“I’m coming with you,” Charles said, springing up from his seat and looking very worried about her.
Feeling touched and amused at the same time, Sonia turned him down. “It’s fine. I’m just pregnant, not injured. I don’t need you to come with me. That’s it. I’m going now.” With that said, she grabbed her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and left the office. Then, she drove to the hotel.
Coincidentally, when she reached the doors of the hotel, she ran into Toby and Tom, who had also just arrived and looked a little surprised because they weren’t expecting to run into her at the entrance as well.
“Hello, Miss Reed,” Tom greeted.
In reply, she nodded slightly and turned to Toby to greet him. “Greetings, President Fuller.”
He simply grunted a reply and stopped in his tracks, thinking to let her through the door first. However, Sonia was having the same intention to let him in first. After all, Toby was the partnership initiator as well as the owner of this hotel. No matter what, he had to be the one to walk ahead.
As a result, all three of them stood at the hotel entrance awkwardly with none of them taking the lead to go in.
In the end, it was Tom who snapped back and figured out Sonia’s intentions. Clearing his throat, he then whispered to Toby, “President Fuller, Miss Reed is letting you in first. I know you want to let her go first, but as you’re the initiator of the collaboration, she wouldn’t go in unless you do.”
Frowning slightly, Toby wasn’t expecting that she would care about the rules in the business world so much. Well, if she didn’t care about it so much, she wouldn’t have been annoyed at Tina the last time at the resort area when Tina didn’t understand this rule, he thought, and stepped into the hotel with Tom following closely behind.
Staring at their backs, Sonia heaved a sigh of relief. It’s great that they’re going. Otherwise, I would have broken the rules in the business world, she thought, knowing that people who broke the rules of the business world would be ostracized and despised by other businessmen. Fortunately, they were the ones who went in first in the end. After readjusting the handbag strap on her shoulder, she took in a deep breath and went in as well.
At the elevators, she pressed the button for the first elevator, but surprisingly, the light went out by itself after lighting for a second. What’s happening? she asked herself. Are there any open elevator doors?
Her brows furrowed, and she was about to check which of the elevator doors were opened when she heard a voice in the front saying, “Over here, Miss Reed.”
Twirling her head to the source of the voice, she saw Tom poking his head out of the third elevator, smiling at her.
At that moment, she understood the situation. No wonder the light on the button went out so quickly after I pressed it. Toby and Tom have been waiting for me at the third elevator.
“Quick, Miss Reed. We’re waiting for you,” Tom urged again when he saw that she was hesitating and rooted to the spot in front of the first elevator.
Her lips moved, and she said, “No thanks, you guys go on ahead first. I—”
“We’re going to be late!” Tom broke her off hastily after Toby cast him a glance.
Hearing that, Sonia lifted her hand and glanced at the time. Sure enough, they were about to be late as there were only a few minutes left. It seemed like she had to join them and go upstairs together. Sighing, she then stepped into the elevator.
Staring at the man standing in the middle of the elevator who was exuding a strong aura, she then lowered her gaze and uttered, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” Toby replied, looking at her from the corners of his eyes.
After finding a spot in the corner of the elevator, Sonia stood straight and stopped speaking, and neither did Toby. As the subordinate, Tom naturally couldn’t say a thing when he was caught in a situation where his boss was quiet. Because of that, it was so silent in the small elevator that all he could hear were the soft sounds of their breathing.
The professional smile on Tom’s face gradually became stiff from its initial natural look. Goodness, please say or do something, guys, he begged silently. Isn’t it a little depressing when nobody says anything?
Finally, the elevator reached with a ding, and the doors slid open. Tom was the first to get out, and he held the door open, feeling relieved. This is great! he thought. At long last, I don’t have to spend more time in this suffocating atmosphere with these two!
Not knowing what was going on in Tom’s mind, Sonia was the last to get out of the elevator. Then, she purposely stood there for a couple of seconds and waited until Toby and Tom had gone ahead of her a few steps before she started walking, trailing behind with a short distance in between.
Soon, they reached the conference room, and it was Tom who pushed the door open, letting Toby in, and then Sonia. Upon seeing their arrival, the people in the room hurriedly stopped chatting and turned silent.
Seated on the first left from the main seat of the conference table, Titus narrowed his aging eyes at the sight of Sonia. “Toby, why are you coming together with President Reed again?”
“We ran into each other downstairs. Alright, let’s start the meeting,” Toby said, pulling out the chair and taking his seat.
Knowing that he didn’t want to explain any further, Titus could only let the matter go. However, his eyes were fixed solemnly at Sonia. He thought it was a deliberate act on her part that she came in together with Toby.
On the other hand, Sonia secretly rolled her eyes in her heart and couldn’t be bothered with him. Instead, she flipped her notebook open and prepared to take down the meeting minutes.
From the main seat, Toby scanned over the faces of the people in the room, and after stopping a couple of seconds extra on Sonia’s face, he withdrew his gaze, saying calmly, “I’ve already gone through all the proposals everyone handed in yesterday and picked out the most outstanding five proposals from it. The companies behind these five proposals will be our partners in alternative energy technology.”
Here it comes! everyone thought as they straightened their backs subconsciously and became serious.
Sonia as well. In addition to being serious, she was also a little nervous. Amongst the two dozen or so people present, she and her company were far behind them and were an existence at the lowest level—whether it was her business competency or the strength behind her company. So, she was really not confident that her proposal would be selected.
“President Fuller, since you’ve already decided on the partners, please announce it already so that we all know who are the lucky ones,” someone urged.
“That’s right, President Fuller. Don’t keep us waiting.”
“Just announce it, Toby,” Titus said as well, revealing the anticipation in his voice.
Yesterday, after Tina returned from submitting the proposal at Fuller Group, she had told him that he was already one of the confirmed partners. Hence, he was anxious to find out whether she was telling the truth. Ultimately, he knew his proposal, and it would be difficult to get selected with that. But there was a possibility that Toby had changed his mind for the sake of Tina and opened up a back door for him—his future father-in-law.
Nervous, Sonia gawked at Toby.
Toby felt her eyes on him, and he turned to look at her.
Not expecting that he would suddenly look in her direction, Sonia was stunned, and she cast her eyes downward before twisting her head the other way to stop herself from looking.
Seeing how indifferent she was, Toby couldn’t help but press his lips together, and his tone turned a few notes more grim. “Announce the results, Tom.”
“Yes,” Tom answered. With a list in his hands, he read it out loud. “Based on the proposals, we’ve decided on five partners, and these five partners are Mr. Williams of Dazzle Steel Corporation, Mr. Cashmann of Supreme Incorporated, Mr. Ziegler from Linewarp Corporation, Mr. Lanster of Half Log Group, and…”
Besides the four whose names were read out, the others had their hearts in their throats. With both her hands clasped together tightly, Sonia bit hard into her lower lip, wondering, Will it be me? Her heart was pounding, and her eyes stared unblinking at the list in Tom’s hands.
Tom caught sight of her gaze, and he sighed in his heart. Pushing up his glasses, he raised his voice as he announced the last spot, “Mr. Gray of Triforce Enterprise.”
After the words left his lips, sighs of disappointment echoed from the crowd. Sonia lowered her dejected eyes and gradually released her tightly clasped palms.
It’s not me, she thought. Even though she had prepared herself mentally prior to this, she was still really upset when she heard the results for real.
