Chapter 645 More Powerful
She took the initiative to ask him to go pick her up.
Toby’s pupils dilated slightly and he straightened up on his seat, the smile on his face widening.
This was the first time Sonia requested for him to do something on her own accord.
This showed that she had started to rely on him more and had stopped being so courteous with him. At the same time, she gradually accepted the change in their identity and started to treat him like her boyfriend.
“Sure, I’ll drop by this afternoon.” This time, instead of typing the message, he chose to send her a voice message because he found that the happiness and excitement that he was feeling at the moment was indescribable with words.
On the other end, Sonia tapped on the voice message and heard Toby’s deep, mellow voice. Did he purposely speak in a deeper voice? she thought, her ears flushing.
As she touched the tip of her ears, she replayed the voice message, and his pleasant voice that rang out made her blush again.
However, this time, she noticed something different in Toby’s voice—happiness. I only asked him to come and pick me up in the afternoon. Did that make him that happy?
She pouted, but her eyes revealed her smiles. She then texted, ‘Sure. I’ll call you or text you in the afternoon. I’ve got to attend a meeting now.’
After sending the message, she kept her phone away, taking a deep breath to calm her heart that had started to race when she heard his voice. Thereafter, she took her laptop and exited the office.
“Chairman Reed.” Daphne stood outside Sonia’s office with a hand raised. It was obvious that the former was about to knock on the door when the door unexpectedly opened before she managed to do so.
Upon seeing Sonia coming out, Daphne put down her hand. “I was going to come get you.”
“Sorry for the delay.” Sonia smiled apologetically and asked, “Has everyone arrived?”
“Yes, which was why I was here to inform you.”
“Okay, I understand. Let’s go.” Sonia closed the door behind her and headed toward the elevator with Daphne following her from behind.
The two ladies arrived at the meeting room. The moment they stepped into the room, everyone instantly focused on Sonia. Their gazes contained excitement and delight, as well as complexity and anxiousness.
The former belonged to those that sided with her, while the latter belonged to those that sided with Asher.
Sonia knew very well why they looked at her with such gazes. It was because of the news that had been reported that morning.
Those that sided with her were glad that she had gotten back together with Toby, since this suggested that Paradigm Co. would be able to collaborate with the Fuller Group and nothing would go wrong in the future. At the same time, the shareholders’ profits would be guaranteed.
On the contrary, those who sided with Asher were anxious for the same reason—it being she was now with Toby again.
They were aware that she had been dissatisfied with them. If it wasn’t because of the fact that she would have a hard time finding people to replace their positions, she would have kicked all of them out of Paradigm Co.. As such, she had no choice but to bear with them although they had supported Asher and had given her many troubles.
Nonetheless, at present, all of that wouldn’t matter if Sonia was really in a relationship with Toby.
After all, the Fuller Group was full of talents. They could easily allocate some of them over to replace them. Therefore, it would only be natural for this group of people to feel worried and apprehensive.
Even Asher couldn’t afford to be arrogant at that moment; the way he peered at Sonia was rather complicated, totally unlike how he had used to view her as an eyesore.
He had been giving her a hard time by making use of his seniority in Paradigm Co., but because of Toby, he dared not do the same right now.
As a matter of fact, when Sonia took away the management rights from Asher after being promoted to become the chairperson, the situation had proven that he was no match to her. He dared not oppose her openly, so all he had planned was to find an opportunity to kick her out of the position using some underhanded means.
Unexpectedly, Sonia actually got back together with Toby before such an opportunity arrived. Now that this had happened, how could Asher deal with her? He was afraid that Toby would get rid of him before he actually took any action, as he was well-aware of the fact that Toby was an incredibly protective man.
“My apologies for arriving late and having you all wait for me.” A simple glance at everyone in the meeting room was enough to allow Sonia to gauge their thoughts. She smiled, then pulled her chair back to take a seat.
Everyone shook their heads and waved their hands. “No worries, Chairman Reed. You are not late. It is us who arrived too early.”
“That’s right. We didn’t wait for long.”
“Is that so? Thank you for your understanding, then,” Sonia replied with a shadow of a smile by her lips, thereafter taking the cup before her and sipping her drink.
Asher and his people were snobbish indeed; they were flexible with their standings depending on the situation. In the past, they would say a few sarcastic words if she was late regardless of whether she was the chairman.
However, at present, they expressed that it was their honor to wait for her when she was late.
Sure enough, her position affected how these people treated her. She had never expected that she could make use of Toby’s influence to make things easier.
“Chairman Reed.” Just then, one of the senior managers looked at Sonia excitedly and asked, “Are the rumors on the Internet real? Have you really gotten back together with President Fuller?”
The person who asked the question was one of the people who sided with her, and this question happened to be one that everyone present at the scene was dying to know.
Sonia placed the cup down and calmly responded, “Very soon.”
The two simple words explained everything.
Although they had no idea why she had said ‘very soon’, the fact that she didn’t deny the question showed that she was really in a relationship with Toby again.
At that instant, the whole meeting room burst into an uproar.
Those that sided with Sonia were excited, while those who sided with Asher were dispirited, especially Asher himself, whose expression became thunderous.
Although he had been mentally prepared that the rumors might be real, he still found it a little unacceptable upon hearing Sonia’s confirmation, as this would suggest that he might never regain the management rights from her.
After all, with Toby by her side, Sonia would only become more powerful and her control over Paradigm Co. would only become stronger.
On the contrary, Asher could be considered lucky if Toby was willing to let him off the hook.
At that thought, the former was afraid that Toby would hold a grudge against him because the fact that he had been giving Sonia a hard time was known by everyone in Paradigm Co.
As such, he was afraid that Toby would oppress him as a form of taking revenge on behalf of Sonia.
Meanwhile, Sonia had been secretly paying attention to Asher’s reactions with the corner of her eyes.
Upon seeing that Asher seemed dejected, as though he had suddenly aged by ten years in a matter of minutes, she felt that her anger had been vented.
She knew what Asher and his men were afraid of—they were afraid that she would use Toby’s influence to drive them out of the company.
Nevertheless, they had, in fact, overthought the situation since she had no such intentions.
Firstly, she had no intention to give Toby any trouble although she was in a relationship with him. She wouldn’t use him to achieve her goals. If she wanted to kick them out of the company, she would do so on her own.
Therefore, the bunch of men were worrying for nothing. Although they were not on good terms with her, she would still keep them in the company considering their good performance. She would only start to think about getting rid of them after she had trained employees that were capable enough to replace them.
Having said that, Sonia wouldn’t mind using Toby’s reputation to decrease their salary and benefits, though. She couldn’t very well allow those who bear her ill will to continue receiving a high salary, could she?
“Alright, since you all have found out what you wanted to know, let’s talk about this some other time. We shall begin our meeting now.” She patted the table to calm everyone down.
Naturally, there were no objections and they soon calmed down.
The meeting officially began and it was 12.00 PM when it ended.
At that point, Sonia returned to her office. When she pushed the door open, she saw someone sitting on the seat that belonged to her.
That person’s arrival stunned her. Her red lips parting, she gaped at that person. “Why are you here?”
