The Apple of My Eye

Isla could not bear to see Sheryl seething within her heart while trying to retain her composure externally. She slapped her hand on the table, saying, "What are you waiting for, Sher? Just call Charles at once and ask him what happened?"

Sheryl and Charles had just begun to sort things out among themselves. Looking at Sheryl's depressed expression, Isla realized how tired she must be feeling because of all of this. Charles had committed so many mistakes so far. Now, these things seemed to be part and parcel of life if Sheryl chose to stay with Charles.

"Isla, you know what? We agreed to be with the kids yesterday. But he did not show up, nor did he answer my call." Sheryl looked at Isla, her eyes dull and weary with grief. She had reached the brink of her patience now.

"So you have to confront him and ask him what exactly happened yesterday. Come, let's go and find him now." Saying this, Isla held Sheryl's hand and walked ahead, intending to look for Charles. She could not just sit there and watch Sheryl in this state, doing nothing.

Sheryl shook off Isla's hand and remained rooted in her place, avoiding eye contact with Isla.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!"

Isla said, wondering who had the guts to interrupt them at this time.

It was Phoebe. She was a little awkward in walking inside the office. She had seen the photos in Isla's hand before and knew that something must have happened between Charles and Miss Xia again.

"Miss Xia, Mr. Lu is here."

"He has the guts to come here?" Isla exclaimed. Isla almost stormed out of the room, followed by Phoebe to find Charles without even waiting for Sheryl's response. Sheryl was afraid that Isla might cause trouble, so she followed right after her.

Charles was standing outside Sheryl's office. His expression changed when he saw Isla come out with an angry look. From Isla's look, he knew that they might have come to know about what happened. "So honored to meet you here, Mr. Charles Lu, the President of the Shining Company. So? What brought you here today?" Isla's acidic remarks were hurtful enough to make anybody retaliate with the same aggression.

Yet, Charles had remained silent. His eyes were fixed on Sheryl, who had been walking right behind Isla.

Charles noticed that Sheryl didn't look well. He was so eager to hold her in his arms and tell her how much he missed her.

But Charles didn't dare approach her. Also, he was not allowed to do so.

"Sher, do you have some time now? I want to talk with you."

"Talk about what? About this woman? And about how she is more important to you than Sher and the two kids? Charles, good for you!" Isla failed to control her temper. She didn't care about who he was at all. Though he was the president of the Shining Company, he was nothing to her but a man who had hurt Sheryl's feelings again.

"Isla, this is between the two of us. Leave it to us." Sheryl approached Charles with the photo in her hand.

She didn't have the heart to find a private place to hold this conversation at the moment.

"We can talk here." Sheryl looked at Charles. Her face seemed to be washed with tears, yet her eyes were fixed on Charles' face without emotion.

Charles felt so sorry that he didn't know what to say. All he wanted to do now was to take her away from all this.

Charles' silence was piercing Sheryl's heart. Her eyes started to well up again.

"Who's that woman? Where were you last night?" Sheryl choked as she spoke. This was all Sheryl's mind was occupied with at the moment. She could not rest until she found a satisfactory answer to her question. It had not been easy for her and Charles to maintain this relationship so far. Just a few days ago, she had made it clear to Charles that they needed some time to think things through before patching up.

"She..." Charles stopped, not knowing how to explain the whole thing.

Charles' reaction came as a head-on blow to Sheryl.

Charles had never been so hesitant before. But he seemed to be in a dilemma this time.

Sheryl felt her knees tremble. Her heart was sinking. She might have fainted with despair if she hadn't been prepared for the worst possibility.

"Fine. We are not yet divorced. Let's get the divorce first as you wish. Other than the kids, I don't want anything else," Sheryl said as she looked at Charles coldly.

Charles knew this was the consequence he had to face. His clenched fists and tightly pressed his lips together, indicating how helpless he was feeling at the moment. "Okay."

"Charles, you bastard!" Isla blurted out in rage. She wanted to know who that woman was and teach her a lesson.

Sheryl had sacrificed so much for Charles. After all that she suffered to save this marriage, this was what she got in return? That bastard chose another woman over her. That was a lethal strike for Sheryl. She deserved better.

"Isla, this is a matter between me and him. So stay out of it," Sheryl checked Isla immediately, not wanting to get her involved in the mess.

Seeing Isla's intimidating stance towards Charles, Phoebe rushed to stand in front of her to stop her movement. She held Isla's arm, shaking her head, saying, "Miss Zhao, it's not right. You can't do this. Please, calm down."

"Phoebe, why are you taking his side?" Isla shrieked out in anger.

"Miss Zhao, it's their personal matter. We should leave it to Miss Xia and Mr. Lu to solve this." Phoebe was rational. She knew that no one could solve the problems between Sheryl and Charles at this time. "Phoebe, control Isla." Sheryl turned around and rubbed at her nose as her eyes turned red. But she managed to hold back the tears.

She nodded at Isla. When she saw Isla had calmed down, she said with a deliberated smile, "Isla, trust me. I'm fine."

"Sheryl, let me teach Charles a lesson." Isla would by no means let Charles hurt Sheryl anymore.

"Enough!" Sheryl raised her palm, indicating for Isla to be quiet. Then she turned around and walked out of the building of the Cloud Advertising Company.

Charles followed close at her heels. He hadn't uttered a single word after giving his consent for the divorce.

Sheryl saw David in the car outside the building and said to him, coldly, "Take me to the apartment."

David saw Sheryl's eyes were red and knew that Charles might have told her everything.

"Okay," David obeyed Sheryl's instructions and opened the door for her to get inside the car.

Sheryl got in the car. Charles hesitated for a second before following her in.

They didn't exchange a single word as they drove off to Sheryl's apartment.

Sheryl looked out through the window, restraining herself from looking at Charles.

She knew that if she looked at him, she would not be able to control her tears. And this was the last thing she wanted to do in front of him at the moment. She didn't want to reveal her vulnerability in front of him.

The moment the car stopped outside Sheryl's apartment, she got out of the car quickly. She held a restraining hand to Charles, gesturing him not to follow her.

Sheryl did not look left or right and walked straight into her room. The very next moment, as she closed the door behind her, she collapsed on the ground, tears cascading down her face. Joan was terrified to see Sheryl in this condition.