The Apple of My Eye

Although Charles knew that Vicky would somehow try to deceive him on the way here, she still almost succeeded in fooling him. He had underestimated how convincing she could be. "Vicky, I'm sorry for hitting you with my car, but it was an accident. That's all it is. I'm never going to be with you." Charles no longer took threats too kindly. The fact that he had lasted this long without an outburst was nothing short of a miracle.

"Charles, you can't do this to me. You're all that I have left. Please, don't leave me like this!" Vicky looked at Charles with both her eyes filled with tears. It was as if she had been abandoned.

Charles did not want to say another word to this woman. He felt that exchanging words with her was a complete waste of time.

Just then, Charles' cellphone began to ring. He looked at it, and when he saw that it was Sheryl calling, he hung up immediately.

However, his phone rang a couple more times. Every time it rang, Charles hung up without hesitation. Vicky quickly realized that something must be going on.

She was quite certain that the calls could only come from someone important to Charles or someone with whom he had a strange relationship. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so nervous about the calls. When the phone began to ring a fourth time, Vicky grabbed it and answered the call before Charles had the chance to hang up.

"Whoever this is, I'm telling you: I'm Charles' woman, and he is my husband! No one can take him away from me. Not you nor anyone else! Don't think for a second that you are special. You are nothing but a fling to him. I'm the only one that he loves! The only one!" Vicky yelled hysterically at whoever she thought was on the other end of the line. It was still Sheryl.

Everything happened so fast that Charles did not even realize what had happened.

The strange woman's frenzied yelling brought Sheryl back to her senses. It made her wonder why she had even bothered to call Charles in the first place. Calling him over and over had made her seem needy. It was demeaning. Without thinking, she responded, "Well, let me tell you something. Until two days ago, this man was my husband. Now we're divorced, but I'm afraid you're still not the one he's going to marry. Good luck."

The line went dead, and the dial tone was the only thing that Vicky could hear.

Angry with herself because of the position she had put herself in, Sheryl hung up. Why did she make consecutive phone calls to a man who didn't even care about her?

By the time Charles had realized what was happening, Vicky had already said what she had wanted to say. He forcefully pulled the phone out of her hand, seeing that the call had already been ended. "No, that's impossible! It can't be. You won't divorce me, right? I know you won't do such a thing to me. Never!" Vicky looked at Charles with crazy eyes. It was clear that Sheryl's words had struck a chord. Charles stared at the hysterical woman indifferently. His ice-cold stare bore a hole through her.

Meanwhile, Sheryl had calmed down a bit and was beginning to make sense of all the information that she had just received over the phone.

Everything had happened so fast that Sheryl wasn't even sure the exchange had actually happened.

She recognized that she wasn't herself for a second and that this was the only reason why she had made those calls to Charles. On the other hand, she knew that she was not over Charles and that she still missed him very much. Deep down, she hadn't wanted to break their marriage off. Today, she had called to see if there was still a chance of them getting back together.

However, despite her wanting to work things out, the man she had loved for so long was already hooked up with another woman just two days after their divorce! Was this really the man who had once rocked her world and turned her life around, the man she had loved with all of her heart?

Sheryl could not understand how Charles, who had gotten jealous when he had seen her walking with another man when they were in Australia, turned into someone who could be with another woman mere days after finalizing their divorce.

She could not bring herself to believe it.

Isla had been standing right next to Sheryl this whole time. Although she had no idea what had happened, she heard everything that Sheryl had said. Seeing Sheryl now sitting in a chair, looking dumbfounded, Isla moved closer and asked softly, "What happened?"

"Charles is with another woman now. She answered the call and referred to him as her husband. It must be true. Otherwise, how could she have answered his phone?" Sheryl didn't even realize that she was talking. She felt exhausted as if the call had drained the life out of her. She did not have the strength to actively formulate words, so she only muttered them like she was a robot that was programmed to do so. "What did you say? Is Charles married to another woman? Already?" Isla looked at Sheryl with disbelief.

Sheryl replied with a bitter smile. Almost immediately, tears began forming in her eyes. "You can't believe it either, can you?"

"That's it, Sher. I'm going to find Charles and have him explain everything. I'd very much like to see what he's up to! He's way out of line here." Isla furiously rolled up her sleeves and was about to head out and go on a manhunt for Charles.

"Isla, don't go. Get back here!" Sheryl called after Isla in an attempt to stop her.

"Sher, I'm not you. Please, don't try to stop me. I'm not going to let Charles torment you like this. Rest assured that I'm going to make them pay, both he and that shameless bitch!" Isla said through gritted teeth thoroughly infuriated by Charles' treatment of her friend.

At this point, Sheryl still could not accept Charles being with another woman, who was already talking about being his wife, so soon after their divorce. Still, she had the clarity of mind to talk Isla out of what she was planning.

"Isla, I can handle it myself. I'm okay now. You don't have to fight my battles for me." Sheryl maintained her composure. She looked at Isla calmly to let her know that she was completely okay now. However, she did not realize that the harder she tried to act cool, the more worried Isla felt.

"Sher..."

"Just listen to me this time. Focus on yourself. I can take care of myself," Sheryl said with an air of finality. After their little talk, Sheryl saw Isla to the door. She then locked herself in her apartment. All she wanted was to be alone and not talk to anyone for a while.

Isla stood quietly outside the locked apartment. She realized that there was nothing she could do now but wait for Sheryl to bounce back from this herself.

"Mrs. Zhao, what happened? Are you okay?" Phoebe immediately walked over to Isla and supported her so that she wouldn't fall. She had seen Isla stumbling from the direction of Sheryl's apartment.

"I'm fine. Keep an eye on Sheryl and don't let her out by herself. There's something I have to take care of." Isla had not expected things to go the way they were going. She had to talk to someone and figure ou a way to deal with this before it got worse.

"Of course, Mrs. Zhao. I'll look after Ms. Xia. You can count on me." Phoebe was a little nervous as she had never seen Isla this serious.

Now that Isla was acting this way, Phoebe figured that something big must be going on.

She knew it had to have something to do with Charles. Only two things could bother Sheryl this much; one was her children, and the other was Charles.

Phoebe had just called to check on Sheryl's two kids and learned that they were in kindergarten, having fun with colored clay. Clearly, Sheryl wasn't riled up about the kids. Besides, Charles had come here the previous day to talk about the divorce, so this could only be about Charles.

After Isla took off, Phoebe was worried that Sheryl might behave irrationally while she was by herself. So, after some thought, she knocked on the door to check on Sheryl herself.

"Hi, Ms. Xia. How are you doing? May I come in?"

"What is it?" Sheryl turned to look at the door but didn't walk toward it. It appeared that she had no intention of opening the door and letting Phoebe in.

"I have something that I would like to talk to you about." Phoebe knew that all that mattered right now was to get through the door and be with Sheryl before she did anything irrational.

"Maybe later. I need some rest right now," Sheryl said, but as she spoke, she knew that Phoebe was only worried about her. She didn't want to hurt Phoebe's feelings, so after a moment of hesitation, she continued, "Please, don't worry about me. I'm just tired and want to take a nap. Could you please come back and wake me up in a couple of hours?"

"Of course, Ms. Xia. Have a nice nap!"

Phoebe felt relieved upon hearing that Sheryl was about to take a nap.

However, Sheryl had not been completely honest with Phoebe. In reality, under these circumstances, there was no way she could fall asleep.

Meanwhile, Isla had gone straight to Cassie to talk about Sheryl and Charles' situation. She thought she could really use some help figuring out what to do next.

Cassie was still at work when Isla arrived, fuming. Seeing that Isla was in a foul mood, Cassie immediately looked around and made sure that she was not needed anywhere at the moment. Then she approached Isla and pulled her to the side. "Isla, what are you doing here? Is everything alright?"

"When do you get off?" Isla was so angry that her entire body was shaking involuntarily.

"I have one hour left before my shift ends." This was Cassie's first time seeing Isla this furious. She grew curious. What could have pissed Isla off this time?

"Fine. I'll be waiting for you at the hospital's front gate. Come and find me when you're done!" Isla talked a mile a minute. Then she promptly marched out of the hospital doors. It was like she was a jogger whose route included the hospital, walking in and heading out before anyone took notice of her.

Cassie rubbed her eyes in an attempt to ensure that she had actually just talked with Isla. Confused, she mumbled to herself, "What had just happened?"