The Apple of My Eye

Chapter 578 How Charles Suffered

"Don't move!" A furious Charles pulled Anthony by the collar and growled,"Autumn was pregnant with

twins when she disappeared. Why is there only one child now?"

After spending a lot of time to trace what happened to the missing twin, Charles had no other option but

to ask Anthony. Since he had conspired to hide Sheryl, Charles believed he knew the truth.

"I don't know," Anthony said while shrugging. 'There is no way I am telling him what happened, ' he

thought to himself. But he felt like gloating when seeing how anxious Charles was. With mocking

laughter, he taunted Charles,"That's what you need to find out yourself. As for myself, the only thing I

have to do is make Sheryl happy."

"You…" Charles sputtered, his face turning red. He was indignant but could do nothing, short of beating

Anthony up to make him talk.

Anthony raised his chin, removed Charles' hands from his collar and shook the suit coat in his hand

before turning to walk out the door. David, who was standing outside the door, rushed inside and

gasped at the bruise slowly forming on Charles' face. At first, he stared blankly and then asked,"What

happened to you, Mr. Lu?"

"Nothing!" he mumbled. Gingerly, he touched the swollen corner of his mouth. Fortunately, he only

sustained bruises, and there was no blood.

Anthony's words kept playing in his head. If Leila did anything to get Sheryl into trouble, Charles vowed

to take drastic measures.

Sheryl never expected to be slapped so hard on the face by Leila when she took Shirley to eat out. Her

ears were still ringing, and she felt her cheek immediately swell up due to the force of the slap.

After the shock of seeing her mother hurt, Shirly stood beside Sheryl and with sad eyes comforted her.

"Do you want me to blow on your face to make the pain go away?" she asked. The little girl

remembered how her mother would blow on the area when she was hurt.

"I'm fine," Sheryl assured her daughter. Despite the pain and embarrassment she felt, Sheryl was

pleased with her daughter's heartwarming behavior. So, she patted the girl's face and urged her,"Go

ahead and enjoy your food."

Today, Shirley was remarkably well-behaved. After finishing her food, Sheryl took the little girl back to

the hotel, where they saw Isla holding Amanda's hand, waiting at the lobby.

Isla initially planned to have someone pick up Sheryl from the hotel. But on second thought, she

decided it would be more sincere to come herself. So it was a complete surprise when they learned

that Sheryl had gone out. Having heard what happened at the hall earlier, and seeing Sheryl's swollen

face now, Isla quickly figured out the culprit.

Worry lined Isla's pretty face as she thought of how painful it must feel to have a swollen cheek of that

extent.

On seeing Sheryl's face, she quickly approached her. "Oh, Miss Xia!" she cried out. "Amanda and I

have come for you," Isla said.

Seeing Amanda, Shirley let go of her mother's hand and ran to play with the other girl. After the

unpleasant encounter with Leila, Sheryl had been in a bad mood. But seeing how happy Shirley was

with a playmate, she eventually agreed to stay.

They headed to a nearby café with children's play facilities to allow the two girls to enjoy themselves.

Recalling Autumn's preference in coffee, Isla ordered two cups with the proper mixture. She was glad

Sheryl's taste had not changed despite losing her memory.

"What happened to your face?" she finally asked once they were seated. "Did Leila do this to you?"

Unable to control herself, she questioned Sheryl with a hint of annoyance.

Holding her cup of coffee, Sheryl paused before finally nodding.

She had no idea when she had offended Leila. 'Is there anything wrong with my close relationship with

Charlie? Leila was definitely overreacting!' Sheryl thought to herself. Isla frowned at the display of

Sheryl's sudden turn of emotions. She sighed in defeat not long after. As she sat next to Sheryl, she

maintained a foot of distance with her face turned to her direction.

"It's better to ignore her. That woman is insane," Isla advised Sheryl. Unable to hide the contempt in

her voice, she told Sheryl,"Think of it as being bitten by a dog. We can't bite the dog back, right?"

'How can she understand my feelings when she's never gone through my experience?' Sheryl

wondered while smiling at Isla.

Deciding the time was right, Isla shifted topics from Leila to Charles. "Do you know what Charles went

through in the last few years?" Isla paused to remember Charles' struggles. As his friend, she

witnessed his misery at failing in every attempt to find Autumn. And her heart truly ached for him. Isla

wanted Sheryl to know these things. Hopefully, the woman would have an idea what Charles had to live

through in the three years since she left.

The statement startled Sheryl, who thought what Charles went through was none of her business. She

frowned at Isla and was about to say she didn't want to know. But the other woman quickly spoke.

"While Charles may pretend not to care about anything, in truth he's what you might describe as

spoony."

"Is he now?" Sheryl replied with a cold smile. "No wonder his wife always has a feeling of insecurity,"

she said, her expression contemptuous.

Sheryl seemed to have misunderstood what Isla just said. Ignoring the look of scorn on the woman's

face, Isla sat back comfortably, thinking she had the entire afternoon to explain things to Sheryl.

"You have it all wrong," Isla said smiling. "Leila is not Charles' wife." The revelation momentarily

confused Sheryl. After recovering, Sheryl now appeared interested to hear the rest of the story.

She sat without speaking or moving and waited for what Isla had to say next.

"Charles' wife is my best friend. Her name is Autumn Zhao. She is both kind and attractive," Isla began.

She paused, expecting a reaction. When there was none, Isla was slightly disappointed but

continued,"It all started when Autumn married Charles, which was a twist of fate."

Once she began, Isla could not stop and told Sheryl everything, including the love and hate that was

part of the story. Sheryl soaked it all up, and couldn't imagine why there was a mother so cruel-hearted.

Fortunately, the poor girl married the right man, who took her out of her miserable life.

"Then what happened?" Sheryl asked eagerly. "Tell me, what happened next!" Charles and Autumn's

story now fascinated Sheryl, and she kept urging Isla to continue with the story.

Isla paused to drink coffee and gather her thoughts. She squinted trying to remember and said,"Then

Autumn became pregnant with twins. Unfortunately, the Lu family servant was blackmailed to poison

her food. She became mentally unstable, and would break down even with insignificant things."

Hearing this, Sheryl sighed heavily. "The girl truly suffered much." RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

The truth was Sheryl felt a little heart-broken. She couldn't understand why she identified with Autumn's

tragic experience. "How can she be so ill-fated?" she spoke aloud.

"You're absolutely right!" Isla said with a wry smile. "On her ninth month of pregnancy, Autumn

suddenly disappeared. We had no information about how to trace her and Charles went utterly crazy

searching for Autumn everywhere. He nearly turned Y City inside out. Still, he couldn't find his wife."

Sheryl stared at Isla with a horrified look.

Isla continued her story about Autumn's disappearance. "When Charles found the warehouse where

Autumn was held captive for a while, he broke down after seeing a pool of dried blood. There was no

sign of her. That was when he fell seriously ill. Since then, he stopped smiling and hardly ever talked.

All he did every day was to eat, sleep or leave the house to get drunk. For the past three years, he

lived like the walking dead. But, he never gave up searching for Autumn."