Clang!
Now that the office door was closed, the room instantly fell silent. Sonia then gazed at her hands that Toby had grabbed before she coldly said, “President Fuller, Charles has been taken out. Can you let me go now?”
He released his grip on her with a nod. Since her hands were freed, she immediately took two steps back to distance herself from him. “President Fuller, what exactly do you want to say to me?”
As he looked at her in all seriousness, he replied, “I wasn’t fooling you when I told you about all those things the last time at Bayside Residence. It’s all true; the person whom I love is not Tina but you!”
Sonia was silent for a few seconds before she gave a mock laugh. “President Fuller, what do I have that is worthy of your heart? Not only do you still want to lie to me, but you even joined forces with your grandmother to lie to me? ”
Upon seeing that she was still unwilling to believe his own sincerity, Toby sighed. “Do you still remember John?”
When she heard the name, Sonia’s expression changed slightly. “How do you know John?”
She really is the real Maple! Then, Toby’s eyebrows softened as he lightly opened his thin lips and replied, “John Johann is my other name. Many years ago, I took my mother’s last name Johann and she used to call me John!”
“Y-You…” Upon hearing his words, she pointed at him as her eyes widened in disbelief. She finally came to the realization that he was her long-time pen pal, John!
As if Toby seemed to know what Sonia wanted to say, he gently put her hand down. “I’m the John whom you’re thinking of, Maple!”
Now that he had called out her pen pal name, Sonia could no longer deny that he was not her pen pal. She merely found it difficult to accept the truth.
“How could it be you?” Sonia bit her lip, feeling that everything was so ridiculous. “Why would you be John?”
That gentle boy who would comfort her with letters whenever she was bullied by her stepmother and when she was unhappy was actually Toby!
“Why can’t it be me?” Toby frowned slightly and asked, “Or, are you disappointed that John is actually me?”
He could tell that she looked disappointed when she confirmed that he was John. She actually did not want him to be John!
Now that he saw his reaction, his heart was slightly constricted with pain. He initially came to her with the excitement to tell her that they were pen pals; he even thought that she would be happy to know that he was John since they were once so close. He never expected her to react in this manner!
Maybe she wasn’t unhappy to see John; it’s just that she did not want to accept that he was John. If another person was John, she would not have reacted like this.
When Toby thought about that, he couldn’t help but clench his fists as the cold aura emanated from him.
Sonia took a deep breath and looked at him. “I’m sorry, President Fuller. I am indeed a little disappointed that you are John because you aren’t even the slightest similar to the John whom I know.”
Of course, he did not bear any resemblance to John. Instead, the Toby of 6 years ago was at least rather similar to John.
When she met John, she was only 12 years old and had just started middle school. There was once when her stepmother’s daughter broke a vase, but she accused Sonia of the action. Then, seeing that Sonia’s father was not at home, her stepmother slapped her across her face. She locked herself in her room as she was upset and typed a letter before she sealed it in a virtual bottle on the Internet and sent it off.
However, not long after that, a message alerted her that someone had replied to her letter and that person was John. From that moment on, she and John became pen pals.
He would answer all kinds of questions for her while also being patient whenever Sonia was frustrated. Moreover, he even suggested a number of ways to deal with her evil stepmother, so it could be said that he bore the credit for Sonia growing into a fine adult even though with her stepmother around.
When Sonia was in high school, she fell in love with Toby at first sight and began to find out about him. The more she talked to him, the more she realized that Toby and John were similar in character with the same kind of gentleness. At that time, she couldn’t help but wonder whether Toby would treat like John since both men were so similar in character and if she was with Toby.
In fact, she even asked John about this. Of course, she didn’t say who she liked; she merely described her crush as a senior who had graduated a long time ago and she wanted John to give her a definite answer. If his answer was what she expected, she would gather her courage to confess her love to Toby, who had taken over the Fuller Group at that time.
That year, after she asked John, John’s reply was not as punctual as usual. She would receive his message every Sunday, but his reply only reached her half a month later. Even then, he did not answer that particular question of hers, but proposed to meet her and explained that there were important things that he wanted to personally say to her. He left her a phone number on the letter and told her to save it.
After Sonia had saved the number, she dialed it, to which John answered the call. However, he seemed to be gravely ill; his voice was weak and even breathless. Slightly after he told her the address and time of their meetup, she heard a doctor by his side saying it was time to head into the operating room. The phone was then hung up.
When the time came to meet up a month later, she went to the place where he said they were going to meet, but much to her dismay, he did not appear despite her waiting from noon until dark. Besides, his phone could not be reached, so she returned to her dormitory in disappointment. However, he sent a text message the next morning, telling her that she did not need to write to him anymore.
It was the whole relationship between her and John from start to finish. As shocked as she was, it turned out that John and the man whom she had a crush on at the time were actually the same person, Toby Fuller!
“You’re right, it’s true that John and I don’t have any similarities with each other now.” Toby lowered his eyelids. When the hypnosis was broken, he gradually remembered what his previous self was like. However, he was well aware that even if he had recovered from the hypnosis, he could not return to his old, gentle self after experiencing what the business world was like.
“Well, what’s the use of talking about this? Even if you are John, so what? What does it have to do with you saying that you love me?” Sonia took a deep breath to suppress the emotions churning within her and spoke in a cold, indifferent voice.
“Of course it does!” Toby’s thin lips moved. “I fell in love with Maple many years ago. Even I myself can’t believe it; I actually fell in love with a girl whom I’ve never met and only knew through correspondence. And that girl is you, Sonia!”
“Wait!” Sonia hurriedly motioned for him to stop. “You said that you fell in love with me when I was still Maple a long time ago?”
“Yes!” Toby nodded.
She sneered in between her laughter. “Do you think I would believe that? 6 years ago, you and Tina got together. That means—”
“No!” Since he knew what she was going to say, he immediately interrupted her before explaining with a serious expression, “I have never loved Tina. The woman whom I love has always been you. I was with her 6 years ago because I took her for you.”
“What?” Sonia looked stunned as her mouth was agape. “You took her for me?”
Toby nodded. “6 years ago, I read in your letter that you wanted to confess your love for someone. I couldn’t accept it, so I wrote back to you and asked you to meet with me just to personally tell you that I have always loved you and wanted to be with you. However, I didn’t expect that it wasn’t you who came; it was Tina!”
