Chapter 253

Suddenly, the door to the office flew open, and Tom came barging in without even knocking. “President Fuller!”

Toby frowned and demanded irritably, “What is it?”

Tom did not answer him immediately but looked around the office like he was searching for something. At the sight of this, Toby pursed his lips into a grim line and asked coldly, “Just what are you looking at?”

“President Fuller, where is Miss Reed?” Tom asked hastily.

Toby recalled what he had done earlier with Sonia’s cup of leftover tea and subconsciously grazed his thumb over his lips, then said plainly, “She left.”

Taken aback by this, Tom raised his voice by an octave as he repeated, “Left?”

Massaging his temples tiredly, Toby sauntered over to his desk. “Why are you looking for her?”

“Have you forgotten, President Fuller? I just got back from Marina City,” Tom replied urgently as he followed the other man from behind.

Upon hearing this, Toby stopped in his tracks and turned to shoot his assistant a dark look. “What are you implying? Are you trying to say that whatever you found out about Maple has something to do with Sonia?”

He felt his heartbeat speed up at the possibility of this.

Tom nodded solemnly. “That’s right. I went to Marina City and tracked down Maple’s old postal address, and it turned out to be the Reeds’ residence! That means—”

“Sonia and Maple are the same person!” Toby finished Tom’s sentence. His eyes widened at the revelation, and he quivered slightly as his fists clenched at his sides.

Tom continued quickly, “Yes. Miss Reed is definitely Maple; there’s no doubt about it. Maple said that she had a stepmother and a sister, not to mention a pet dog named Bucky. Now that her address has turned out to be the Reeds’ residence, Miss Reed is the only one who could possibly be Maple.”

The words came rushing out in a flurry, and at the end of his elaboration, Tom found himself slightly out of breath. He inhaled deeply and calmed himself, then went on to say, “More importantly, Maple and Miss Reed have similar handwriting. While the former’s lacks the refinement of the latter’s, one could still tell that the penmanship is the same. And yet, neither of us have ever recognized this, even when Miss Reed shares the same backstory as Maple. A single thought is all it would have taken for us to connect the dots, but we never did! How could we not have figured out that Miss Reed is Maple all along?”

He paused and lowered his head in shame. “I’m starting to wonder if I’m an idiot.”

as he seethed, “No, you aren’t an idiot. Someone’s been playing dirty tricks to stop us

so it was strange that no one had ever noticed how similar

only mean that everyone had been under the influence of that strange

in shock as he asked hesitantly, “President Fuller, are you saying that somebody doesn’t want us to know about Miss Reed’s identity as Maple? Could it be Tina? But that doesn’t

head as he reconsidered. “It’s only natural for Tina to keep that a secret from us, but there’s no way she could stop us from putting the pieces together. So

and asked, “Do you believe that there might

but he chuckled dismissively as he quipped, “Well, of course, though I’m quite sure the

to see a therapist the last time, President Fuller? I thought you were trying to find an

what President Fuller said earlier, he was implying that I

dark with thought, and when he remained silent, Tom took it as a

hypnotized, he was still certain that the opposite was true, only that the doctor had not been able to diagnose him as such. Perhaps the person

his cheek and muttered, “How did this

his mind turning. “From now onward, go and contact the world’s most renowned hypnotists—the

Tom promised

renowned hypnotists could break them out of this state of mind-control that they were in. Just as Tom was about to leave to carry out his new orders, he thought of something and asked, “By the

dipped his head and pondered

always wanted to meet up with Maple before he found out that she was

knew the person behind Maple’s pen name, the idea of reconciling with Sonia terrified him, for there was

pointed out bluntly, “Look, President Fuller, I know you said you loved Tina, but that was because you thought

twitched. “When did you realize I was

“I believe it was six years ago when you first met Tina. You might have said you loved her, but I could tell from your eyes that

only kind to her because you thought she was Maple, and it was only when Maple was brought up that love would gleam in your eyes. In other words, you have always treated Tina and Maple as two separate

fell silent at

he indeed had never loved Tina. Tom had gathered as much

all this really have happened

love is actually Miss Reed,” Tom added as

eyes. “I’m sorry. Did you just

along with Old Mrs. Fuller, Mr. Coleman-could tell all along, but we didn’t tell you. I wanted you to realize it on your own because there’s a chance that you might not believe me if I were to tell you outright.” Tom lifted his hands with the palm facing upward, sounding as if he didn’t have much of a choice in the

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