Gwen's Emotional Rollercoaster

After serving Gwen a plate and chatting with her for a bit, May used the excuse of going to drag Peter and Ben over, leaving Toby and Gwen alone together.

The moment May left, Gwen's little face immediately scrunched up in misery. She spat out the huge bite of sandwich she had taken in front of May.

Then she quietly complained to Toby, "Toby, May's cooking really is as... peculiar as ever..."

Toby swallowed his food and said flatly, "Though it really is awful, at least it's healthy and non-toxic. It won't make you slowly kill yourself like all that fast food you eat outside."

Even Gwen, with her high emotional intelligence, had nothing to say in response to Toby's incredibly blunt remark.

After he put it that way, how was she supposed to eat fast food again in the future?

Still, despite saying that, Toby got up and went to the kitchen, fried two eggs for Gwen, and placed them in front of her.

Gwen lowered her head and sniffed the fried eggs on her plate. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Toby, and she asked admiringly, "Why does this fried egg smell so tempting when all you did was add a little salt and rosemary?"

Toby answered honestly, "Because you just ate something terrible. With that comparison, even ordinarily plain food feels delicious."

At his words, Gwen's radiant smile slowly vanished. She felt utterly defeated by Toby's response.

Shouldn't he have said something like, "Because of the power of love, even simple food becomes this delicious," something that would make her heart race even more?

Just listen to what he said. It only tasted good because the earlier food was awful?

How was she supposed to eat that?!

Seeing Toby continue eating his awful sandwich without the slightest awareness, Gwen angrily picked up her knife and fork and viciously cut into the fried eggs on her plate, as though she were cutting Toby instead.

Stupid Toby! Stupid Toby!

Catching Gwen's adorable expression from the corner of his eye, Toby's lips curled slightly as he suddenly asked, "Want to go shopping together later?"

"Shopping? Shop your—wait, what did you say?"

Halfway through cursing him, Gwen abruptly looked up. Her eyes widened as she stared at Toby, filled with disbelief.

Had this solid blockhead, dense as wood for two whole years, finally seen the light today?

Toby: No, actually, it was because you'd come of age...

Toby smiled slightly and repeated himself. "I said, do you want to go shopping together later?"

"Y-Yeah... but wh-why so suddenly? I'll go home and change first. Right, I need to change!"

Gwen had clearly never expected Toby to suddenly come to his senses today and ask her out.

Her little face immediately turned red. She rose to her feet in a fluster, her limbs feeling completely uncoordinated, and stiffly walked toward the door like a robot, moving her left hand and left foot together.

But before she had taken more than two steps, a large hand grabbed her wrist.

When she turned around, it was Toby—the very person who had thrown her heart into complete chaos.

Feeling that scorching hand around her wrist, Gwen stared dazedly at the face she had been after for two years. She was practically about to start steaming!

Was Toby in such a hurry that he wanted to do it with her right here...

Then should she just go along with it, or pretend to be reserved before accepting?

Just as Gwen's thoughts bounced back and forth between accepting and accepting, Toby said, "Finish your fried eggs. Don't waste food."

Gwen: ...

This blockhead had only come to his senses halfway!

In the end, Gwen obediently finished the fried eggs and didn't go home to change into prettier clothes.

Instead, wearing the ordinary gray sweater, jeans, and blue-green Converse she had arrived in, she went on the first shopping date of her life with Toby...

Though calling it a date might not have been entirely accurate, because...

Gwen stared at the auto mall before her, the corner of her eye twitching hard.

Who brought a girl to an auto mall on their first date?!

Gwen raised her head and glared blankly at Toby beside her. Speechless, she asked, "Why did you bring me to an auto mall? Don't tell me you're planning to buy me a car?"

That was the best possible outcome she could think of under the circumstances.

Though she definitely wouldn't accept such an expensive gift from Toby, she would still be very happy as long as he had the thought.

Toby looked down at Gwen, who was more than a head shorter than him and had to tilt her head up to meet his eyes. A strange thought suddenly popped into his mind.

With the height difference between him and Gwen, it seemed like if Gwen were standing, she could... Ahem...

Toby immediately shook his head, tossing that strange thought aside before answering, "No. I'm planning to get Ben a new car. He's been driving that old clunker since before I was born. It should've been retired ages ago. I wanted you to help me pick out a new one."

Gwen gave a dry laugh, wearing an expression that said she had known it all along.

This guy hadn't come to his senses at all. He was clearly just using her as a tool!

Still, Gwen had never refused any request from Toby. She merely huffed, then agreed anyway.

As payment, she wanted Toby to treat her to a fancy meal afterward.

Even if this time wasn't a date, Gwen thought, she still had to make Toby pay a price!

Naturally, Toby had no reason to refuse such a small request.

And the facts proved that Toby's decision to ask Gwen for advice had been absolutely correct.

If he had come alone, he might have simply picked a new sedan similar to the old-fashioned sedan Ben used to own.

But Gwen considered that while sedans might have been more popular when Ben was young, middle-aged people nowadays generally preferred practical models like pickup trucks.

So, at Gwen's recommendation, Toby ultimately chose Ford's latest F-150 Raptor R. (Its release date is from a parallel universe, so please don't look too deeply into it.)

It cost a little over $110,000, which was not far from the $100,000 budget he had given Ben yesterday.

It wasn't that Toby insisted on sticking to that budget. With a net worth already in the hundreds of millions, it wasn't like he couldn't buy his father a better luxury car.

But if he really brought home a luxury car worth over a million, not only would the old couple give him an earful, Ben would probably be too reluctant to drive it out!

Around $100,000 was already the upper limit of the one-time splurge Toby estimated the old couple could accept.

By the time the registration and paperwork were finished, it was already close to noon.

Toby then drove Gwen in the Ford Raptor to a star-rated restaurant and treated her to a fancy meal.

Dr. Connors's Q&A event was in the afternoon, and as Dr. Connors's assistant, Gwen naturally had to go help out in advance.

So after Gwen gave Toby two temporary access cards for Osborn Tower, he dropped her off at Osborn Enterprises first.

By the time he got home, May, Ben, and Peter had long since returned.

The moment Toby entered, all three looked at him with inexplicable smiles.

Without even guessing, Toby knew what they were thinking.

But they were going to be disappointed. Since Gwen had to go to Osborn Enterprises to help out that afternoon, after lunch, he and Gwen had not gotten to know each other on a more 'intimate' level.

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