Chapter 1078 A Pretentious Apology
“Now, the media’s fake business accounts, their ghostwriters, Titus, and Connor will all pay for their actions. Next, what do you think we should do with the Lore Family?” Toby asked as he turned to look at Sonia.
“I haven’t thought of this either,” she replied while massaging her temples. He gazed at her firmly. “Have you not thought of it, or are you thinking on behalf of me?” he asked. Sonia’s act of massaging her temples came to a halt for a second. Her slight pause wasn’t noticeable, but the man noticed it anyway. The man immediately knew that his guess was correct.
Sonia was lying when she said that she didn’t know how to get back at Lynette—after all, it was easy to come up with ways to take revenge. Regardless, Sonia kept claiming that she hadn’t thought of a way because she had other concerns on her mind. Toby sighed. “You don’t have to do that. You can just do what you think is best,” he said.
“I know,” she replied while smiling at the man. “I know that you don’t want me to get bullied, but similarly, I don’t want others to think of you badly. You might not care about your reputation, but I can’t allow others to talk badly about you like that. Anyway, we shouldn’t be rash about this. At least everyone knows that this was just a false rumor and that Miss Lore was the one who was trying to mess with me behind my back. Her reputation has already been ruined, so there’s no rush for us to get revenge. Give me some time to think about this. Trust me, okay? I won’t allow myself to be stepped on like that.” She slipped her arm around his as she gazed at him earnestly.
Since she had made herself clear, Toby couldn’t say much else. He went along with her decision. After all, as she said, the situation was much clearer after they had clarified things on their end, and no one was cursing at Sonia any longer. Right then, all of the netizens’ fury was directed toward Lynette. Sonia was innocent and free from criticism, so she could take all the time she wanted to figure out how she would get back at Lynette. Toby didn’t mind giving Sonia the time she needed.
Charles, who saw how Sonia was thinking for Toby and how Toby cared for Sonia, chuckled bitterly to himself. Both of them are clearly thinking for the other person. They genuinely love each other. There’s no way anyone can get between them. Fortunately, Carl is in Westsanshire now, and his alter ego is taking control of his body. Otherwise, he’d probably lose his mind if he saw how loving Sonia and Toby are to each other.
“President Reed.” All of a sudden, Daphne showed up at the door and rapped her knuckles against it while calling out for Sonia. As she uttered Sonia’s name, her gaze fell on Charles, who was standing opposite Sonia. However, Daphne quickly shifted her gaze away to fix it on Sonia, as if Sonia were the only person in the room. That way, Daphne could pretend that the other man didn’t exist. That was the only way she could ensure he didn’t impact her emotions.
Still, Daphne didn’t notice how Charles had been sitting lazily on the couch before she appeared and how he froze for a moment before slowly shifting into an upright position after hearing her voice. He even had the thought of turning his chair to face her. But after some contemplation, he decided against this idea. Nevertheless, his grip on the chair’s armrests was unyielding, and his head was tilted downward so that no one could see the look on his face.
The moment Sonia saw Daphne, her first instinct was to look at Charles’ reaction. She watched him freeze and sit upright before tilting his head downward. When she noticed how tightly he gripped the chair, Sonia immediately knew he had intended to turn around to look at Daphne. He probably decided to hold himself back in the end, Sonia thought. Naturally, Toby also realized all of Charles’ subtle actions. It wasn’t that he enjoyed observing Charles—Toby simply noticed how Sonia was looking at Charles. Her gaze made him feel uneasy, so he also ended up watching Charles. That was how Toby saw all of Charles’ odd reactions to Daphne.
Toby’s thoughts were a step farther from Sonia’s. Sonia figured that Charles was reacting to Daphne’s presence in such a manner because Charles didn’t like Daphne, but Toby’s assumptions differed. Toby looked at Daphne for a moment before turning to look at Charles. He narrowed his eyes, and some unidentifiable emotion flashed across his gaze for a moment before disappearing. All of this happened in a split second, and Sonia didn’t even catch it at all.
When Sonia saw Charles hanging his head low as if deep in thought, she let out a soft sigh before turning to the woman standing at her front door. “What is it?” Sonia asked as she spread her lips into a smile. Daphne used the corner of her eyes to gaze at the chair with its back turned against her. She couldn’t see much of the person sitting on the chair—she could only see the top of Charles’ head. When she saw that Charles had no intention of turning around, she felt a mixture of relief and disappointment.
In the end, Daphne sighed and shook her head before looking away and returning to her usual stern self. “A few media companies called earlier, President Reed. They wanted to apologize and make it up to you. They hope that you would forgive their actions, and they sent some hampers over,” she reported.
“Are you saying that these companies brought gifts to apologize to me?” Sonia raised an eyebrow. “Are these media companies the ones who spread the rumors?”
“Yes.” Daphne nodded. Sonia immediately let out a laugh. “It seems like Tom was right. He said that the media companies would approach us, and they really did.”
“Hmph. Their positions are about to be threatened by their rivals. Of course, they would do such a thing.” Toby rolled his eyes while speaking in a disdainful tone.
“I have a hypothesis,” Sonia said as she turned to look at Toby. He curled his lips into a smile. “I know what you’re thinking.” She smiled in return before turning to look at Charles. “Charles, can you ask your company if you received any apology from these media companies?”
“Sure. I’ll ask them about it.” Charles kicked his leg up to rest it on his other knee as he pulled his phone out and made a call. Daphne quickly lowered her head when she heard Charles’ voice, as if lowering her head would reduce her presence in the room. Sonia sighed again upon noticing this. About two minutes later, Charles got off the phone and shrugged. “I didn’t get anything,” he replied.
“I knew it.” Sonia was surprised by Charles’ answer, but the smug look on her face seemed more evident than before. “Since we were the main targets of this rumor, it wouldn’t make sense for them to only apologize to one of us and not the other. Yet, these media companies deliberately chose to apologize only to one of us. This clearly shows that they have no remorse. In other words, they didn’t approach me with the intention of apologizing.” She turned to look at Toby. “You were their target. They wanted to be affiliated with you through getting into my good books.”
Charles slapped his thigh as he understood the situation. “I understand now. Sonia, are you saying that these media companies approached you to apologize because they hoped that you would put in a good word for them in front of Toby? Is that how they are trying to get Toby to let them off the hook?”
Sonia agreed. “Yes. That’s what I mean.”
Charles’ chest heaved up and down as a surge of anger filled his insides. “F*ck! These guys are so rude. Do they really think they’d achieve their goals by doing such a thing?”
“They had no option other than to try their luck, right?” Sonia wore an icy smirk on her lips as she spoke.
Charles balled his fists. “You can’t allow yourself to fall for their trick, Sonia. You shouldn’t feel touched by their apologies and gifts.”
She rolled her eyes in response. “Do you think I’m such a pushover? Do I look that easy to be convinced? Furthermore, I already mentioned that I wouldn’t be touched by their apologies. So why should I care about their pretentious and planned apologies?”
