Chapter 1215 Watch Me Make a Fool of Myself
Sonia glanced at the soup handed over by the man, then another look at his pleading eyes. Finally, she made up her mind and nodded in agreement. “Okay, since you’ve said so, then I’ll help you with some of this despite my reluctance.”
She reluctantly took the bowl from him and obtained a soup spoon from the side before scooping some to taste it. Instantly, she revealed a contented expression as she shut her eyes.
This is delicious! The man shook his head with a smile upon seeing her happy look as she tasted the soup. “Yes. Thanks for your help, Little Leaf.”
Sonia heard his expression of gratitude and could not help feeling slightly abashed. At that point, the tip of her ears was reddened, but on the surface, she maintained a nonchalant expression as she said, “It’s not a big deal. I didn’t want the food to go to waste too. Here you go. Finish the soup.”
After she had said that, she lowered her head and continued to enjoy the soup as she tried to mask her embarrassment.
Indeed, she felt embarrassed. In fact, she knew that he purposely said that to let her taste the soup while maintaining her pride at the same time.
As for her, she did not want to seem too quick to say yes, so she purposely mentioned that she would do so, albeit reluctantly. In actuality, both of them knew quite clearly that he could finish it and she was not reluctant at all. It was purely because he wanted to let her try some of it whereas she wanted to taste it but was shy to reveal her intentions. That was why this debacle came about. Since she was a shy one, naturally, she felt rather embarrassed by this.
He noticed her enjoying the soup one spoonful after the other and could not help revealing a doting smile.
He clearly knew that she finished the soup quickly on her own accord because she was trying to mask her awkwardness and guilt. Since she was intent on hiding her feelings, he decided not to expose her. After all, he found her behavior quite adorable too. Subsequently, they finished their meal in silence.
Sonia cleared the table and put the dishes and utensils into the dishwasher before washing her hands and walking out of the kitchen.
As soon as she came out, he suddenly stood in front of her with slightly bent knees after which he swept her into his arms.
She felt herself lose balance as she was lifted into the air all of a sudden without being forewarned, so she yelped in fright and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck to avoid falling.
He noticed her face turn as pale as a sheet out of fright and it was amusing to him. At that, he could not help chuckling in response.
The sound he made was magnetic and melodious. Meanwhile, Sonia came back to her senses upon hearing his chuckle and she realized that he had taken her into his arms. In other words, she had not encountered a paranormal event and there was no need for her to kick up a fuss.
As soon as she realized this, she heaved a sigh of relief and released her grip on Toby’s neck. Subsequently, she glanced exasperatedly at the man who had her in his embrace. “Toby, what are you doing? You’ve given me such a fright!”
In response, he lowered his head and smiled at her without saying anything.
Sonia found his smile to be sinister, so she suddenly had a bad feeling and patted her chest. “Why are you smiling? Put me down!”
“No.” He shook his head and responded immediately.
At that point, the uneasy feeling within Sonia grew stronger as she gulped before asking, “What are you planning to do again? I’m warning you, don’t do anything stupid.”
Meanwhile, he curled his thin lips into a smile. “I’m not going to do anything stupid. I just want to invite you to exercise with me.”
“Exercise?” Sonia was taken aback initially. Subsequently, she lifted her head and looked at him much more warily. “What sort of exercise do you have in mind?” Could it be… that?!
He seemed to be able to read her mind and the smile on his face deepened. There was essentially no need to say a thing and his intentions were quite clear.
Sonia’s eyes widened in response as she thought, He is thinking about that! No way! That’s not an option at all!
She hastily shook her head and struggled to get out of his arms. “Toby, don’t even think about that! Last night, I only kept you company at the old manor, so that’s all. I don’t want to do it tonight. Besides, you left me with a bad taste in my mouth for hours this morning at the old manor and I warned you that you’d be banned from the bedroom tonight. Your spot for the night is on the couch in the living room. There is no way you’re getting your way tonight! Let me down right now! Did you hear that?!”
However, he ignored her insistence for him to put her down. “You did mention that, but I never agreed at all from the start. I definitely won’t take the couch tonight. Oh, by the way, I forgot to inform you, but the nutritious soup that Grandma got the servants to make was very effective. Although I didn’t consume too much of it, the effects are quite obvious, so—”
“Toby, you must be joking.” Soni cut him off in a huff. At the same time, she could not help rolling her eyes at him. “How long has it been since you consumed that soup? That was in the morning and it’s now late at night. Even if it’s effective, it wouldn’t just show its effects right now so coincidentally! I don’t believe that the soup has delayed effects that would only appear for such a long time after consumption. You’d better not take me for a fool!”
Meanwhile, Toby maintained his silence. Alright, I didn’t consider this carefully. Evidently, no one would believe that.
As soon as Sonia noticed that he was rendered speechless by her retort, she revealed a smug smile and patted him on his shoulders. “Hurry up and let me down. I would’ve just leaped out of your arms without any hesitation if I wasn’t considerate of your broken arm that hasn’t properly recovered.”
Toby chuckled slightly. “I know that you have my best interest at heart, but I won’t let you off the hook lightly regardless. You’re right. I consumed the soup in the morning, so it wouldn’t have any effect at this point, but don’t forget that I had some soup earlier on too.”
Sonia’s heart sank. “The soup earlier on? W-What do you mean by that?”
He noticed her flustered look and the smile on his face deepened. Inconspicuously, he gave out a slightly charming air. “I mean, do you honestly think I couldn’t tell that the soup tonight was made using beef broth instead of pork broth?”
Sonia’s eyes widened all of a sudden. “You… found out?”
He appeared to be quite smug without saying a word.
Meanwhile, her mouth was agape and it took her some time before she came up with the words to say, “W-When did you find out?”
“I took a look into the pot when you went to take a shower. I might not have realized what sort of bones you used for the broth if I wasn’t familiar with cooking, but you miscalculated because I am, so I could easily tell the difference. Even if I couldn’t tell from looking, I could also differentiate the two from the smell because beef and pork smell distinctly different from each other. Unless there’s something wrong with my nose, I would be a fool to be confused by the two otherwise.”
At that point, Sonia grimaced at his words. From his words, is he implying that I’m a fool?
After all, she was familiar with cooking too, but she somehow forgot that someone with similar skills would be able to differentiate beef and pork through eyes, as well as from their distinct scent.
Despite that, not only did she not identify such an evident issue, she even blatantly lied and said to him that it was beef broth. So, clearly, he was referring to her as a fool.
She covered her face out of mortification. “Gosh… This is so embarrassing. Since you’ve identified it earlier on, then why did you pretend to go along with my words and believe that it was pork broth despite my repeated bluffs earlier? Did you really want to watch me make a fool of myself?”
Her eyes bulged out as she glared at him furiously with an accusing look in her eyes.
In response, he chuckled. “No, I just didn’t want you to worry unnecessarily. I knew that you chose to keep it from me because you were worried that I would reject any soup made out of beef bones after the incident this morning. As such, you intentionally chose to hide it from me. Meanwhile, I didn’t want to let your efforts be in vain, so I pretended not to realize.”
“Hmph. You’re such a smooth talker. How would I know whether you’ve been mocking me silently when I probed you repeatedly?” Sonia pouted unhappily and snorted.
As soon as he saw that, he lowered his head and pecked her on her red lips.
“You…” Sonia looked at him in disbelief. “You’ve taken advantage of me once again!”
He licked his lips with a jovial note in his voice. “I didn’t mock you. On the contrary, I really enjoyed putting on an act alongside you. It was quite fun.”
“I don’t see the fun of it. You must’ve intentionally wanted to see me make a fool of myself.” Sonia patted his chest with a resentful expression as she muttered under her breath.
