Chapter 923 Much More Outstanding Than Our Son
Toby noticed that Grace was studying him carefully and her face was tinged with strange expressions. However, he did not feel the slightest bit offended or unhappy at all.
Moreover, in the afternoon earlier, he purposely asked several of the married secretaries to come to his office when he was at the company to ask them about the possible situations he might face when meeting his parents-in-law for the first time. He also sought their advice on how to avoid making a blunder.
The secretaries had told him that his parents-in-law would usually behave the same way as to how a man’s parents treated their future daughter-in-law and they would generally come up with a series of tests to determine whether this person suited their own son or daughter.
Most of the time, the tests commonly put forward by the future in-laws would firstly include judging the man or woman’s appearance.
If their appearance passed the test then they were already halfway through winning the approval of the in-laws.
As such, Toby knew in advance that he would be carefully observed by Grace so he had already been prepared to be scrutinized.
As such, as soon as Grace shot a scrutinizing look at him, he stood calm and composed while allowing her to take a good look at him.
He was quite confident in his appearances and frankly, no other man was as good-looking as he was.
Naturally, Miles’ appearance did not count.
Indeed, after Grace had taken a good look at him, although she looked slightly defeated, she didn’t mention that there was anything wrong with his appearance, and neither did she voice out that his appearance was not to her liking.
This indicated that he had passed the test in regard to his appearances.
Grace could find no fault with him so he now had one foot in the door.
With that in his mind, he revealed a smile, and at that moment, he noticed Sonia, who was standing behind Grace, furtively gave him a thumbs-up gesture.
As soon as he saw that, the smile on his face widened “Mrs. Lane, are you happy with what you’ve seen? My attire today should be quite presentable, right?”
His underlying meaning was to ask if she was pleased with him.
After all, it was awkward to ask about this directly so he substituted it by referring to his attire.
However, everyone caught on to his words.
Meanwhile, Grace heard his question but she didn’t bother to answer and she merely snorted at him and turned to Sonia affectionately, “Sonny, I haven’t seen you for quite some time. Why have you lost so much weight? Is it because someone has been mistreating you? If that’s true then let me know and I’ll definitely do whatever I can to stand up for you!”
As Grace spoke, she shot a pointed look at Toby.
In response, Toby raised his brows. Fine then, the second round of tests is about to start now.
His secretaries had mentioned to him that after overcoming the appearance test, the in-laws would naturally start to question their own kids to find out hints of whether they were treated well by their partners. Even if they knew that their kids’ partners treated their kids extremely well, they would still ask about it.
They would also purposely mention threatening words to their kids’ partners to find out the person in question’s temperament and disposition.
If their kids’ partner had a bad temper with an ugly disposition and was full of self-importance, then they would definitely not be able to tolerate such words and leave in a huff. As parents, they would then have succeeded in weeding out the bad apples for their kids.
However, if their kids’ partners had a great temper and a sunny disposition then they would not find such words an issue at all. They would merely find it quite normal. After all, parents were naturally protective of their kids and would not wish for their own kids to suffer.
As long as their kids were together with a great dependable partner then the other party would definitely not be annoyed by such words. They would naturally smile quite confidently and face everything without feeling troubled.
Right now, Toby faced everything with this exact mindset.
He was sincere toward Little Leaf so he had nothing to fear at all.
He did have a bad temper but he never lost his temper with Little Leaf and he was definitely the gentlest man on earth.
Meanwhile, Sonia heard the question directed to her by Grace and she realized that Grace purposely mentioned that for Toby’s ears.
She took a look at Toby and was not the slightest bit worried that he would be unhappy.
Indeed, she noticed that he was very calm and composed so she smiled and said, “Mrs. Lane, I’ve been too busy with work lately so that’s why I’ve lost some weight. There’s no other reason for my weight loss. He treats me very well. Look into my eyes and you’ll notice the happy glint in them. If he’s been treating me poorly then I wouldn’t look so happy at all. My eyes would be full of gloominess. Besides, I’m no longer the person I was in the past. If he was unkind to me then I would not stay by his side at all. Don’t you think so?”
She clung to Grace’s arm as she spoke.
Just then, Grace listened to her words and silently scrutinized Toby.
She noticed the beaming smile on Toby’s face upon hearing Sonia’s words and she couldn’t help pursing her lips. “It’s great that he’s been treating you well. Alright, it’s quite windy outside so let’s not stand here any longer. Let’s head inside.”
After Grace had said that, she held Sonia’s hand and led Sonia toward the mansion.
Sonia found it rude to shrug off Grace’s hand so she allowed Grace to lead her off by holding her hand. At the same time, she turned around while walking off and her ruby-red lips moved slightly as she tried to say something.
Toby nodded his head at her slightly and signaled for her to go along with Grace. Subsequently, he pointed at the trunk of his car and pointed to himself to indicate that he would carry the items inside by himself.
Sonia noticed then that he knew what she was trying to say so she was finally at ease. She smiled at him before entering the house with Grace.
At that moment, Toby and Curtis were the only ones left outside.
Curtis was slightly awkward as he had also noticed Grace’s rude attitude toward Toby.
“Uhh… Pre… I mean, Toby, my wife’s just too protective of Sonny so that’s why she behaved quite rudely. I hope that you are not offended,” Curtis apologized to Toby.
In response, Toby waved his hand to brush off Curtis’s concern. “It’s alright. It’s quite normal for Mrs. Lane to behave this way so I wouldn’t take offense.”
“Oh, great! That’s really great.” Curtis nodded his head and heaved a sigh of relief. Subsequently, he indicated with his hand and welcomed Toby into the house. “They’ve entered the house so let’s join them too. Dinner should be ready shortly.”
“Sure,” Toby affirmed but he walked toward the trunk of his car. “Mr. Lane, could you hold on for a moment. I’d like to bring in the presents too.”
“You’ve brought presents?” Curtis frowned. “I remember telling my wife to inform you that presents weren’t necessary, no?”
Subsequently, Curtis followed Toby and walked to the trunk of the car too.
As soon as he saw the presents all piled up in the trunk, he was significantly shocked. “That’s a lot of presents!”
Toby reached into the trunk and took out the items one by one. “Mrs. Lane did mention to me but I figured that I shouldn’t take that literally too. It would be quite rude to come empty-handed. Besides, this is my first time paying you a visit so it would be very rude to come without anything. Little Leaf agreed with me about this too.”
“I see, but you still shouldn’t have brought so many things.” Curtis continued, “A single present would be enough to express your well-wishes. We’re not strangers to each other so there is really no need to behave so overly courteous with each other. Alright. Place back the items into your car and just bring one with you.”
As Curtis spoke, he tried to help by putting the presents back into the trunk.
However, Toby rejected, “Mr. Lane, I prepared all of this with sincerity and I’ve brought it with me anyway so it doesn’t make sense at all to bring it back home. Little Leaf would be unhappy too. She might feel that you’re annoyed with her so that’s why you’ve refused to accept the presents by sending me back home with them.” Toby shut the trunk and spoke while looking at Curtis.
He was quite confident that by mentioning Sonia, Curtis would no longer reject him.
Indeed, as soon as Curtis heard Toby’s words, the former quickly shook his head and explained, “We would not be annoyed with her. We love her as dearly as one of our own and she’s just like our daughter!”
“That’s great then. These are all just gifts from your daughter so you should just accept them and be at ease. If you refuse these then Little Leaf might overthink the situation. Do you agree with me?”
Curtis’s mouth was slightly agape as he stammered slightly. Finally, he heaved a resigned sigh. “That’s fine then. We’ll accept these. Thank you for spending so much on us.”
“There’s nothing too precious here so you shouldn’t say that.” Toby lifted several paper bags and boxes.
However, the items were too heavy and his arm was not fully recovered yet so he could feel the pain in his left arm as soon as he lifted them.
At that moment, he couldn’t help but frown while looking at his left arm.
