Chapter 1153 Rose’s Gift
Sonia naturally felt the animosity coming from Asher. After all, the feeling wasn’t inchoate but a long-existing one. Thus, she made no reaction toward his hatred-filled stare but only looked straight ahead as though she hadn’t noticed it and walked right past Asher, going out of the building.
Asher, on the other hand, was so livid that his clenched fists trembled when Sonia disregarded him entirely. Standing behind him, his crony even more so stirred his anger by huffing, “Look at how arrogant that woman is, President. Even if she’s the chairman, she’s still your junior. How can she be so rude as to not even say hi to you?!”
To that, Asher sneered. “How can she not be when she has Toby backing her? But one day, I’ll see that she can never be arrogant again.”
“Ain’t that the truth, President.” The crony very much agreed with him and was confident Asher would succeed. “Alright, enough flattery. Let’s go.” After taking a gander in the direction Sonia left, he withdrew his gaze and barely calmed down as he made his way to the elevator.
Of course, Sonia had no clue what Asher and his cronies talked about behind her back, but she didn’t want to know, nor was she interested in knowing. Right after seeing Toby’ car, she waved and jogged over to it with a smile.
Toby, on the other hand, hurriedly got out of the car and spread his arms wide apart upon seeing so.
The next second, Sonia fell into his arms, completely wrapped in his embrace.
“What are you running so fast for? What if you fall?” Toby put an arm around Sonia’s back while ruffling her hair with the other.
“But I don’t want you to wait for too long.” She looked up at him.
“You can’t do that even so. If you really fall, both of us will be in pain. Besides, I never think waiting for you is a nuisance. I’m more than happy to wait,” said Toby as he planted a kiss on her forehead.
Sonia noticed some passersby smiling affectionately toward their canoodling and immediately felt abashed, her face flushing crimson.
“Okay, I got it. Let go of me and get into the car. There are a lot of people here, and everyone walking by is looking at us. It’s pretty embarrassing.” She patted Toby’ chest.
Knowing she was bashful and didn’t like other people seeing them being intimate, he ruffled her hair affectionately and let go of her, respecting her wish. “Alright, get in.”
With that, he held her hand, led her around the front of the car to the front passenger seat, and opened the door for her.
After entering the car, Sonia put the handbag on her shoulder on her lap before handing another bag to Toby. “Put this in the back seat, will you? There’s not enough space here.”
“What’s this?” Toby looked into the bag after taking it, but the contents were well-concealed with different other plastic bags, so he couldn’t make anything out.
“We’re visiting Grandma later, no? I can’t go empty-handed, can I? But then I didn’t have time to prepare anything during the day, and Charles happened to have come over in the afternoon with some expensive dried goods from Mrs. Lane’s hometown. I thought these things would be good for Grandma, so I thought I should give some to her,” answered Sonia while pulling on the seatbelt.
“Charles got them for you?” Toby frowned at once.
Sonia knew at once that he was jealous for assuming they were gifts from a love rival, and she couldn’t help shaking her head, amused. “Not from Charles. Mrs. Lane deliberately got them from me when she visited her family. She knows I like this stuff, so these are from Mrs. Lane. She just had Charles bring them over to me here at Paradigm. He barely has much to do with this. Well, my dear husband? Are you feeling better?”
‘My dear husband’ was all it took to dampen Toby’s jealousy and brighten his mood.
At that, he raised his chin slightly. Despite still looking somewhat aloof, a hint of a smile and contentment could already be seen laced within his eyes. “Better. I’ll thank Mrs. Lane on behalf of my grandmother.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll give Mrs. Lane your thanks. Alright, let’s go, or we’re going to be late,” Sonia urged as she fastened her seatbelt.
With that, Toby put the bag in the back seat and closed the door before saying, “Let’s go.”
Then, he walked around the back of the car to the driver’s seat and headed to the Fuller Residence.
Meanwhile, at the Lore Residence, Lynette returned home in the afternoon. She was so tired that she retired as soon as she came home and had only awoken at this time.
The moment she went downstairs, she heard her grandfather and father arguing as well as her mother mollifying the situation, causing her to instinctively walk down the stairs slowly and lightly while holding the handrail.
As she moved further downward, her elders’ voices became clearer.
First came her father’s lowly, cowardly apology. “Dad, please stop yelling at me. I already know my mistake. Are you not done when you’ve already yelled at me all afternoon? Besides, even if you yell at me, I can’t change anything anymore. As if things will turn around after you yell at me when it’s screwed!”
“Grayson’s right, Dad. Please don’t be mad anymore.” Grayson’s wife, Amelia, poured some tea for the father and son while soothing Harry as she sat next to her husband.
Harry looked disappointingly angry at the couple as he took the cup of tea from her. “You’re a fine one to talk.”
He put the cup down angrily and pointed at Grayson with trembling fingers. “I’ve already warned you time and time again before you head off to be nice, give a decent apology gift, and apologize properly to that woman. Sonia Reed is a daughter of a lost affluent family. She’s surely vain deep down, or why would she keep latching onto Toby again and again? Once we appease her and promise that we’ll think of her whenever we gain any advantages, she might go soft and put in a good word for us in front of Toby, and who knows? He might just forgive us. You’ve also given me your word that you’d do just that, but look what happened! What did you actually do?! Not only did you not bring her a gift, you even behaved insolently. I swear you’re doing this to piss me off!”
At that, he flew into a rage. “Forget about Sonia. Even I would kick the person out when he comes begging me without a gift and an insolent attitude.”
Grayson couldn’t help tucking his neck as he listened to Harry’s scolding. “Well, I didn’t think that woman was so pragmatic, did I? Yes, I agreed to get her a gift and apologize nicely, but then I gave it a second thought and thought, why should I?! Who are we to Toby?! Even if we’re in the wrong, she’s nothing but an outsider. She should forgive us and intercede for us to Toby without having us apologize. After all, you’re Toby’s teacher, and our family is close with the Fullers. If she doesn’t do so, she can’t blame us for opposing her relationship with Toby. A little finagle is all we need to break her and Toby up. So…”
“So you threw my adjure out the window just like that?!”
Grayson lowered his head silently at that.
Livid with rage, Harry pointed at his son’s nose and yelled, “You… Just how stupid can you get?! No wonder so many in the office say you’re useless and hopeless, and the company will go out of business sooner or later if it’s in your hands!”
“Who? Who dares say so?! I’ll fire him!” Grayson shot up in anger.
