At that thought, Sonia hastened her footsteps and hurried back to the hall. She weaved through the people in the crowd as she looked left and right to search for Toby. After walking around the whole place, she finally found him in a corner.
Toby wasn’t standing alone—he was talking to a woman who stood in front of him. The woman wasn’t especially pretty, but she was tall and elegant and looked like the daughter of some rich family. It seemed like Toby was close to this woman because they clinked glasses while chit-chatting with each other.
Sonia caught Toby smiling at the woman. That woman’s even fixing the brooch on his suit... All of a sudden, Sonia’s footsteps came to a halt. Her palms were pressed down onto her sides as she felt an inexplicable surge of rage and bitterness filling her chest. She felt extremely terrible.
Zane was standing right behind Sonia, and he let out a bitter sigh after taking a look at Toby and shifting his gaze to Sonia’s trembling figure. She really fell in love with Toby again. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have reacted like this when she saw Toby interacting with another woman. I’m standing a few feet away from her, but I can sense her jealousy from where I’m standing. However, I don’t care. I’m not going to give up just yet, Zane thought. She doesn’t know that she’s in love with Toby, so I still have a chance. I need to turn her into my girlfriend before she realizes her own feelings for Toby. Everything would be too late otherwise.
At that thought, Zane took a deep breath and hid his intentions before he walked over with a smile. “What are you looking at, Sonia?” He posed her that question although he already knew the answer.
Sonia bit her lip when she heard his voice. “It’s nothing,” she uttered.
Zane pretended to follow her gaze to look in the direction her eyes had been fixed upon. “Hey, isn’t that Emily?”
“Emily?” she asked.
“Yeah, the lady talking to Toby,” Zane replied with a nod.
Sonia lowered her gaze. “Do you think Emily and Toby are...” When she realized that her response seemed inappropriate, she quickly shook her head and waved her arms. “No, what I meant was... I don’t think I’ve seen her around. I’ve never heard of her, either. If she’s able to interact with Toby in such a natural manner, I’m sure she must be someone of high status, right?”
Zane knew what Sonia was actually curious about—she wanted to find out about Emily and Toby’s relationship. However, since she didn’t clarify her question, he pretended not to understand what she meant.
“I don’t think so. Emily’s from a third-rate family and she doesn’t stay in Seafield, so it makes sense that you don’t know who she is. However, her family has a pretty close relationship with the Fullers, and she’s pretty close to Toby as well,” Zane said to Sonia.
“A pretty close relationship...” Sonia’s chest tightened when she heard Zane’s words. She stole a glance at the two people who were chit-chatting in the corner, and she forced a smile. “I can tell that he treats Emily differently from the way he treats other women. He’s patiently listening to her, and he smiles at her a lot —that’s how I know that they have a special relationship.”
Zane knew that she was overthinking Emily’s relationship with Toby when he saw the bitter smile on her face. A pang of guilt struck him when he realized what he had done. However, that sense of guilt quickly disappeared as he raised his head and took a sip of his wine. He realized that he had no duty to clarify Emily and Toby’s relationship. Humans were selfish creatures, and he was no different. He had to be a little manipulative to gain attention from the woman he liked, and he didn’t see anything wrong with that.
“By the way, Sonia, the dance is about to start, and I don’t have a partner. May I have this first dance with you?” Zane looked into Sonia’s eyes as he asked her in a sincere tone.
Sonia’s instant thought was to reject him, but before he could say anything, she saw Toby and Emily moving in for a hug. Her pupils shrank as a surge of fire burned in her chest. She clenched her fists, then turned to look at Zane. “Okay!” She agreed to dance with him.
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