Sonia laughed. “Isn’t that true?”
For Tina, he will go to the extreme. Even a cry from Tina would send him crazy as he might even give up his life for her sake.
Toby gazed into the iciness of Sonia’s eyes that was exceptionally jarring to him. Ah, so this is how she perceives me.
With a grim expression, he slipped a hand into his pocket and stood up. “Ladies and gentlemen, regarding the concern that Vice President Reed raised, I could confidently promise you that the partnership will be a fair assessment without any favoritism. Please do not worry about it.”
“Since President Fuller has given his promise, we are now assured.” A chorus of laughter broke out among the other attendees, dissipating the confrontational atmosphere.
Only Titus forced a smile and kept quiet as he wallowed in regret. After a couple of confrontations, he should have known better—Sonia was not a weakling. Despite that, he couldn’t help but recklessly go head-to-head with her to the point where he shot himself on the foot.
“I appreciate the trust you have placed in me. With that, I announce that our meeting has ended. Please head back and start preparing for the plan.”
Upon saying that, Toby rose to his full height and left the room with Tom.
Once they were both gone, everyone else followed suit and spilled out of the room. Titus was the last one to exit. When he passed by Sonia, he halted and hissed at her, “Young lady, you better not be full of yourself.”
“Of course not! I can’t be too gleeful when you are still standing.” She turned around and flashed a smile at him—an act that sent him into a daze again. The resemblance is extremely striking. Why is Sonia’s smile a carbon copy of Mom when she was younger?
“President Gray?” Sonia noticed that Titus had gone blank and she raised a brow suspiciously. What’s wrong with him?
Her voice pulled him back to reality. An uneasy look flashed across his eyes as he coughed slightly and warned in a steeled voice, “That is if you have the capability to defeat me! Hmph!”
Once Titus left, Sonia was finally alone in the room. She took her time to gather her stuff and prepare to return to the office. Her cell suddenly buzzed at this moment. She placed all her stuff on the table and took out the phone to answer, “Hello?”
“Sonia, has the meeting ended?” Charles’s flirtatious voice was heard from the other end.
She nodded. “Yes.”
“How was it? Did you get a seat in the partnership?” He sounded anxious.
With a bitter smile, Sonia shook her head. “It is not going to be that simple. There were twenty attendees and only five will be chosen as business partners. The organizer gave us a test that requires us to come up with a plan, which will determine our placement in the competition for the five coveted seats.”
“That sounds fair.” Charles nodded in agreement.
Sonia rubbed her forehead in exhaustion. “I’m quite frustrated right now because I don’t know how to draft the plan, though! Look, I have never been involved in the energy sector and I am clueless when it comes to professional jargon! Where do I even start?”
At the same time, Toby overheard her confession outside the meeting room and stopped himself from pushing open the door. Behind him, Tom spoke, “Pres—”
Before Tom could even utter a word, Toby shushed him. Tom quietly complied and held his tongue.
On the phone, Charles chuckled, “What’s the problem? Send the materials to the Planning Department. Aren’t they hired specifically to deal with this?”
“No, I can’t.” Sonia lamented as she shook her head, “I don’t even know how many moles Asher has planted in the company. Do you believe that he’d sabotage the plan if I request for someone else to draft it? He doesn’t want me to win the competition, which means I have no choice but to draft the plan myself.”
“You’re right. How about we draft the plan together? Even though I don’t have experience in the energy sector, two heads are still better than one.” He scratched his head and offered help.
She grunted and answered, “Sure. I’ll hang up now. I still need to visit the hospital later.”
“Okay.” He nodded.
Behind the door, Toby turned around and said, “Let’s go.”
“President Fuller, do you still want to collect your stuff from the room?” Tom checked with him.
Toby pursed his lips and finally decided. “No. Just let the hotel staff send the items to my office.”
Since Toby had clearly expressed his wish, Tom had nothing more to add.
They arrived in front of the elevators where Tom pressed the button to head to the lower floors. Suddenly, he heard Toby’s voice. “Find two people to put on an act for me.”
“Huh?” Tom was confused by the request. “What act?”
Toby’s eyes twinkled wittily as he explained his plan to his assistant.
After Tom heard the plan, he looked exasperated. “President Fuller, if you want to help Miss Reed, why don’t you just tell her so? Is there—”
“She won’t accept my help, so I have no choice but to do it another way.” Toby stared at the elevator doors and grunted. Sonia was currently avoiding him like the plague. He could tell that she wanted to keep a distance between them. Therefore, he figured that she would not accept his help.
As Tom was speechless by Toby’s explanation, he paused for a while and finally gave a dry cough. “I will make the arrangements.”
Satisfied, Toby nodded.
On the other hand, Sonia had just left the meeting room with a handful of her stuff. A few steps later, she overheard a conversation that included the word ‘energy’.
As that word had caught her attention, she immediately came to a stop and looked over in the direction of the discussion. She saw two college students, one male and the other female, chatting merrily over there.
The girl asked her companion, “Have you completed your thesis on the topic of energy?”
“No! It is too difficult. Had it not been my cousin telling me about the newly discovered alternative energy technology of Fuller Group, I don’t think I could have started on my thesis.”
“It’s not like you have a choice. If you don’t complete the thesis, you can’t get a place in the Research Department of Fuller Group. Just hurry up and get it done! I’m almost done with mine. How about I recommend some books to you? You should read the books on this list and I’m sure you can easily write your thesis after that. These books include a lot of expert knowledge and jargon of the energy industry.”
Next, the girl blurted out a couple of book titles, which the guy repeated after her. Then, they left the place together.
Sonia stared at the audio recording on her phone with excitement and disbelief. Although she was shocked by the coincidence, she did not think much about it and secretly thanked the two college students for their indirect pointers.
That was because she had recorded their conversation. After she visited Rose, she planned to search for the books that were mentioned in the conversation. She believed that, armed with the sources, she could come up with a plan with much less difficulty.
At that thought, Sonia kept her phone away with a wide smile on her face as she walked toward the elevator. Much to her dismay, she saw her archenemy in the lobby just as she exited the elevator.
Toby was on the phone with his back facing her. Someone had told him over the phone, “President Fuller, Miss Reed has witnessed the ‘act’ that you wanted to put on.”
As she was standing at a distance, Sonia could not hear the phone conversation and she planned to take the opportunity to slide away, acting like she had not noticed him. Much to her surprise, Toby suddenly stopped talking and abruptly hung up. Then, he turned around to face her. There was no surprise on his face when his eyes landed on her. Instead, he nodded gently to greet her.
Since he had extended his goodwill, it would be rude for her to ignore him. After all, he was the initiator of the partnership. If she wanted to secure a seat on the project, she could not risk ruining their professional relationship. With that in mind, she took a deep breath and forced a polite but aloof smile. “President Fuller.”
“I have been waiting for you,” came his reply.
Sonia was taken aback, but she finally figured out the reason behind his composure. He was not shocked to see her, precisely because he had been waiting for her.
“What is the matter? Could it be that you are angry at me because I talked back in the meeting? What? Are you thinking of kicking me out of the candidate’s list?”
Toby furrowed his brows and sternly answered, “Sonia, can you stop talking brashly? And please don’t take me as an unprincipled man.”
