The Apple of My Eye

"What is the matter, Miss Xia? Are you alright?" Joan rushed to Sheryl. She crouched beside her, wanting to console her. However, she could not utter a single word but only watch Sheryl crying her heart out. Sheryl cried inconsolably and incessantly for at least five minutes before she turned to Joan. While still sobbing, Sheryl managed to speak to Joan.

"I'm alright. You don't have to worry about me. It is okay. You can leave me and take care of your work, Joan," Sheryl forced a smile as she replied to Joan. She did not want Joan to get worried about her. Joan understood that it would be better to give Sheryl some space at the moment. So she withdrew herself silently and went into the kitchen.

Sheryl wiped her face and pulled herself together, trying to look stable and composed. Then she took her credentials as she went downstairs. "Civil Affairs Bureau," Sheryl said coldly to David as she entered the car.

David frowned and remained silent for a while. Before starting the car, he looked at Charles from the rear-view mirror seeking his advice.

Charles nodded slightly to hint his agreement.

David heaved a sigh and started the car. He felt so bad about the situation. But what else could he do?

Charles and Sheryl would get divorced within a couple of hours. There was nothing that could stop the inevitable.

David dropped Sheryl in front of the Cloud Advertising Company. He waited for a while to see her going up before driving back to the Shining Company.

At Charles' office, Charles told his secretary that no one could come in except David. After that, he locked himself in his office.

David rushed straight to Charles' office the moment he reached the Shining Company.

"President Lu, I have dropped President Xia at her office." David frowned as he looked at Charles. He looked confused like he was expecting Charles to explain the situation to him.

But to his dismay, Charles remained silent and just nodded in reply. Only Charles could feel what was going on inside his mind and heart! He felt his head was pounding. Everything was falling apart in front of his eyes, and he could not help it. He supported his forehead with his hand.

"How is she? Has she attempted to harm herself again?" Charles spoke in a calm and stable voice, suppressing all the pain and vulnerability at the bottom of his heart. Indeed, what worried Charles the most a the moment was the woman in the hospital instead of Sheryl.

There had been problems in Sheryl and Charles' marriage. It would still not be the worst outcome for him to agree to the divorce even though, of late, things had started to look better in their relationship. But with the woman in the hospital, it was a completely different case. She would not hesitate to give up her life anytime if he acted against her wishes.

Getting divorced from Sheryl did indeed feel like a death bolt to him. However, he could not bear to see the woman to take her life because of him.

"President Lu, she is fine. But I think it doesn't make any sense for you to divorce President Xia. How can you do that to her?" David could not understand the logic behind going to such an extreme extent just to accommodate to that woman.

"I don't want to do this to Sheryl. But I can't bear to see the woman in hospital harm herself again," David could understand Charles' dilemma. There was no man so miserable and helpless now, in the whole world, as Charles.

"What shall we do then?" David did not want to make things difficult for Charles. After all, Charles was the one involved in these matters. No one knew his situation better than himself.

"Take me to the hospital." Charles had divorced Sheryl. All he needed to do now was to sort things out with the woman in the hospital.

"Okay."

David drove Charles to the hospital without any further delay.

Inside the ward, in room No. 506, of the hospital, a woman could be heard yelling at the top of her voice even from a far distance. It was the first thing to hit Charles' ears the moment he entered the hospital. Her shrieks made him nervous and hastened his speed of walking.

David looked in the direction of the ward with his fists clenched as he cast a glance at Charles.

Charles rushed towards the ward without uttering a single word.

Moments later, Charles arrived at the door of the ward, followed closely by David.

"Charles, you are here! I thought you had abandoned me..." The woman calmed down at seeing Charles. She was so excited to see him that she climbed over the bed to approach him.

Charles looked a little miffed to see the woman. He forced a smiled and said, "I won't. What is happening? How do you feel? What are you yelling for?"

"I thought you decided to abandon me. I was so scared..." The woman almost distorted her face with sorrow as she flung herself forward to hug Charles.

Charles gently tapped the woman's back in silence. He just wanted to soothe her to sleep.

Half an hour went by, and the woman was finally able to fall asleep after a tranquilizer injection was administered to her.

Charles detested this woman, who was now sleeping peacefully in front of him. The way he looked at her, distastefully, revealed his real attitude towards her.

Charles' recalled what had happened over the last two days to make his world fall apart. It felt like a nightmare that had already come true.

He had left his office to meet Sheryl during lunchtime as per their agreement. But just as the driver drove the car out of the Shining Company, they hit a woman, right on the side of the road.

The woman had lost consciousness immediately. At first, the driver had wanted to call the police as he thought that the woman was pretending to be injured to blackmail them. However, as Charles noticed the pale face of the victim, it seemed that she was heavily hurt. He then asked the driver to take the woman to the hospital urgently.

Charles had thought it was a temporary engagement for him. He had thought he could leave the hospital as soon as the diagnosis was confirmed by the doctor. Then, he could ask the driver to contact her family since they had brought her to the hospital.

However, much to his dismay, the woman, who called herself as Vicky, acted like a lunatic to badger him as she said, "I will commit suicide if you leave me. I want you to stay with me."

"Fine, suit yourself!" Charles thought the woman had just wanted to threaten him. He could never have imagined that she would attempt to take her own life.

Vicky consumed an entire bottle of pills. She would have been dead if Charles was not there to stop her.

After that, Charles realized that the woman was completely insane.

"President Lu, are you alright?" David had asked as he rushed to Charles when he had seen the latter walk out of the ward, exhausted. He could see that Charles was upset.

The doctor found cerebral congestion in Vicky's brain after a thorough physical examination. His explanation for her behavior was that it was probably due to the temporary amnesia. She might have felt insecure as she lost her memory. And that was why she mistook Charles as her relative.

"I'm alright. Let's go back to the Dream Garden. Find someone to take care of her." Charles was completely worn out. All he wanted right now was to go back home and hit the sack.

The moment Charles came back to the Dream Garden, Melissa rushed to him to inquire about the situation. She wanted to know what was going on.

Charles had no other option than, to tell the truth to his mother.

"We accidentally hit a person while driving..." Charles barely managed to say, and then he dropped on the sofa like a boneless shell.

"Your car hit a person?"

Melissa stared at Charles in disbelief because she thought she must have heard it wrong.

Charles nodded slightly as confirmation, and he let out a sigh. "Neither could I ever imagine that this kind of thing could happen to me. Now, Sher was... Well!" Charles' voice trailed off partly out of exhaustion but mostly because of grief.

"What happened between you two? Charles, you did not actually..." Melissa held her breath as she asked.

"Mom, we got divorced." Charles forced a smile as he revealed the information. But he failed to hide the pain in his voice. Charles looked away while he tried to find the heart to continue.

After a moment of silence, Charles managed to speak again. He gave a brief account of how he and Sheryl drove to the Civil Affairs Bureau to finalize their divorce.

"So, that Vicky woman is determined to blackmail you. Have I got it right?" Melissa asked Charles.

"Yeah Mom, she said she wanted me to be with her. Otherwise, she would kill herself," Charles looked at Melissa as he replied with a sour face. Melissa could sense the helplessness in Charles' eyes, yet she felt that there must be some better way to deal with it.

"And you did not say yes to her, did you?" Melissa reasoned with Charles. Melissa stood up abruptly. She could not believe such a cheesy story would have happened to her son.

"Of course not. But she had already attempted to kill herself once. I was kind of worried that..." Again Charles' voice trailed off before he could finish, revealing his anxiety.

Melissa nodded even before Charles had finished speaking. She could understand how painful it would be for a woman who lost her memory. That meant she had lost all the connections with her family and relatives. Under that situation, it was her intuitive reaction to rely on the first person she saw when she woke up from the coma.

"What about Sher? What about the kids? What are you going to do with them? And what about yourself? How will you be able to live without them?" Melissa could not stop herself from asking.

"Mom, I will take care of it. Can you trust me?" Charles did not want to say anything else. He understood his mother's concern, but there was nothing he could do at the moment.

If it were anything else, he might be able to handle it. But this time, Charles found himself to be in a bind.

"But, Charles..." Melissa urged.

Charles turned to Melissa in a beseeching manner and said, "Mom, please believe me. I'm so tired right now. Can I have a moment to rest, please?"

Melissa could not insist any further when facing Charles' pleading. She gave him a slight nod, lowered her head, and slowly walked towards her room.