Chapter 744 A Celebration
“This looks pretty good,” Sonia uttered as she turned to look at the man whose face was directly beside hers.
“Really?” Toby turned to look at her as well. She nodded. “Yeah. The plating of the food might be rather odd, but the colors of the dishes look really good. For a beginner’s standard, this deserves a thumbs up.” Sonia stuck her thumb up in front of the man as she spoke. Initially, Sonia assumed that his dishes wouldn’t be too great even if he put in the effort to learn cooking.
However, she just realized that she had gotten it wrong. Although she couldn’t tell if the food was good until she tasted it, just the smell and the color of the dishes told her that it would taste average, if not amazing. Toby smirked when he saw how amazed Sonia seemed by his cooking. Then, he released his arm around her waist to pull one of the chairs back. He pulled her closer to the chair and pressed her shoulders to make her sit down before he handed her some cutleries. “Try it! Tell me how it tastes,” he urged.
“Sure,” Sonia replied with a smile. She was just as eager to taste the dishes, anyway. With her cutleries in her hands, Sonia glanced at the few dishes in front of her while contemplating which to try first. Fortunately, she had never been an indecisive individual, so she came to a conclusion pretty soon. She picked the dish that was the closest to her.
Toby had prepared a total of three dishes—an omelet, some grilled meat, and fried vegetables. All of these were some of the most commonly seen dishes in any household, but these weren’t dishes that would typically appear in the Fuller Residence. The Fullers’ chefs were Michelin star chefs who didn’t necessarily specialize in such common dishes. Sonia was certain that Toby hadn’t tasted regular food like these in the past.
After all, Tom would never get Toby such a simple meal even when they ate out. Most of the time, Tom would order meals from high-end restaurants. That explained why Sonia was so shocked when she first saw the dishes that Toby had prepared. However, upon further thought, Sonia realized how almost every beginner would start by preparing these basic dishes. She no longer felt as surprised after that.
In the end, Sonia chose to try the omelet first. Toby’s eyes followed the egg in her spoon as she raised it to her mouth. “How is it?’ Toby pulled out a chair beside her to sit down as he questioned her. Sonia didn’t respond immediately—she was busy chewing on her food. After chewing for a while more, she turned to look at the man. His expression seemed as calm as usual, but Sonia could tell that he was rather nervous when she observed his actions a little more. Is he worried that I might say his cooking isn’t good?
Sonia smiled at that thought. “I can’t give you an answer since I only tried one of the dishes. I need to try the rest of them before giving you an answer.”
“Fine. Continue eating,” Toby ordered as he used his cutleries to scoop out portions of the two other dishes onto her plate. As Sonia proceeded with her taste-testing, Toby continued to stare at her. He no longer asked her how it tasted, but he frowned as he watched her finish the food on her plate. The anxiousness in his eyes seemed to increase with every passing moment.
When she saw how nervous he seemed, she couldn’t help but giggle. I think I might be the only person who can evoke such feelings of nervousness within this man. I have to say, I do feel pretty happy to watch him getting all worried over my opinion. It shows that he only gets emotional when it comes to things related to me.
After finishing the food on her plate, Sonia lowered her cutleries and wiped her mouth with a piece of tissue. “Sonia,” Toby called. He was clearly asking for her to give him some comments. However, she pretended not to hear him calling her. Instead, she sipped on her glass of water while maintaining the suspense in the air.
At this point, Toby pressed his lips into a thin line before calling her with a deeper voice. “Sonia!”
She knew that he was getting impatient, so she laughed and broke the suspense. “Alright, alright,” she uttered while giving his hand a squeeze. “I won’t take my time anymore. Calm down, I’ll talk now.”
“Tell me!” Toby lifted his chin a little as he waited for her to speak. Sonia stared at him for a while before she held her thumb up once more. “This is pretty good!”
Toby felt a weight being lifted off his chest when he saw Sonia’s thumb. Although he had some confidence in his cooking skills, he wasn’t sure if Sonia would like it. Everyone had different tastes in food, after all. Fortunately, she seemed to enjoy his cooking in the end. As much as he wanted to control himself from grinning, he couldn’t help but let out a smile.
In the end, he had to rest his chin on his palm in order to block Sonia’s view of his lips. After clearing his throat, he spoke in an especially calm voice. “You can continue eating if you like it.” Toby began scooping more portions of the food for her right after he finished speaking. The corner of Sonia’s lips twitched when she saw the huge pile of food gathering on her plate—she didn’t know what to feel at that point.
However, the man was on cloud nine at that point, and he didn’t seem to consider the fact that she might not be able to finish her food. He continued piling food onto her plate until she reached her hand over to stop him. “That’s enough. Stop giving me food. I won’t be able to finish any more than what I have here. You don’t want to waste this!”
Toby’s hand halted mid-way as he raised an eyebrow and stared at her plate. Hmm, that does seem like a lot of food. I must have forgotten myself after she praised me earlier. I can’t even think straight! That’s why I kept piling food onto her plate. I hadn’t expected her plate to be so full. He immediately lowered his cutleries. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. It’s fine. I’ll eat whatever you can’t finish, so it won’t be a waste.”
“Mark your words!” Sonia rested her head on her palm as she turned to laugh at him.
“Yeah,” Toby uttered with a nod. Sonia held up her own cutleries before giving him some of the food on her plate. “This is yours, then. You prepared this, so I can’t have it all on my own. You should eat more after working so hard on this.”
“It wasn’t hard work.” Toby couldn’t seem to stop himself from smiling. All of a sudden, Sonia got to her feet as she seemed to recall something. “What is it?” Toby looked up at her.
“I just recalled that I have another bottle of wine.” Sonia put her cutleries aside. “Let’s have a drink. It’s your first time cooking for me, and I think you deserve a celebration.” She headed off to take the wine, but Toby quickly held her hand. “It’s fine. It’s just a meal. There’s no need for a celebration.”
“Of course there is.” Sonia eyed the man with a sincere look in her eyes. “I believe there are a lot of firsts which deserve to be celebrated. We’re humans—we need some spark and romance in our lives, or life would get boring otherwise. This is also my way of showing you that I value your cooking,” Sonia uttered before she pulled her arm away from his. Then, she flashed him a smile before hurrying over to the study.
Toby let out a deep chuckle when he saw her tiny figure moving away. The tenderness in his eyes seemed to spread into the air around him. What she had said made him extremely happy—she had highlighted that both men and women had the right to be valued and cherished. Sonia clearly cherished Toby’s actions as she insisted on having a celebration when he had just prepared a simple meal.
He felt really touched by this. Soon enough, Sonia appeared with a bottle of red wine that was still sealed. “Let me do it,” Toby urged as he took the bottle over.
“Sure.” Sonia passed him the corkscrew. She didn’t bother to insist on the job as she knew that it required a lot of strength to tug the cork out of the wine bottle. This is a man’s job, she thought. While Toby worked on opening the bottle, he glanced at the label of the bottle. “This wine looks really good,” he uttered in a surprised tone.
