Sonia had never expected things to go so smoothly with the government. It only took an hour for a
contract to be signed. As thanks to her for a few years of free land use rights, they promised to help her
build her factory and have a machinery plant set up for her.
By the time she exited the department,
the sky was already dark. As if on cue,
her stomach grumbled loudly. Hearing
it, Charles threw an arm around her
shoulders. “How about we have steak
for dinner, baby?”
“Sure.” She nodded in agreement.
“Let’s go!” Still with his arm around her,
he lengthened his stride in the
direction of their car.
Half an hour later, they arrived at one of Seafield’s most famous restaurants. The moment they walked
inside, Sonia heard a familiar voice behind her.
“Miss Reed, Mr. Lane, we meet again.”
Instantly, Sonia’s smile faded. Much less politely, Charles rolled his eyes. “Why is it you both again?”
It was none other than Tina and Toby.
With a gentle smile, Tina asked, “You don’t wish to see us, Mr. Lane?”
* “You don’t need to ask to know that,”
he retorted, spreading his arms.
Nonetheless, her smile stayed on her
face. She didn’t seem angry. On the other hand, Toby was silent. His gaze was fixed on the bandage on
Sonia’s head with an unreadable look in his
eyes.
Feeling his stare, Sonia gave him a curious glance and quirked her lips. “Aren’t you afraid your fiancee
will get
jealous of you staring at me like that,
President Fuller?”
At her question, the smile on Tina’s face finally slipped. While Tina knew Sonia was purposely trying to
provoke her and Toby, she had no way of
denying that Sonia was telling the truth and that Toby had, indeed, been staring
at her. Even though jealousy flashed
across Tina’s eyes and brewed even more potently in her heart, she made an effort to bring a smile back
to her
face.
“What are you saying, Miss Reed? How could I possibly be jealous? You’re standing in front of me and
Toby, so it’s
not so strange that Toby is looking at
you. Not to mention, he’s seen plenty of
female employees at Fuller Group every day. If I got jealous of every one of them, I’d be very busy.
Wouldn’t you say, Toby?” She wrapped her hands around Toby’s arm.
Feeling the force of her grip, Toby frowned slightly but didn’t pull his arm
away.
“That’s very magnanimous of you, Miss Gray.” Sonia pretended not to see Tina’s forced smile.
After yawning, Charles said, “Baby, why
are you still talking to them? I thought you were hungry. Let’s go get ourselves
a table.”
“Of course.” She nodded.
With that, Charles put his arms around
her waist and followed the waiter.
As Toby watched them walk away
intimately, he lowered his eyes and pursed his lips into a straight line. All of a sudden, he had an urge to
rush up and separate them. Nonetheless, he held back. Keeping his head lowered to hide the expression
in his eyes, he said
to Tina, “Let’s go.”
“Alright,” she answered cheerfully.
On the way to their private room, Charles couldn’t resist grumbling, “Do you think Tina gets tired of faking
a smile when she’s clearly jealous of you but pretending she isn’t?”
“Do you get tired of eating and sleeping?” Sonia asked without
answering
Perplexed, he shook his head. With a smile, she pointed out, “Well, there you
have it. Some people consider
pretending as a vital part of their
survival– just like eating or sleeping.
So, why would she feel tired?”
“That’s true.” He curled his lips. After a moment of thought, he grinned playfully. “Baby, what’d you say if
we tore away her fake mask; wouldn’t
she–”
“That’s enough.” She gave him an
elbow. “She hasn’t done anything to us
at the moment, so we’re not going to
do anything to her.” Of course, if Tina
made the first move, it would be a
different matter altogether.
Just then, they reached their private room. The couple ordered the
restaurant’s famous steaks. Halfway
through the meal, Sonia wiped the corners of her lips and stood up. “I’m
going to the restroom.”
“Do you need me to accompany you?”
he teased playfully, waggling his
eyebrows.
She gave him a faint smile. “What do
you think?”
Seeing the dangerous glint in her smile, he shuddered and chuckled, “Heh, forget it. Come back soon.”
Humming her acknowledgment, she
picked up her purse and left. After using the toilet, she tidied her clothes and headed to the sinks to
touch up
her makeup.
All of a sudden, the stall behind her
opened and Tina stepped out. When
she saw Sonia, her first reaction was to
pause. Following that, she walked up to the sinks with a smile and pulled some makeup powder out of
her bag
to apply to her cheeks.
“What a coincidence, Miss Reed,” she
greeted as she fixed her makeup.
Currently, Sonia was reapplying her
lipstick and only answered mildly, “It is indeed, to run into each other even in
Toby‘s taste certainly is unique, she thought to herself. I can‘t believe he
could like such a phony
Of course, given that she was once in love with him, her own taste wasn’t
necessarily good. Fortunately, she was
correcting course now.
Twisting the cap back onto her tube of lipstick, she then tossed it back into her purse. “Of course not. I’ve
already been handsomely compensated. How
would ljustify continuing to blame
you? However, I am curious why you
asked that question. Are you saying I’m
petty?”
“No, no!” Tina waved her hands. “It’s
just that your attitude is so cold that I
assumed you must still blame me.”
Turning her head, Sonia regarded Tina
with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
“Well, I’ve always treated my friends
and my enemies very differently. If !
liked you, I’d be very warm toward you.
Naturally, if I didn‘t like you, I’d be cold toward you. What I don’t understand is why, Miss Gray, when you
already know
that I don’t like you, you keep offering yourself up as a punching bag?”
At the question, Tina heard someone laughing from within one of the stalls, and she reddened with anger
and
indignation
the restroom.”
Closing the lid of her powder case, Tina looked up at the bandage on Sonia’s head. “Are your injuries
any
better?”
Sonia pursed her lips without even bothering to look at Tina. “Far from it, thanks to you.”
“Do you still blame me?” The rims of Tina’s eyes abruptly grew red.
Nonetheless, Sonia only found that
amusing. After all, she hadn’t done
anything to Tina. Why was Tina crying
like she had been bullied?
Nonetheless, Sonia merely looked away from her. “So, I hope you’ll stay far away from me when you see
me in the future, Miss Gray. Stop making things hard for yourself. Haven’t you
realized that you’ve never been able to
beat me whether in speech or in
deeds?” With that, she zipped up her
purse and walked past Tina out of the
restroom
Left alone in the restroom, Tina bit her
lower lip and glared with a hawk-like gaze in the direction of the door. Internally, she sneered. Yes, right
now, she was constantly losing. But the
future was another matter.
“At that thought, she picked up her
purse and exited the bathroom. In the
corridor on the way back to her private room with Toby, an ordinary-looking waiter walked toward her.
Right as he reached her, he suddenly pulled out a handkerchief and covered her nose
and her mouth with it.
Shocked, she let out a muffled cry and stared at him with wide, terrified eyes, but passed out before she
could
struggle.
Meanwhile, after finishing their meal, Charles and Sonia were preparing to pay the bill and leave. Right
as they stood up from their seats, someone
knocked on their door.
When Charles walked over to open the
door, he saw Toby standing outside. At
this moment, Toby looked tense and
was frowning tightly. There was an almost imperceptible urgency in his
eyes.
Since she knew him so well, Sonia instantly started to wonder if
something was wrong.
However, Charles blocked his way and
asked rudely, “Why are you here?”
Ignoring Charles, Toby looked straight toward Sonia. “Is Tina here?”
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