fuller, I heard that
you were planning to reconcile with President Reed. Does this mean that you two have already gotten
back together?”
Sonia was still holding onto the glass as she frowned and was about to explain the truth. However,
Toby placed his hand on top of hers and gently squeezed it before he answered, “Not yet, but that’s just
a matter of time.”
Sonia stared at him with wide eyes, as if she was silently asking what he meant by that. Toby’s lips
slowly curled upward and his eyes were full of confidence. It was at that moment when Sonia
understood what he meant. He was confident that she would agree to reconcile with him.
As they looked at Sonia and Toby, the CEOs didn’t know what those two were secretly exchanging
looks about. The CEOs only saw them looking at each other with ‘affection’, so they quickly
commented, “Ah, I see. Then, congratulations to you and President Reed in advance. We hope to
receive your wedding invitation soon!”
“Thank you.” Toby raised his own wine glass to toast with them.
Sonia, who felt embarrassed to explain that they probably won’t reconcile, didn’t want Toby to lose
respect over this. Now that she was left with no choice, she had to raise her beaker and clink it with
their glasses too.
This action of hers had signified that she herself would realize Toby’s words sooner or later. After all,
they had already toasted on this, which in itself constituted her agreement. Now that she was once
again seated, she grimly sipped the juice while begrudgingly staring at the man beside her.
Now, she understood why Toby had stopped her from talking. It was because all this had been his ploy
all along—to forcefully make her admit that they would reconcile. With this method, she had half-
promised that they would be together again. Not to mention, they were already a couple in the eyes of
others.
When he saw Sonia’s expression, Toby was also aware that he was in the wrong when he did that, but
he did not regret it. Although he had said that he would give her time to fully accept him, judging from
her personality, she would only drag the matter whereby she would hide in her own shell for a longer
period of time without agreeing or deciding. So, he could only give her a push with this method. It was
only by giving her a push that he could force her out of her shell and reconcile with him sooner than
later.
Soon after, the dishes came one by one. Naturally, as the host, Toby was the first to dig in. He picked
up a boneless piece of fish, yet he did not eat it. Instead, he placed it in Sonia’s bowl in the full view of
everyone’s eyes. “The fish here is quite delicious. Do have a taste.”
When she noticed everyone’s amused expression, Sonia blushed as she slowly picked up the fish
before placing it in her mouth. The incredibly fresh and tender fish immediately melted in her mouth—it
was so delicious that she couldn’t resist the temptation of wanting to swallow their tongue.
While looking at her shining eyes, Toby gently asked, “How is it?”
After she gave a thumbs up, Sonia replied with a blissful expression, “It’s so lovely!”
Her reaction caused Toby to laugh as he said, “Then, you should have more.”
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