The Rival’s Confrontation
Toby hummed earnestly in response as he replied, “I got it, and I’m drinking it right now.” As he said
this, he took up a spoonful of soup and slurped it loudly. “Hear that?”
Sonia laughed and nodded. “Yes, I heard it. How is it? I stewed it for ages just to get the flavor right.”
“It’s delicious,” he answered with a firm nod. Then, his brows drew together as he added, “Tom was
here too, and he wanted to give a taste after he saw how good it looked. He even asked me if I could
spare him some.”
“Oh?” She raised a brow in amusement. Sonia then laughed and said, “If he truly thinks that way, then I
must have displayed exemplary culinary skills.”
“I didn’t let him try it, though,” Toby said huffily on the other line. “You made the soup for me, and it’s
mine—all mine! No one else gets to have it.”
Upon hearing his stubborn tone, Sonia couldn’t help being entertained. “That’s a little selfish of you,
isn’t it?”
“Not at all.” He shook his head slightly. “I’m just trying to protect what’s mine, so how is that selfish?
Besides, you said you made the soup for me. It wouldn’t seem right to let someone else have it too.”
“That’s true,” she agreed with a nod. She was admittedly gratified to hear how defensive he was over
something she gave him. After all, it wasn’t a pleasant feeling to know that the gift one gave a person
was passed on to another. It’s a good thing to see him appreciate the soup so much, she thought with a
smile.
Just then, she remembered something and said, “By the way, Anya apologized to me today.”
Toby stopped drinking his soup when he heard this, but quickly regained composure as he nodded.
“Well, as long as she apologizes.”
He had thought about getting someone to give her a reminder if she didn’t apologize to Sonia in the
next two days. After he swallowed his soup, he then asked, “What was she like when she apologized?”
He had been too busy today to follow up on these things, much less even hear about it.
Sonia sputtered as she said, “What was she like, you ask? Disgusting.”
He frowned at this and asked, “What happened?”
“I mean, it’s not actually a big deal or whatever, but…” She went on to tell him all about Anya’s apology
and the way she had gone about it.
After hearing the details, Toby frowned.
Sonia rubbed her temple in a tired manner and said, “All in all, she basically misled the netizens.”
“I’ll get Tom to handle this,” Toby offered in a stone-cold voice.
She shook her head. “There’s no need for that. Daphne offered to take care of it too, but I turned her
down. It’s not like Anya and I are ever going to cross paths again, so I’ll let this die off on its own. I
never expected a genuine apology from her anyway, and I thought she might have had some dirty
tricks up her sleeve. I guess you could say I saw this coming, and whatever she did was not surprising
at all. She’s such an attention-seeking person that the more we try to get back at her, the more she
would pester us. Let’s just ignore her from now on.”
The gloomy look on Toby’s face waned after he heard this, and his tone was considerably less stony as
he muttered, “Fine, I’ll let this go.”
Although he sounded like he was willing to turn a blind eye to this, he had no plans of doing so. After
all, he wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt Sonia without paying the price. She was kind-hearted, but he
certainly was not.
He had been merciful enough to give Anya a way out when he asked her to apologize to Sonia. Little
did he know that the girl would end up making trouble when she could have had an easy escape.
In that case, she will reap what she has sowed.
At the thought of this, Toby narrowed his eyes dangerously.
Meanwhile, on the other line, Sonia smiled when she heard that he was going to let this matter go.
Alas, she had no idea that the petty and vengeful man she called her lover was already planning to get
Anya back for her misdeeds.
Following this, they moved on to another topic, and they hung up the call shortly after exchanging
words of affection.
“Tom,” Toby called for his assistant as soon as he set his phone down.
When Tom came into the office, he saw that Toby was standing at his desk while clearing away the
utensils and carefully keeping the thermal container.
He looked like the perfect house-husband. Tom quickly averted his eyes and thought grimly, How far
has this guy fallen? This can’t possibly be the same workaholic who couldn’t even take care of himself
on the daily.
He never would have expected Toby to look so adept at simple chores like this, nor did he know when
the man had started picking up such habits. Without dwelling on this, he cleared his throat and asked,
“Is there anything I can help you with, President Fuller?”
Toby set the utensils and the thermal container aside before pulling out a couple of tissues to wipe his
fingers. Then, he said darkly, “Did you see Anya’s apology?”
“Apology?” Tom froze in surprise, which meant he hadn’t seen it at all.
Toby didn’t blame him, though; Tom had been too tied up with work today, so it was no surprise that he
hadn’t heard of this.
“Apparently, Anya went to apologize to Little Leaf today, but she clearly didn’t mean it,” Toby elaborated
icily as he threw the used tissues into the bin and sat down once more.
Tom frowned. “I had no idea about this. I’m sorry, President Fuller—I’ll look into it right now.” With that,
he pulled out his phone and searched the internet.
Sonia had managed to get the public relations team to keep the news of the apology from trending, but
Tom thought he might still be able to find something if he dug deep enough.
It didn’t take long before he came across a video of Anya’s apology to Sonia.
Anya was crying in the video and apologizing to Sonia under the guise of telling her sob-story to the
netizens. She wailed about how she was innocent and how she had been forced into apologizing just to
gain sympathy.
Having seen all this, Tom grew sullen as he hissed through gritted teeth, “This woman is incorrigibly
despicable!”
Toby eyed him steadily. “Do you now know why I called you in here?”
Tom nodded. “Don’t worry, President Fuller. I’ll make sure to teach her a lesson for this.”
Humming in response, Toby reminded, “Make sure to do it quietly. She just apologized to Little Leaf,
and if anything too alarming happens to her, the public might think that Little Leaf is the one behind it.
It’ll only make things worse for her.”
“Don’t worry, President Fuller. I know what to do.” Tom pushed his glasses up his nose bridge as a cold
gleam flashed in his eyes. “I’m just going to make sure she runs into various obstacles in her life and
career. It’ll all seem like bad luck on her end, and no one will be able to tell that we had anything to do
with it.”
Toby made a small noise of agreement and waved to dismiss him. “Well then, please get to it.”
“Yes, sir.” Tom turned on his heels to leave the office.
Now that he was left alone, Toby glanced at the thermal container and decided to wash it in the
adjoining kitchenette.
But before he could lift a finger, his phone rang again.
Toby took his phone out to check the caller ID with a frown on his face, and a look of astonishment
flickered in his dark eyes for a moment. However, he quickly snapped out of the initial shock and
thought, Why is he calling me out of the blue?
Toby pursed his lips. He had no intention of answering the call, so with a decisive swipe of his thumb,
he rejected it.
However, he had only just dismissed the call for a few seconds before his phone buzzed again. The
ringtone was starting to sound like a hymn at some point, and he had a feeling that the person would
not stop calling until he picked up.
Toby’s face was dark as he picked up the phone impatiently and pressed it to his ear. “What do you
want?” he barked unhappily. He was clearly irritated, and if it weren’t for the fact that the person might
go to Sonia and make up ridiculous lies to paint him in a bad light, he wouldn’t have picked up the call
in the first place. In fact, he would have turned off his phone right away.
On the other line, Charles’ thunderous voice roared, “What the hell are you up to, Toby? Did you get
Sonia into trouble again?”
He was currently sitting in his office chair. He had one hand on the phone and the other clenching the
edge of the desk. He was so angry that the veins near his temples were throbbing, and his handsome
face had turned red with fury. Even his eyes were growing bloodshot as well. He looked like he could
kill, and his body was trembling with rage.
Anyone could tell that he was close to bursting into flames, looking as though he might even explode.
Again? The air around Toby grew cold when he heard this word, and his face was sullen. There was
fury in his eyes as he demanded venomously, “Don’t be ridiculous, Charles. When and how did I get
Little Leaf into trouble again?”
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