The Apple of My Eye

Sheryl asked Phoebe to bring a cup of coffee to Isla, which made her feel elated. She closed her eyes as she took a sip, feeling the warmth, and the strong flavor of the coffee fill her mouth and pass down her throat.

At the same time, at the front office, the receptionist had barely taken her seat when she saw an elderly woman coming in, which made her rather surprised to have a visitor at such an early hour. Putting on a customary professional smile, she was about to greet the woman good morning but was momentarily dumbstruck when she recognized the woman.

She was no ordinary visitor, but was the mother of her boss' ex-husband.

The receptionist hesitated for a moment, wondering what could be the reason behind Melissa's visit, now that Sheryl and Charles had divorced. All of the employees at Cloud Advertising were aware of the differences between Melissa and Sheryl. They knew that Melissa had never been nice to Sheryl, which left the receptionist all the more surprised to find Melissa in their office at such early hours.

"Morning, Ms. Lu. What can I do for you? Have you come here to visit Ms. Xia? Please give me a moment," she said with professional courtesy, and without any delay, she reached out to the telephone to call Phoebe's extension number.

"Please stop!" Melissa, who wore a smile on her face, interrupted her at once. As the receptionist looked back at Melissa with a startled expression, she shook her head and continued, "Please don't inform her. I want to give Sheryl a surprise. I know where her office is. Don't bother. Thank you!"

Melissa talked like a sweet old lady. The receptionist, though indecisive for a moment, finally gave her a nod to go inside as she felt that Melissa did not have any bad intentions.

Then, Melissa walked to Sheryl's office. She stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath before lifting her hand to knock on the door. Just then, she heard Sheryl talking with Isla. Melissa hesitated and stopped.

Isla felt refreshed and energized after the cup of coffee. She stretched and turned to Sheryl. She was just about to say something, but she swallowed down the words as she spotted the bouquet of red roses on Sheryl's table. They were blossoming in profusion, and Isla could smell their delicate scent from a distance.

She smiled meaningfully and asked, "Where are these roses from? Who sent them here? Did he ask you out?"

"Isla, please! No one is asking me out! Just remove that stupid idea from your head!" Sheryl replied sourly, a little embarrassed at Isla's words.

"No, Sheryl. I can't believe you. I know what red roses stand for. Don't tell me they are from a friend! There must be a story. Tell me everything now!" Isla urged as she saw the embarrassment on Sheryl's face She was trying to pull Sheryl's leg.

Deep down, Isla sincerely wished that Sheryl would start seeing someone as soon as possible. Now that Sheryl was divorced from Charles, she should move on and enjoy her life. If someone nice showed up at this time, Isla hoped that Sheryl would seize the chance and go out with him without too much consideration.

No one in the office was aware of Melissa's presence inside the office apart from the receptionist. Phoebe was busy with getting things ready for the meeting, and all other employees were busy with their share of work. As a result, none of them had noticed that Melissa was waiting right outside Sheryl's office. Moreover, she found a convenient corner behind a file cabinet to hide.

As the conversation between Sheryl and Isla came to her ears, Melissa's heart sank. She was apprehensive that this could be the end of all ties between Sheryl and Charles. Holding her breath, she stretched her neck to hear more. She was eager to know what Sheryl was thinking. Has she really moved on after the divorce?

Inside Sheryl's office, Sheryl cast a glance filled with ridicule at Isla and replied, shaking her head, "Isla, you remember Jackson, right? It's him. So, stop your daydreaming!"

Jackson was one of their clients. He was a gentleman who loved to show his courtesy to women. Isla knew that if it was Jackson, there was not much to read into it. However, she was not willing to admit her fault. She groaned inwardly and persisted with an expression of "You'd better tell me everything."

"Stop making that face, Isla. I have nothing to tell you!" Sheryl was rather miffed and did not know how to convince Isla as she insisted on getting to the bottom of the matter.

Isla, however, was having a great time pulling Sheryl's leg. Inwardly, she was fighting a strong urge to laugh out loud. She then raised her voice and urged again, "I'm your best friend, Sheryl. We always share everything. Please tell me his name. I want to see him as soon as possible!"

"That's the end of this conversation, and I need to go back to my work. Just keep your mouth shut!" Sheryl shrugged her shoulders and took a document in her hands. She realized that Isla was not ready to let go of the topic, no matter what. Hence, the best way out would be to shun any further conversation regarding this matter. Thus, she decided to turn a cold shoulder.

Outside the office, Melissa was like a cat on hot bricks. She had the urge to break into the room and ask Sheryl what was going on, but she had neither the courage nor the right. It was none of her business, even if Charles and Sheryl had still been married.

Besides, her relationship with Sheryl had never been smooth.

Albeit, it was not so much because of Sheryl as it was about Melissa. It was Melissa who had kept finding faults and made an effort to separate Charles from her.

At this thought, Melissa was deeply repentant for all the misdeeds she had done. Thinking about her misconduct, she felt that suddenly everything in front of her eyes started spinning.

Melissa hurriedly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She told herself to be patient and decided that she would wait here until she got a chance to talk with Sheryl.

On the other side of the city, Charles was in the middle of a crippling crisis that left him at a loss of action, word, and decision. He found himself in a fix that seemed to be sucking him inside it.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this Vicky woman was like a bottomless pit. He just couldn't see her through. Everything she had been doing since she walked in front of his car, particularly the way she tried to impressed him the night before, left Charles feeling extremely uncomfortable. He had instructed David to pay more attention to her, but he was still unable to get her out of his mind. "Did you find anything abnormal about her recently?" Charles asked David. He wished he could tear her hypocritical face apart right away, but he was also aware that the time for that had not come yet. Neither did he have solid evidence to pull her down, nor did he have any idea about what she was up to. Thus, he had to pretend that he was into her until she betrayed her own intention.

"Mr. Lu, according to our people, who were keeping an eye on her, there has been nothing different in the past few days. She spent most of her time in her ward or the small garden outside. The only thing that caught our attention was that she argued with Ms. Lu yesterday," David said honestly, but his voice was hesitant as he was not sure whether the information was useful enough.

"Was there anything else apart from this? Tell me!" Charles emphasized his words as he always did when he was upset.

"She made a call, and it lasted for a long time. We've tracked it, but we couldn't find who she was speaking with. It was reported that she looked worried while she made the call. It seemed that she was having some sort of dispute with the person on the other side of the phone!" David told Charles everything he knew.

There was a moment of silence between the two men. Vicky had claimed that she couldn't remember anything from her past. Then who could she be talking to over the phone? Both Charles and David racked their brains to figure out what the situation was.

"Keep tracking. We need to know who she called. It is crucial for us!" Charles said coldly.

"I will!" David replied before he left the office.

After David left, Charles was alone in his office. A weird sense of annoyance and frustration became so strong and overwhelming that he had to loosen his tie to catch his breath. Indeed, he had had enough. For a moment, he wanted to run away from all this mess.

Charles was a tough man, and there was nothing in his life that had ever baffled him. But not this time. He felt he was standing on the edge of a cliff, and only one simple push would make him fall and break into pieces.

Right in front of his eyes, he had witnessed Sheryl turning from sorrow to indifference. And he was well aware that it wouldn't take long for her to get over him completely.

He could still feel secure if Sheryl ran away as she did before. But this time she didn't. If she did, it would have meant that he still occupied a special place in her heart. Now Charles was all the more scared because he had never seen her react like this before. She was trying to move on. Sheryl had forced herself to live a life without him. The mere thought of it made Charles shudder all over. He couldn't let her go. He could not imagine a life without Sheryl.

At the same time, as he thought about it, Sheryl had indeed been through a lot. Their married life had been full of struggles from the first day. One unexpected and uncalled-for incident after the other had shown up. And she was the one who had to sacrifice every time. Any other woman would have given up much earlier.

Even if she loved him deeply, that did not mean that she would give up all her principles over and over again. It was only too normal for Sheryl to get exhausted with this game of love and want to break free. Charles felt a strong sense of oppression in his chest as if an invisible hand was reaching down to his heart from his throat and squeezing it tightly. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut as he put his hands over his chest to ease the pain.

At the same time, inside Sheryl's office, Isla was not ready to give up so easily and kept teasing Sheryl. She tried to convince Sheryl that it would be fine if Jackson asked her out. Sheryl should give him a chance. Maybe it would be a good start for a romantic relationship.

"Isla, since you got so much free time, I think I shall let you give the presentation today. What do you think about that?" Sheryl played her unexpected trump card and fixed her gaze on Isla's eyes. "Nope! Thank you for your kind consideration! I'm just joking! Please leave me alone!" Isla gave up immediately. She looked back into Sheryl's eyes beseechingly.

Giving a presentation was Isla's biggest soft spot, and she would rather die than do it.

Sheryl let out a satisfactory laugh at seeing Isla's reaction. Isla realized that Sheryl was just making fun of her to change the topic.

"Good job! It seems that our Sheryl is riding on the crest of success now. Hum, the able ones always have calls upon their time. It's your job to do it!" Isla pretended to be irritated and turned her head from Sheryl.

"That's enough of you! Right, I'm the able one, and I will have calls upon my time!" Sheryl stood up and walked to Isla. Putting her hands around Isla's shoulders, she made Isla sit down. In just a few seconds, a smile came back to Isla's face, and the two good friends burst into laughter while looking into each other's eyes.