Put Her in Her Place
Sonia even reached out to pinch Toby as she said those words.
Toby raised a brow, and he quickly grabbed her hand as he flashed an exasperated smile. “What kind
of person do you take me for? I’m not one of those shallow men out there. Don’t worry, I don’t have that
big of a heart; it has enough room for you and only you.”
Upon hearing this, Tom shuddered where he stood behind Toby and had to rub his arms like he caught
a cold.
Goodness, is this the same President Fuller who wouldn’t crack a smile back in the day? If Tom hadn’t
been standing there and listening to all the conversation, he would have thought that Toby had been
swapped with somebody else. Honestly speaking, though, President Fuller really is a changed man. He
isn’t like what he used to be. Can love really turn someone into an entirely different person?
At the thought of this, Tom tipped his head to the side, looking puzzled. He had been a bachelor
throughout his thirty plus years of life and without a woman to call his own, he couldn’t hope to catch up
with the likes of Toby and Sonia.
Sonia, on the other hand, didn’t overreact as Tom had and she only thought that Toby’s line was
cringeworthy.
However, as cringeworthy as it sounded, it still made her blush and made her heart swell as it skittered
from beat to beat. Sure, it’s cheesy, but I loved it.
She shot Toby a knowing look. “I’d say you have good judgment, then.”
Toby laughed, clearly amused by her reaction.
Meanwhile, Anya frowned when she heard his laugh. She couldn’t understand what could be so funny
as to make him laugh twice in a row. More importantly, she didn’t remember him having a sense of
humor, much less the ability to laugh.
A dark look came into her eyes as she thought, Looks like he went through a pretty big shift in his
personality since I last saw him.
“Mr. Fuller…” She looked up and eyed Toby with unease.
He paused his warm interactions with Sonia and turned to look at Anya with a frown. At once, he shed
his affable demeanor as he asked stonily in a voice that sent chills running down one’s spine, “What is
it that you want to say?”
Next to him, Sonia was appraising Anya with a triumphant look.
Anya wasn’t oblivious to the wicked gleam in Sonia’s eyes, as if Sonia was waiting for her to embarrass
herself. She gritted her teeth, but took a deep breath to retain her composure as she responded, “Mr.
Fuller, I was going to say, about last night—”
“I thought we were done with it,” an impatient Toby interrupted as he raised his hand to stop her from
pressing further. “I’m willing to overlook the fact that you ran the red light and subsequently caused me
to meet with an accident because you were in a wheelchair. Now, all you have to do is pay the agreed
sum of damages. As for the lack of respect with which you treated my lover, I’m sure my assistant has
also told you to make a public apology about it, no?”
“Yes,” Anya muttered with a nod, then looked past Toby’s shoulder at Tom. “Mr. Brown has informed me
of the things that I need to do.”
“In that case, what else is there for you to say?” Toby demanded icily, his face devoid of warmth.
She shook her head lamely. “Nothing else. I’m only here to tell you in person that I’m sorry.”
“Didn’t my assistant tell you that I don’t want your apology? You only need to fork out the compensation
for my injuries,” he pointed out sardonically, sounding more irritated than he had moments ago.
Anya was about to retort when Tom stepped forward and interjected, “President Fuller, I might not have
told her that an apology can be dispensed with, but I’m sure I implied it when I settled on a
compensation sum with her; anyone with half a mind could have deciphered it without hassle. I even
asked her to leave and never to show up in front of you ever again, but as it turns out…”
He trailed off, but everyone knew what he was going to say. He had as good as compared Anya to a
piece of chewing gum stuck to the bottom of the shoe, refusing to fall off on her own.
Sonia sputtered in her refusal to spare the woman’s feelings.
She had never liked Anya in the first place, so she wouldn’t even think about sparing a shred of Anya’s
dignity. It didn’t help that Anya had decided to drop by deliberately to badger Toby.
Why should I have to spare you from humiliation? Sonia thought as she eyed Anya defiantly.
Anya didn’t think that Tom would be so blunt and his words stoked a fiery rage within her. What really
added insult to her injury was Sonia and her lofty giggling. What’s so funny, huh? Anya thought as she
glowered at the other woman. If I can, I’d like to smack that grin off your face and see how you’d like it!
Nonetheless, these were only thoughts she wished she could word out for Sonia and she knew better
than to let herself screw up now. Closing her eyes briefly, she wore a flustered expression and stared at
Toby fretfully, “But, Mr. Fuller, I didn’t mean to stick around for so long; I only wanted to apologize to
you personally for causing your accident. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t get to say sorry
to you, which is why I waited for you here. You have to believe me, Mr. Fuller. Apologizing is all I’m
setting out to do!”
“Oh?” Sonia scoffed and drawled slowly, “Is that truly the only thing you’ve set out to do?”
Anya’s eyes glimmered insidiously, but she feigned confusion as she asked, “What do you mean by
that, Miss Reed?”
“It’s obvious by what I mean. Your apology is but a sham and you only wanted to badger my boyfriend
because you wanted to see him, right?” Sonia accused without beating around the bush as she
narrowed her eyes at Anya in cold amusement.
“That’s not true!” Anya’s voice was so shrill that she sounded like a cat whose tail had been stepped
on. Then, worried that Toby might not believe her no matter how vehemently she denied the
accusation, she glanced over at him with red-rimmed eyes and added, “Please, Mr. Fuller, it’s nothing
like that. I—”
Toby’s brows furrowed, but just as he was about to say something, Sonia stepped forward and shielded
him. She lowered her head to regard Anya imperiously with no warmth in her eyes as she said,
“Please, could you spare us the act? We don’t need you looking like a sad puppy when you’re
apologizing. Do you honestly think none of us would see through your pathetic front? You’re only trying
to gain sympathy from my boyfriend in the hopes of winning him over, but let me make one thing very
clear: you are messing with the wrong person. He has eyes for me and only me, and your little
despicable antics aren’t going to cut it.”
A smile tugged on Toby’s lips as he was obviously pleased to hear Sonia’s words.
In her wheelchair, Anya lifted her chin and stared at Sonia in disbelief, looking as if Sonia had
committed some horrific crime against her. “H-How could you say such things, Miss Reed? I would
never—”
“I don’t care,” Sonia spat out harshly, waving her hand to dismiss Anya’s argument. “The only thing that
matters is what I think, got it? And we’re all women here, so it’s not as if I can’t see through your act.
You know, you’re one of the most shameless people I’ve ever met, and I can’t imagine how thick-
skinned you’d have to be if you could still try to speak with him even after he told you not to apologize.
He didn’t even want to see you! Yet here you are, dismissing everything he told you not to do and
badgering him in front of his girlfriend. Shameless and pathetic, that’s what you are. In other words, you
are nothing but a skank!”
“You—” Anya pointed a finger at Sonia, shock and horror coloring her face as she took in the harsh
words.
Even Tom was taken aback by what Sonia said. He had always thought of her as a demure and
intellectual sort of woman rather than someone who would not resort to such unpredictable ways to
fend off a vixen who was trying to get Toby’s attention.
Alas, he had underestimated Sonia whose belligerent scolding had left Anya stumped.
I must say I’m impressed by her way with words, and she certainly put Anya in her place! Seeing Anya
receiving the insult that she deserves is absolutely invigorating.
Toby, on the other hand, clearly had not seen this coming either. He raised his brow in surprise at how
stone-cold and harsh Sonia had sounded, but he quickly regained his composure.
Presently, Sonia smacked Anya’s trembling finger away and snapped, “What? Did I say something
wrong? I was going to spare your feelings, but you just had to get on my nerves, so don’t blame me for
putting you in your place. If you’re going to stoop so low as a woman and go around pining after other
people’s partners, then you should have girded yourself for the humiliation that follows.”
Then, she looked away from the woman in the wheelchair and slid into the car.
A speechless Toby went into the vehicle after her without sparing Anya a second glance.
Tom eyed Anya, who appeared to be crying as she kept her head down, impassively and scoffed
before brushing past her to get into the car and driving out of the parking lot.
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