“That’s enough, Tyler. Apologize to Tina. Now,” Toby urged impatiently, his brows knitted.
Knowing that he was in the wrong, Tyler lowered his head and uttered unwillingly, “I’m sorry.”
A menacing aura could be felt coming from Toby as he said, “Where’s your sincerity, Tyler Fuller?”
Tyler pouted for a second before he raised his voice and said, “I’m sorry, Tina. Is this okay now?”
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Tina hurriedly said with a smile while waving her hand, showing that she had forgiven him.
In return, Tyler merely snorted, spun around, and paced off to a spot, sulking by himself.
As Toby looked at his back, Toby’s gaze darkened. Then, he turned to Tina next to him. “I’m sorry, Tina. Tyler is ignorant. You—”
“It’s fine. I didn’t take it to heart,” Tina interjected, smiling.
The knot between his brows eased and he asked, “By the way, are you hurt anywhere?”
“No,” she answered while shaking her head.
Nodding, he said, “That’s good.”
Right after he said that, he heard Charles’ loud voice. “Oh darling, where are you going?”
Subconsciously, Toby turned to look in Sonia’s direction and saw that she was walking toward the small creek nearby.
“I’m going to wash my face,” she replied.
“Okay, watch out, then. Don’t fall into the river,” Charles warned.
That made Sonia stop in her tracks, and she turned around before rolling her eyes at him. “How can I fall in when the creek is so shallow? Are you dumb?”
Chuckling sheepishly, he then answered, “I’m just worried about you.”
“Alright. I’ll be back soon.” Turning her head back, she then continued to walk forward.
The entire time, Toby was watching how both of them interacted, and a dark shadow appeared over his eyes. Next to him, Tina knew that he was feeling jealous judging from the way he looked, and she bit her lower lip unwittingly.
Zane, who was observing all of them from nearby, noted with amusement, “Interesting. Very interesting indeed.”
Suddenly, Tina said to Toby, “I’m going to wash my hands as well.”
While he watched Sonia crouched by the creek, instead of agreeing to it immediately, he said, “Wait a little while until Sonia is done.”
Now, there was no way he would let Tina and Sonia be alone together; he wasn’t worried about Sonia, but rather, he was worried about Tina as nobody knew when her second personality would come out.
“But my palms are covered in sweat and it’s very uncomfortable,” Tina explained, showing her palms to him.
After looking at her wet palms, Toby still didn’t allow her to go. “Bear with it for a little longer.”
“Okay,” Tina muttered in disappointment, her eyes dimmed as she hung her head.
If this were to happen in the past, I would have been soft-hearted the moment I saw her being uncomfortable, Toby thought. But right now in his heart, he didn’t feel a thing and even thought that her every move didn’t have such a huge impact on him as before. In contrast, everything Sonia did…
His thoughts drifted off as he stared at Sonia’s back with darkened eyes.
“Toby, come over for a while,” Tyler called while waving him over from a distance.
“I’m going over to take a look,” Toby said to Tina.
Nodding, she answered, “Go ahead.”
“Okay,” he muttered before walking toward Tyler. “Why did you call me over?”
“I have something to tell you,” Tyler answered with a mysterious grin on his face.
As Tina watched the brothers engaged in a conversation, she wondered if Tyler was bad-mouthing her. Regardless, it didn’t bother her because she had countless ways to make Toby believe that the thing he said about her wasn’t true. Smirking, she looked away from them and turned her attention toward the creek.
Already done washing her face, Sonia was still crouched by the creek with a pocket mirror in her hand as she touched up on her makeup.
After walking over, Tina then crouched a few feet away from Sonia. “Hi, Miss Reed,” she said as she dipped her hands into the cool water and turned to smile at Sonia.
Quietly, Sonia cast her a look from the corners of her eyes, kept her pocket mirror away and washed her hands, preparing to leave the spot.
On the other hand, Tina saw that she was leaving but didn’t do anything to stop her. After all, she was really there to wash her hands and had no plans to do anything to Sonia.
First and foremost, there was no cover in this spot, and the rest of them would discover it if there was anything going on. If she made a move on Sonia here, it would be akin to her seeking her own death; she would have nothing to gain.
When Sonia was done cleaning her hands, she wiped them dry with a handkerchief and was about to leave after grabbing her bag. From the corners of her eyes, Tina suddenly caught a glimpse of a black snake on the branch behind Sonia.
The snake had already raised its head and was flicking its tongue as it fixed its cold-blooded eyes on Sonia, looking as though it was about to attack anytime.
Upon seeing this, Tina was shocked, and she almost cried out loudly. However, she quickly covered her mouth and calmed down in a split second. At the same time, a plan began to form in her mind.
With so many pairs of eyes watching her, it was true that she couldn’t lay a finger on Sonia, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t make use of a snake to harm her.
With this thought in mind, she narrowed her eyes and stood up suddenly while shouting, “Miss Reed!”
When Sonia heard her voice, she stopped in her tracks subconsciously, and the snake behind her was also startled from her movement and Tina’s voice.
The snake shrunk back a little before leaping up from the branch, throwing itself into the air and aiming for Sonia’s neck.
Seeing that the snake was about to land on Sonia’s neck and give her a bite, Tina smiled brightly, but right at this moment, Rebecca shouted in panic, “President Reed, get down quickly!”
Although Sonia had no idea what was going on, she crouched down immediately without hesitation upon hearing the fear in Rebecca’s voice. Because she suddenly crouched down, the snake flew over the top of her head and landed on Tina, who was opposite her.
Tina turned her head to look at the snake which had landed on her shoulder. Her face turned pale from the fright before she flinched and screamed, “Ah!”
As she had moved so suddenly, the startled snake bit her on the neck and fell into the creek before swimming away swiftly. Everything happened in a split second; it was so fast that no one was able to react.
By the time everyone else rushed over, all they saw was Tina’s eyes rolling backward in their sockets and her passing out on the scene.
“Tina!” Toby cried out, his brows furrowed. With quick steps, he rushed to her side and held her up.
When Charles reached Sonia’s side, he asked, “What happened, darling?”
Still shocked from the event, Sonia opened her mouth, but she couldn’t make a sound. Finally, it was Rebecca who answered for her, saying, “It was a snake. President Reed was almost bitten by a snake earlier.”
“What? A snake?” Charles repeated in shock and hurriedly checked Sonia carefully with a worried look on his face. “Darling, were you bitten anywhere?”
Although Toby was holding Tina in his arms, his gaze was on Sonia, who shook her head and replied, “I’m fine. I wasn’t the one who got bitten. It’s Miss Gray.”
“That’s alright, then,” Charles said in relief while patting his own chest. “It’s alright as long as you’re not the one bitten. As for her…” He trailed off and turned to look at Tina with a gloating look in his eyes. “She deserved it!”
“Shut up!” With her elbow, Sonia nudged him so that he would watch his tongue.
Toby’s face was sullen. Initially, he wanted to teach Charles a lesson, but when he saw Sonia’s gesture, the look in his eyes darkened, and he decided to let the matter rest.
“Toby, quickly check to see where Tina was bitten,” Zane reminded him.
After lowering his head, Toby checked and found the snake bite marks on Tina’s neck; there were two blood-stained punctures that sent chills down everyone’s spine.
Gulping, Tyler then asked, “Toby, do you think it’s a poisonous bite?”
