Liquid Courage
Sonia’s movements had been bold and exaggerated when she first drank the wine, but Toby burst into
laughter when he saw the way she scrunched up her face in response to the taste of the alcohol. “Slow
down. You don’t want to choke.”
“I’m not going to choke!” Sonia placed the wine glass down with a loud clang before pushing it closer to
him. “Give me another glass of that.”
“Doesn’t your heart ache over the price of the drink now?” Toby raised an eyebrow. She glared at him.
“Of course my heart still aches, but I’d rather finish it than let it turn bad. Hurry and pour me another
glass,” she urged.
“Okay. I’ll pour you another glass,” he uttered after laughing for a while more. Then, he held the wine
bottle up to refill her glass. Sonia let out a sigh as she held the wine glass up and glanced at the
sparkling, red liquid inside. “It’s all your fault. Why did you decide to prepare a meal out of nowhere?”
“What?’ Toby was confused. “Did you say it’s my fault?” How can it be my fault? he wondered.
“It’s obviously your fault!” Sonia stomped her foot on the ground. “I wouldn’t have thought of celebrating
anything if you hadn’t made me a meal. I wouldn’t have recalled the existence of this red wine if I hadn’t
thought of celebrating anything. You wouldn’t have gotten the chance to open this bottle if I hadn’t
thought of it. So, whose fault do you think it is?”
Toby was shocked and speechless upon hearing her explanation. This brat is so two-faced! I can’t
believe she’s putting all of the blame on me. She’s expecting me to deal with all the consequences on
my own! Sure, I made the meal, and I suggested the idea itself, but I wasn’t the one who suggested
having a celebration, and I even tried to stop her when she brought it up. She’s the one who insisted on
bringing a bottle of wine here. Yet, it sounds like everything’s my fault now. Great. Toby pressed his
palm against his forehead while feeling sorry for himself.
Sonia seemed even more displeased when she saw Toby pressing his lips together with a
contemplative look on his face. She smacked her palm against the table. “What is it? Are you unhappy
now? Don’t you think it’s your fault?”
Toby pursed his lips. So, she’s forcing me to admit my wrongs, huh? “Fine, fine. It’s my fault. It’s all my
fault!” Toby had no choice but to shoulder the burden of being wrong. He patted the woman’s shoulder
to calm her down. Forget it, he thought. Since she’s my woman, I’m okay with taking all of the blame.
I’ll just have to coax her later. A man like me shouldn’t get too petty about such matters, anyway.
Toby took a sip of his red wine at that thought. “You’re lucky you’re with me. I don’t think anyone else
would pamper you like this.” He swirled the wine in his glass and looked at the red liquid before letting
out a soft laugh. This was the first time he was being blamed for something he hadn’t done, and he
willingly accepted the blame. He was certain that no one would believe their ears if they found out
about this.
Of course, Sonia knew what Toby meant by his words, and she knew how unreasonable she was
being. But why does that matter? He’s the man, right? What’s wrong with taking the blame for me
sometimes? Sonia responded with a stubborn scoff in Toby’s face. “At least you know what’s the right
thing to do.”
Toby couldn’t resist pinching her face. “Why didn’t I know that you had this side to you in the past?”
She flicked his hand away. “There are tons of things you haven’t realized. You don’t even know how
many sides of me there are.”
“Oh?” He smirked. “Guess I’ll have to continue digging deep into you, then.”
“You can go ahead and do that. I’d like to see how much you can find about me.” Sonia raised her
glass and finished her wine once more. Again, she placed it in front of Toby to indicate that she wanted
another glass. He frowned without making a move. “You should stop drinking,” he uttered.
“No. I can’t waste this.” Sonia shook her head as she insisted on having another glass. Toby placed his
large palm over her glass as he spoke. “You’ll get drunk. This red wine’s alcohol percentage is a little
higher than the usual red wines. On top of that, your tolerance isn’t that great, and you’ll get drunk after
a few glasses. Why don’t you just listen to me and stop drinking? We can drink another day.”
“No.” Sonia felt oddly displeased when her lover stopped her from drinking, so she raised her sharp
eyebrow before speaking in a coquettish tone. “I insist on drinking this! The alcohol tastes good. I’m not
done drinking!”
“I don’t care.” Toby continued to reject her while he began keeping the wine bottle away. Sonia
immediately pressed her palms against the table to stand up. “Don’t you dare, Toby! Don’t put it away,
okay? Otherwise… I’ll…”
“Otherwise, what?” Toby stopped and turned to look at her. There was a gleam in his eyes that made
his gaze seem rather mysterious.
Sonia blinked—she was at a loss for words. Soon enough, she came up with a reply. “Otherwise… I’ll
start crying in front of you!” Then, she stuck her lower lip out and forced herself to start wailing.
However, regardless of how much she tried to cry, she simply couldn’t squeeze the tears out of her
eyes.
Toby was stunned by her actions. He had already been shocked when she smacked her palm against
the table before that. The woman Toby knew wasn’t someone who would smack her palm against the
table when she didn’t get to drink. Yet, that was exactly what she had just done. That was the reason
Toby suspected that she was starting to get drunk. Perhaps her temper is coming out because she’s
drunk. Now, as I’m watching her attempt to cry, I know for a fact that she’s drunk.
But Sonia wasn’t entirely wasted—she simply seemed rather tipsy. The slight tipsiness had turned her
gentle and smart character into a more aggressive person who seemed livelier than her usual, day-to-
day self. When Toby saw the confusion in Sonia’s eyes and the redness in her cheeks, he felt the urge
to tease her more. “Didn’t you say that you wanted to cry for me? Why aren’t you crying yet?”
“I can’t do it…” She pouted while looking sorry for herself. He let out a deep chuckle that made his
chest vibrate as he laughed. That was how funny she was to him. “I’ll return the wine to its place since
you can’t seem to cry.” He began to act as if he was about to leave.
She immediately clung to his waist. “No! I told you I wanted more of it. You can’t take it away.”
“But you’re drunk,” he replied.
“I’m not.”
“You are!” Toby stared at the woman in his arms as he repeated himself in a patient tone. Sonia
frowned and kept quiet for a while as if she were making sense of his words and checking if she were
actually drunk. After a while more, Sonia looked up at the man with her gaze more confused than
before. “Isn’t that perfect? You’re in luck. You can do whatever you want now,” she muttered,
Toby’s pupils narrowed, and his face darkened once he heard her. Sonia giggled. “I know. I know
you’ve always wanted my body, and that it has been hard for you to control yourself all along. It was all
because I couldn’t get past my own views on this. You must have struggled to hold it in for so long.
Today morning, in the meeting room, I sensed some changes in you, and I wanted to find an
opportunity to hand myself over to you completely, but I didn’t know how to do it, so I thought that
drinking some wine would help us a little. At least I’d have a little more liquid courage then. I don’t want
to stay stagnant at this point and not go further with you.”
Upon hearing her words, Toby’s pupils trembled as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down once every
2 seconds. “So… The celebration was a lie, and you were just using it as an excuse to have some
drinks? You wanted to get yourself drunk so that you could let me take control over your body, huh?”
“That sounds about right.” Sonia rested her head against the man’s chest as she listened to his rather
elevated heartbeat. Her tone of voice made it clear that she was intoxicated. “But the celebration was
real too. I’m killing two birds with one stone!” she insisted.
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