Chapter 496 Toby’s Getting Engaged
When the female assistant felt Sonia holding onto her, she thought she was about to be brought in for a lecture. Fear had just crept into her when she heard Sonia’s question. “What? Weren’t you about to reprimand me?” She was stunned.
The corner of Sonia’s lips twitched. “If I were to scold anyone, it would be your leader. What use is it for me to scold any of you assistants?”
The assistant let out a sigh of relief before she smiled. “You’re such a nice person, President Reed.”
“Enough with the nonsense. Tell me—what were you guys talking about earlier?” Sonia repeated her question.
“Oh, yes. We were talking about how President Fuller from the Fuller group might be getting engaged again,” the assistant replied.
“What?” Sonia’s pupils shrank as her body stiffened. “Toby is… getting engaged?” The assistant was new to the company, so she wasn’t aware of Sonia’s past relationship with Toby. However, the assistant could sense a rather peculiar change in Sonia at the mention of Toby. “Yeah, that’s what the Internet says,” the assistant replied without thinking much of Sonia’s change in demeanor.
“The Internet?”
“Yeah. A media website uploaded an article today, and it included pictures of President Fuller hugging another woman. The media predicted that President Fuller might have good news to announce soon…” The assistant continued talking, but Sonia no longer heard anything that she said. All Sonia could think of was how Toby might be getting engaged again.
With a dazed look on her face, Sonia turned around and walked to her own office. The assistant hadn’t finished speaking, so she tilted her head sideways when Sonia walked off without dismissing her. “President Reed is acting really weirdly. Why does she look as if her soul has just left her body?” The assistant couldn’t make sense of the situation, so she simply shrugged before returning to her desk.
Once Sonia got into her office and stepped behind her desk, she reached her hands out and felt for her chair before sinking into her seat. Once she sat down, she remained paralyzed in her seat for a long while, almost as if she had completely lost her mind. Her gaze was empty as she stared at her computer. There was a tightness in her chest that wouldn’t seem to leave, and her face was burning so much that it stung her skin.
Just the night before, Sonia had assumed that Toby wouldn’t get engaged, yet reality slapped her in the face the very next morning. He’s still going to get engaged! And he’s getting engaged to…
Sonia clenched her fists before she leaned forward to turn her computer on and search for the news article that her assistant had been talking about. Since it was news about Toby, Sonia was certain that it would make the headlines. Indeed, once Sonia turned her computer on, the pop-up at the right lower corner of her screen indicated the news of Toby’s engagement before she even went to her browser.
She hastily clicked on the notification, and she was led to a website called ‘Entertainment First’. She glanced at the first few lines of the post. ‘According to our sources, the Fuller and McRae Groups are arranging for a union of their families. Our editors assumed that these were rumors all along, but we just received solid evidence that supports these statements! These are no longer rumors—it’s the truth! An engagement is about to happen between the Fuller and McRae families. Congratulations, Miss McRae!”
There was a picture attached at the bottom of the post. Sonia’s fingers trembled as she clicked on the image, which revealed a shot of Toby and another woman standing in front of a hotel. The woman was holding onto Toby’s arm, and she was resting her upper body against his chest. Toby, on the other hand, had his head lowered to look at the woman—it was clear that he was gazing at her lovingly.
There seemed to be a romantic touch to the atmosphere of the picture, and it looked like a shot of a loving couple. Miss McRae… Lily McRae… Sonia let go of her mouse and slumped back into her office chair as she dug her teeth into her bottom lip. He’s really getting engaged to Lily, huh. Now I know why he decided to let go of me, and now I understand why he no longer needs me to care for him. It’s because he’s in love with Lily and is getting engaged to her. That’s why he’s letting go of me, and that’s why he no longer needs me. He’d be disloyal to Lily if he remained in contact with me, right?
Although Sonia didn’t think that Toby was at fault in this matter, she still felt an uneasy feeling in her chest. There was a dull ache that wouldn’t seem to leave her alone. Her eyes stung at the sight of Toby and Lily together in the picture. After a long while, she finally straightened herself and shut the webpage. She had assumed that she would be less troubled once she stopped staring at the picture, but she realized that her actions were pointless. She only grew more frustrated as she sank deeper into her own thoughts.
All of a sudden, her phone began to ring. She picked the call up without checking the caller ID. “Who is it?”
“It’s me, darling. Did you see the news? Toby and Lily are getting engaged.” Charles’s enthusiastic voice came from the other end of the line.
Sonia tightened her grip on her phone. “I saw it,” she replied flatly.
“Aren’t you surprised?” Charles couldn’t sense the difference in Sonia’s tone, and he stared at his computer screen as he continued blabbering excitedly. “Darling, did you know how rude Toby was toward Lily when we were at the social event last night? I can’t believe they’re getting engaged now! Tsk. What is going on in his mind, darling? Why is he getting engaged with Lily if he doesn’t like her? How does he benefit from this engagement? The McRaes are a relatively poor family, so why would he be interested in them? Furthermore, the Fuller Family is so powerful, they don’t need to arrange for marriages with any other families around here. Getting married to another family would only delay their business’s growth, so—”
“What makes you think that their marriage is solely to benefit their families? What if it’s true love?” Sonia curled her lips into a mocking smirk.
Charles chuckled. “True love? Stop kidding, darling. How could Toby and Lily be in love with each other?”
“Why not?” Sonia lowered her gaze so that no one could see the look in her eyes. “As you said, the McRaes aren’t doing that well, and there’s no reason for the Fuller Family to be interested in them. If they get married, the McRaes won’t be of any help to the Fullers, and they would have to depend on the Fullers’ support to survive. Toby isn’t someone who’d choose to put himself on the losing end, and he isn’t someone who can be forced to do things he doesn’t wish to. I’m sure that no one forced him to get married to Lily, and I’m sure that he’s not doing it for the sake of benefiting the Fullers. In that case, it has to be true love.”
“True love…” Charles’ lips twitched, and he turned speechless for a moment before he found his voice again. “I think you make a lot of sense, darling. I don’t have an argument against your point.”
“That’s because what I’m saying is the truth.”
“I know, but I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that Toby’s in love with Lily. When I was at the social event last night, I could see the hatred in his eyes as he glared at her. That’s what made me suspect if this engagement is even real,” Charles uttered as he stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“It has to be real. Otherwise, he’d step forward to clarify things, right? It’s nearly 10.00AM now, yet he hasn’t done anything. That has to mean that this is the truth,” Sonia uttered with a blank expression.
“I guess so.” Charles nodded.
Sigh. “Alright, Charles. Is there anything else? I’ll end the call otherwise. I’m really tired, and I need some rest,” Sonia explained. She wasn’t just mentally drained; she was also feeling rather dizzy after all that happened. She had to lie down and calm herself down to regulate her own emotions. She also wanted to understand why she got so emotional after finding out about Toby’s engagement.
This time, Charles realized that Sonia sounded rather peculiar. He knitted his brows and was about to ask her about it when he realized that she had turned silent on the other end of the line. He held the phone in front of his face to see that his screen had already been lit up to show the past incoming calls he received. That was how he knew that Sonia had ended his call.
Meanwhile, at the Coleman Residence, Zane had been browsing news articles when he saw the one about Toby. His eyes nearly popped out of his sockets, and he immediately contacted Toby after that. “You must have lost your mind, Toby! Are you seriously getting engaged to Lily?”
