All these were witnessed by Tina, who gritted her teeth silently, so furious that she wanted to throw away the lunchbox in her hands. Despite that, she knew that if she really did it, these people would start to vilify her again. With that thought in mind, she shut her eyes and took in a deep breath, reluctantly forcing down the rage burning within her.
After that, everyone started eating, and Toby, too, opened the lunchbox. Immediately, the delicious aroma drifted out and he took a bite. It’s delicious, he thought. But the noodles last night tasted better.
He didn’t understand why he would feel this way when it was obvious that a chef’s cooking would be better than Sonia’s.
Even so, when he was tasting the food, it tasted a little lacking and something seemed to be missing, but he couldn’t exactly tell what it was.
“Why aren’t you eating, Tina?” he couldn’t help but ask when he lifted his eyes and saw that Tina wasn’t eating next to him. Not only that, she didn’t even open the lunchbox.
Tina’s eyes flashed, and she smiled. “I’m still not hungry and don’t feel like eating now.”
“I don’t think you’re not hungry, but rather, you don’t dare to eat it,” Charles said, his voice laced with sarcasm.
Tina’s expression turned solemn. “Mr. Lane, what are you trying to say?”
Charles puckered his lips and said, “I’m just saying that, you’re probably too ashamed to eat this meal because it was heated by Sonia and you’ve tried to harm her so many times. Moreover, you’re also afraid that she poisoned the food, aren’t you?”
As though he had read her mind, Tina’s eyes shuddered, and she quickly looked downward. Forcing out a chuckle, she said, “You must be joking, Mr. Lane. That’s not true. I’m not eating because I’m really not hungry. I’m going over there to get some fresh air.”
With that, she placed the lunchbox aside and walked toward the cliff nearby. Toby pursed his lips together, placed the lid over his meal, and followed after her because he was worried.
As he watched both of them leaving the scene, Charles snorted and remarked, “She’s really good at quibbling.”
“That’s enough. Not even food can keep your mouth shut,” Sonia said, rolling her eyes at him and stuffing a piece of meat into his mouth.
The food was so hot that it scalded him, and he jumped. “Darling, are you trying to kill me?”
Giggling, Sonia said, “Well, you’re the one who had your mouth opened so wide.”
Hearing that, everyone else burst into laughter, and Charles sat down again, looking disgruntled. Close to them, Toby watched how happily they were getting along together, and his eyes turned gloomy.
They were all out on the hike together, but for some unknown reason, he and Tina were unable to mingle with them. Even Tyler and Zane had drifted away from him and Tina. It wasn’t like this before, and things seemed to have turned out this way ever since he started going out with Tina.
Just then, Tina’s voice echoed into his ears. “What are you thinking about, Toby?”
Keeping away his thoughts, Toby turned to her. “Nothing.”
She nodded, as though she was taken in by his answer, and looked at the mountainous range ahead. “Actually, Mr. Lane is right. I didn’t eat because I’m ashamed. Even though it wasn’t my intention to hurt Miss Reed, I still harmed her in the end. So how can I have the cheeks to eat the food she heated up?”
“I know,” Toby comforted and nodded. “Sorry that I’m not considerate enough. I should have brought some food up here.”
“That’s alright.” Hugging his arm, she leaned her head on his shoulder and said with a smile, “I’ll just bear with it a little. It’ll be fine once we return down the mountain and eat.”
“Aren’t you hungry?” Toby asked, tilting his head to look at her.
Shaking her head, she answered, “I’m alright, not that hungry. Are you hungry? If you’re hungry, then you can go back there to eat.” As she spoke, she lifted her head and released her grip on his arm.
However, Toby stood rooted to the spot without moving. “Never mind, I’m not hungry. I’ll eat with you when we return.”
“You’re such an amazing person, Toby,” Tina exclaimed, leaning her head on his shoulder again.
Rebecca, who happened to overhear the conversation while she went over to pick up some water, couldn’t help but roll her eyes. After she returned to the group, she detailed Toby and Tina’s conversation to them.
“Listen to this, President Fuller said he will accompany her to eat when they return, and she really stopped telling him to eat. I really doubt if she sincerely loves him. President Fuller is dead beat after carrying her all the way up the mountain. There’s no way I would believe that he’s not hungry, but that woman believes it without any questions, and is even so happy that he’s staying by her side in hunger,” Rebecca said, letting out a chuckle.
“She’s an extremely selfish person, and it’s true that she won’t consider the well-being of others. Still, you can’t say that she doesn’t love him. We can only say that her affection for him is far from the affection she has for herself. Otherwise, she wouldn’t keep doing things to harm others and letting Toby take care of the mess she made,” Zane said sarcastically as he opened a bottle of water.
Charles lifted his head. “That’s right. If she really regarded Toby as important as herself, she would only think of ways to help him instead of bringing him trouble all the time.”
“At the end of the day, she just doesn’t love President Fuller enough, right?” Rebecca concluded, scratching her chin.
Zane answered, “Yes. Maybe someday when something terrible happens, like an earthquake or a flood, she wouldn’t hesitate to leave Toby behind and might even use him to ward off the danger.”
Snorting, Rebecca added, “Isn’t it dangerous to be together with such a vicious woman?”
Sonia, who hadn’t said a thing this whole time, grinned. “If something like that really happened, I think President Fuller would be willing. After all, he loves her so much.”
“You’re right.”
They all chuckled, except for Tyler who didn’t make a sound, his face sullen.
Even though he didn’t like that they were discussing his brother, he had to admit that they had a point. Even after Tina had done so many bad things to Sonia, Toby still didn’t break up with her despite knowing about it. This was enough to show how important Tina was in his heart—so important that he didn’t care whether her personality was good or bad.
Therefore, it is possible that Toby might disregard his own life for Tina willingly, he thought, and turned to look at Tina again, finding her an eyesore more than ever.
Frustrated, he picked up a small pebble from the ground and threw it at her back.
“Ouch!” Tina cried out loudly when the pebble hit her. She held her shoulder on the spot where it landed and squatted down.
“What happened, Tina?” Toby asked, concerned.
Spinning her head to look at Sonia and the rest, she bit her lip as her eyes started to turn red. “I know that all of you don’t like me, but you don’t have to throw a stone at me just because of that!” she cried.
“Someone threw a stone at you?” Toby asked, narrowing his eyes dangerously as he watched Sonia and the rest fixedly. “Who did it?”
With a composed expression on her face, Sonia took a sip of water and ignored him. Ignoring him as well, Charles was listening to some music with his earphones on.
Meanwhile, Rebecca and Zane were playing a game on their cell phone and pretended they didn’t hear a thing.
Seeing that, Toby pursed his lips into a thin, grim line and finally fixed his eyes on Tyler, who had his head lowered and clearly seemed dodgy with just one glance. “Tyler Fuller, stand up!”
“What do you want?” A guilty look flashed across Tyler’s eyes when his name was called, and he stood up.
“Apologize,” Toby instructed in a growl.
“Why should I apologize?” Tyler challenged, infuriated.
“Because you hurt Tina.”
With widened eyes, Tyler asked, “How did you know that it was me?”
Charles stood up as well and patted Tyler’s shoulder as he chuckled. “Silly boy, your anxiety is written all over your face. Anyone can tell that it was you.”
“Is… Is that so?” Tyler uttered, blinking innocently.
At the sight of his reaction, Sonia, Zane, and Rebecca burst into laughter.
Sighing, Charles said, “What a silly boy.”
With his face burning red, Tyler argued, “Who’s a silly boy? I’m just not good at pretense, unlike some people…” He left his sentence hanging and turned his gaze to look in disgust at the woman next to Toby.
Furious, Tina clenched her fists tightly and wished that she could tear Tyler to pieces. Originally, she was only planning to chase Tyler and that shrew, Jean, out of the house after getting married to Toby. Now, however, she changed her mind. I’ll drive them both out of the Fuller Family completely. That’s what you get for offending me.
