Chapter 924 Where’s Charles?
Curtis noticed Toby’s sudden change in expression so he followed Toby’s gaze. Curtis then observed Toby glancing at his own left arm and the former instantly recalled that his wife had mentioned to him previously how the latter had broken his arm while rescuing Sonia.
He had thought that Grace was just joking back then. After all, he couldn’t imagine what sort of danger Sonia could be subjected to for Toby to actually break his arm to rescue her.
However, it seemed right now that Grace was telling the truth.
“Toby, your arm’s not fully recovered yet so give me some of the items and I’ll carry them inside.” As soon as Curtis said that, he reached out and removed the items from Toby’s left arm.
Curtis instantly felt the weight of the presents as soon as he took them from Toby. Surprised, Curtis asked, “What’s inside? It seems quite heavy.”
“Little Leaf mentioned that you enjoy occasional drinks and you’re a wine collector. I was in possession of a few great wines so I’ve brought them along with me today.” Toby flexed his left arm as he spoke.
At that point, he was not carrying anything on his left arm so the pain gradually dissipated.
Meanwhile, Curtis’s expression brightened upon hearing that he had in his hands some wine. “Oh, did you bring me wine? That’s great. That’s really great.”
Curtis repeated great twice and his expression was joyful as he spoke.
Evidently, Curtis was a wine lover.
As for Toby, he couldn’t help chuckling upon noticing that. “Mr. Lane, I’m glad that you like it.”
“Yes, of course! I love wine,” Curtis replied hastily.
Although he had not seen the wine gifted by Toby, he was quite sure that something from Toby would definitely be of good quality.
Perhaps it was much better than the precious wines in his collection.
At that point, he was quite excited at the thought of it and he became increasingly enthusiastic. He quickly made a welcome gesture at Toby to invite him inside. “Alright, Toby. Let’s quickly head inside. They’ve gone inside for quite some time now so they must be waiting.”
“Sure, Mr. Lane.” Toby nodded his head slightly and trailed after Curtis to enter the mansion.
Inside the living room of the mansion, Sonia and Grace sat side by side. Grace held onto Sonia’s hand affectionately on the former’s lap as they chattered.
They seemed to be discussing something happy as the two women laughed gaily.
Just then, Toby noticed the beaming smile and bright eyes on Sonia’s face and he couldn’t help but reveal a slight smile too.
“Toby, take a seat.” Curtis put down the paper bags in his hand and quickly invited Toby to take a seat.
Toby hummed in response before taking a seat while Curtis stood up to pour him some tea.
As soon as Toby noticed that, he quickly stopped Curtis by lifting his hand over Curtis’s hand. “Mr. Lane, there’s no need to trouble yourself for such small matters. Allow me to serve myself.”
He was here as their future son-in-law so it would reflect quite badly for an elder to serve him tea.
At that moment, Curtis came to his senses too and he realized that they were at home right now so they weren’t exactly interacting with each other as business associates. He was a father-in-law meeting his son-in-law for the first time. As such, it was not necessary for him to serve Toby some tea.
Curtis removed his hand from the teapot and revealed an awkward smile. “I’m sorry. I’m still not used to this change in our relationship.”
Toby smiled. “It’s fine.”
Subsequently, Toby lifted the teapot and got up to pour four cups of tea. He handed the first one to Curtis and the second one to Grace.
Curtis immediately took the tea from Toby upon seeing Toby serve it personally and the former felt quite flattered at that point. Gosh. It’s tea served to me personally by the president of Fuller Group. Other than Old Mrs. Fuller and Sonia, I must be the third person in Seafield to experience this privilege. Oh! Grace’s the fourth one.
Compared to Curtis, Grace took everything in her own stride and she was quite nonchalant about everything. Unlike Curtis, she did not over-analyze the situation.
She merely felt quite pleased by Toby’s action of serving them tea. After all, he was able to forsake his status to serve tea to them—his elders—so he had passed the test in her eyes.
After Grace had taken a sip of the tea, she stood up and said, “It’s quite late now. I’ll just pop into the kitchen to check on the dishes and find out how long before dinner will be ready. It should be ready quite soon.”
“Mrs. Lane, I’ll go with you.” Sonia got up too and she glanced toward Toby. “Toby, stay here and keep Mr. Lane company.”
“Sure,” Toby responded with a smile.
Subsequently, Sonia followed Grace into the kitchen.
As soon as they got to the kitchen, they saw the chefs busy scurrying around as they prepared dinner.
Grace took a look at the menu before nodding her head. “Dinner should be ready soon. There are only two dishes left to prepare.”
Meanwhile, Sonia took a look at the counter and she couldn’t help exclaiming upon seeing the multiple dishes of sumptuous food. “There are so many dishes and most of them are my favorite food.”
Grace held her hand and smiled affectionately. “These are definitely all of your favorite dishes because you’re not always here for dinner! That’s why I’ve intentionally prepared them for you.”
“Mrs. Lane, you’re too kind.” Sonia wrapped her arms around Grace’s waist and leaned on Grace’s shoulders affectionately.
In response, Grace chuckled while lightly smacking her on her head. “You’re behaving just like a kid by being so overly affectionate!”
“I’ll always be a kid in your eyes, right?” Sonia smiled while responding.
Just then, Grace stroked her head tenderly. “Yeah, no matter how old you get, you’ll always be a kid in my eyes. You’re my favorite child ever.” The duo interacted with each other quite affectionately.
After some time, Sonia suddenly realized something and she scrambled out of Grace’s arms. “By the way, Mrs. Lane, where’s Charles?”
Sonia suddenly realized that she hadn’t seen Charles at all since entering the house. Where’s Charles?
As soon as Grace heard Sonia’s question, she snorted angrily, “That kid didn’t come back because he said he is busy with work.”
“Is he swamped with work at Lane Corporation lately?” Sonia glanced at Grace and asked, “There was no word about this though.”
Though there were some projects that Paradigm Co. and Lane Corporation collaborated on together, she would definitely be aware if Lane Corporation hit a busy period.
In response, Grace pouted slightly. “He’s not busy with work at all! Besides, Curtis hasn’t relinquished his position and he’s the chairman of the company. The chairman who’s usually much busier than the president is home right now. Evidently, being the president, Charles should have completed his work as well.”
“Do you mean Charles purposely claimed that he’s busy to avoid coming back?” Sonia blinked as she spoke.
Grace nodded. “Yeah.”
“Why is that so?” Sonia was perplexed.
However, Grace merely kept her eyes on Sonia without saying a word.
Suddenly, Sonia caught on to things upon being stared at intently by Grace and her eyes widened. “Is it because of m-me?”
Grace heaved a sigh and nodded her head slowly. “You must already realize Charles’s feelings toward you. Although he said that he’s gotten over you and he’ll forget about you, it takes time to get over someone and the process won’t be easy either. For the moment, Charles still cares about you so naturally, he wouldn’t want to be present when you bring your partner over. He wants to avoid feeling upset upon seeing you behaving intimately with your partner so he chose to hide from this.”
As soon as Sonia heard that, a wave of guilt welled up within her and there was an ashamed look on her face. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Lane. I…”
“You shouldn’t feel bad, Sonny.” Grace interrupted her words, “I know what you’re going to say. You must think that Charles refused to come home because of your rejection and it’s all your fault so you feel quite bad about this, right?”
Sonia looked at Grace and nodded. “Yes.”
Grace smiled and responded, “You silly child. This isn’t your fault at all. You didn’t do anything wrong. Everyone has a right to choose their own happiness. Charles loves you but that doesn’t mean that you have to accept him and love him too. You were not at fault for rejecting him.”
“I hurt him though.” Sonia bit her lips.
Grace smiled and patted her on the head. “One would definitely feel upset and dejected at being rejected and this is quite normal. If he didn’t feel upset or dejected, then that would mean he didn’t like you at all. Charles developed feelings toward you and that’s something that he has to deal with himself. It has nothing to do with you. You’ve rejected him so he would naturally have to bear the consequences for the outcome of his infatuation.”
