Sonia had one hand pressing her chest and the other fanning herself to cool down the flush on her face.
Toby stared at her in mild bewilderment and asked, “Are you okay?”
“I-I’m perfectly fine!” Sonia stammered, swallowing convulsively as she looked down to avoid his gaze. My goodness, what’s wrong with me? Why is my heart beating so fast? Why is my face burning up? Calm down! He wasn’t actually calling me ‘baby’; he was only platonically referring to Charles’ nickname for me, so why am I acting so weird about it?
Charles had more often than not called her ‘baby’, but never once had she ever felt the way she did now. Logically speaking, the way Toby had called her by the same nickname shouldn’t affect her this much.
Presently, Toby could tell that Sonia was being evasive. With narrowed eyes, he gazed at her intently, as though he wanted to see through her.
After a pause, he appeared to understand what was going on. Dark amusement glittered in his eyes as he leaned forward, closing the distance between them. The corner of his lips curled with a devious smirk as he said slowly, “You still haven’t answered me, Sonia. Does Charles still call you ‘baby’? Hmm?”
This time, he added even more emphasis and bass to the word, and the suggestive edge that came with his gravelly tone only made Sonia draw in a sharp breath.
“S-Stay away from me!” She abruptly stood up and marched forward, effectively putting some distance between them. She had her back turned to him, and she refused to spin around no matter what.
Catching sight of the red tips of her ears, Toby more or less knew what her face must look like at the moment. It’s probably the same shade of red as her ears.
By the looks of it, he was sure that his words earlier had brought about her sudden rush of embarrassment. Realizing this, he rested his cheek against the palm of his hand, and a teasing grin played on his lips as he drawled, “Make him stop calling you that from now on.”
“Why?” Sonia rubbed her face as though to relax her expression, inhaling deeply to calm her nerves before she spun to look at Toby.
He met her gaze and said plainly, “Because I don’t like it.”
She pursed her lips. “That’s your problem. Why should Charles give up calling me that just because you want him to?”
“Because it’s a term of endearment that connotes an intimacy the both of you do not share. You aren’t lovers, and more importantly, I’ll get jealous. I’ve tolerated his inappropriate behavior for long enough, and I have no plans to continue tolerating it. Sonia, I hope to be the only one who gets to call you by that nickname.” There was no hesitation or mockery in his eyes as he said this, and his voice was as grave as it was steady.
Something glistened in Sonia’s eyes as she demanded, “Don’t you think you’re a little too unreasonable right now?”
“Not at all. I’m just doing what I think is right,” Toby countered gently, his features softening with an unspoken sentiment.
Sonia parted her lips, but just as she was about to say something, the door to the office swung open before Tom marched in with a laptop.
As soon as he came in, he registered the strange dynamics in the room and halted in his long strides. He saw that Sonia had stood up even though Toby was still seated on the couch, and immediately sensed that something was off “Oh, did I —” He broke off and shot Toby a nervous look, his heart beating frantically in his chest. “Did I come in at the wrong time?”
From the looks of it, something had happened between Sonia and Toby, and his sudden entrance interrupted them. With that in mind, Tom wished that lightning could strike him on the spot. He slowly assessed Toby’s icy expression and instantly knew that he had come in at a bad time. His lips twitched anxiously as he tried to telepathically convey his apologies.
Sorry, President Fuller! It was my fault! I should have known better! This won’t happen again!
“It doesn’t matter. Are you here because you’ve finished going through the security footage?” Toby asked in a bonechilling voice, rubbing his temple tiredly.
Upon hearing the words ‘security footage’, Sonia hurriedly resumed her seat.
Tom nodded grimly. “Yes, I’ve gone through all of them. Tina was seen pulling up outside our building at 2.00PM, and from there onward, she stayed put in the car. Here’s the footage I’ve edited.” Having reported that, he placed the laptop in front of Sonia and
Toby, after which he clicked into the footage in question.
The first thing Sonia saw was her own red Mercedes-Benz appearing in the footage, followed by the scene where she got down from the car and walked into the building.
Right after she walked into the building, a black sedan pulled up on the street across from her car.
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