The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 1237 You Should Be Ashamed

The night was peaceful, but the same couldn't be said for the people in Dream Garden.

Although it was late and the city was quiet, the people in Dream Garden were still wide awake. The lights were still on and there were signs of activity.

Arrogant, Melissa sat in the living room. Anger burned in her fiery eyes.

On the other hand, Sheryl stood beside her and held Shirley's hand. Sheryl looked serious, and a frown replaced her usual happy face. She tried hard to hide the unease she felt.

Silence hung like a thick curtain in the living room. However, Shirley couldn't stay quiet any longer. She anxiously glanced at Melissa, fear evident in her eyes. Then she turned to Sheryl and asked, "Mom, is Grandma angry with me because I broke her antique vase?"

Sheryl felt her daughter's trembling hand as she held it and couldn't help but squeeze it a little tighter. She got down on one knee and reassured her, "No, Shirley. Grandma is not angry at you. She doesn't blame you, but that antique vase was grandma's favorite thing. She is not in a good mood because you accidentally broke it. So Shirley, go and say sorry to your grandma."

Shirley fearfully looked at Melissa again and stood closer to her mother. "Mom, I'm scared," she said and shook her little head.

"She is your grandma. You have nothing to be afraid about, my child," Sheryl said. Although Sheryl reassured her daughter, she still felt a bit worried about her. She patted Shirley's head and encouraged her to apologize.

However, she knew what Shirley was actually afraid about.

After she made Clark and Shirley return to Dream Garden, they lived there peacefully. Then Melissa got out of prison and came back to Dream Garden. She was nice to her grandchildren at first. She cared about them and was happy to be with them. But as time passed, since Melissa didn't like Sheryl, she also became less fond of her two grandchildren.

Melissa couldn't criticize Clark since he was a boy and the only heir to Shining Company. On the contrary, Melissa was never nice to Shirley. Shirley was not so mature as Clark. Or maybe, she was just a girl and unimportant to Melissa, so Melissa didn't need to care about her feelings.

Sheryl couldn't change Melissa's views. She herself wasn't on good terms with Melissa, so she couldn't force her children to get close to their grandma who didn't like them either.

However, that night, Shirley accidentally broke Melissa's favorite antique vase. Shirley was so scared that she cried loudly. After Melissa went to her and saw what happened, she couldn't stop scolding the little girl. Shirley was afraid of her words.

Suddenly, Melissa turned to Shirley with hatred in her eyes.

"Shirley, this is your mistake. You should reflect on what you have done. Shouldn't I criticize you? Aren't you educated to be so rude and ungrateful like this?" she said. Then she added, "What would you like others to think about Lu family if you behaved like this in front of other people? How would you like to let other people talk about your dad if he has a daughter like you?"

She scolded Shirley for quite a while with plenty of sharp questions. Shirley was only three years old, so she couldn't really understand what many of Melissa's words meant. And Melissa didn't intend for Shirley to understand her words. She just wanted to criticize Sheryl by saying that Shirley wasn't well-educated. The one who was really being attacked was Sheryl.

After Sheryl heard all of Melissa's words, she breathed deeply to calm herself down. She knew that although this was Shirley's mistake, Melissa just wanted to use her granddaughter's mistake to warn Sheryl and show her power in this family.

'If I continue to step back whenever she arrogantly criticizes my daughter, it will only help increase her arrogance. If I endure and stay silent when these kinds of things happen, my children and I will only suffer more and forever be under her control,' Sheryl thought and mentally decided.

She got down to Shirley's eye level and said, "Your brother must've fallen asleep by now. How about you go to bed as well?"

Although Shirley was only three years old, she was able to understand certain things. She glanced at Melissa, who looked at them angrily like she wanted to tear them both apart. "Mom, I'm scared. I want my dad," she said.

Sheryl felt so sorry for her daughter when she heard those words. Her hands gripped Shirley's shoulders and held her smaller body in her arms.

What her daughter said reminded her that she and her children suffered all these things only because Sheryl always stepped back when they had conflicts with Melissa. It was because she didn't want to hurt the relationship between Melissa and Charles. She was so considerate that she didn't want her husband to be troubled with matters concerning his wife and mother. So unless she had no choice but to tell Charles what happened between them, she wouldn't bother him with these issues.

"Shirley, don't be afraid. Mom is here for you. Go to your room and sleep. If you behave well, I will go and be with you later. How about that?" Sheryl managed a smile and tried to comfort Shirley. She tried to look normal when she talked to Shirley so that her daughter wouldn't worry about her.

The little girl nodded at her mother. She looked angrily at Melissa again and then walked back to her room. Her eyes repeatedly glanced back at Sheryl when she went back, as if she was worried about her mother.

After Shirley's figure disappeared behind the corridor, Sheryl sighed in relief. As long as her daughter wasn't around, she didn't have to worry about whatever would happen or how angry Melissa would be. Melissa heard Sheryl sigh and smirked. "Stopping faking your kind-mother face. If you want to call Charles back, then call him. It is a good time for us to show your real face to him," she said. Sheryl didn't respond to her provoking words. She slowly walked towards the sofa in front of Melissa and sat down. "Mother, if you feel anything unsatisfactory about me, you can tell me. I will try my best to change them," she calmly said. "But tonight, Shirley did not mean to break your antique vase. Please forgive her for that," she added.

"Forgive her?" Melissa asked incredulously. "No, there is nothing to forgive. I definitely won't blame her. She is the daughter of my son and a girl in the Lu family. She has my blood in her veins. Although she has a bad mother, as long as she is educated well, I believe that she will be different from you in the future." However, Sheryl wasn't mad at Melissa's words. A laugh escaped her lips.

"On behalf of Shirley, I thank you for the compliment from her grandmother. And I am also grateful that you see Shirley and Clark as members of your family," Sheryl said.

Melissa's lips only curved into a smirk once more. "I don't need your gratitude. It's none of your business. It is natural for me to see my grandson and granddaughter as my family members. But I have to warm you that as long as you are Charles' wife, you have to understand what your position and social status mean. You have to remember what you shouldn't do and what you cannot do. If you make mistakes that you shouldn't have made or do things that you shouldn't have done, you will be losing the face of Lu family," she said.

Her words were obviously sharp and meant to criticize. It was plain that she wanted Sheryl to feel uncomfortable. No one would've endured the things she said, because all her criticisms weren't reasonable at all.

However, Sheryl didn't respond. She wasn't even angry at all. She sat on the sofa with a blank face.

After all of their conflicts, Sheryl learned something. As long as she didn't go directly against Melissa whenever she criticized her or gave her a hard time, the older woman would eventually stop. Melissa could say anything she wanted and Sheryl just needed to say that she got it, then she was good to go.

This night, however, Sheryl didn't intend to do the same. She realized that she didn't get any respect at all because she always endured everything and kept a low profile. She always took a step back every time Melissa criticized her because she thought it would protect the relationship between Melissa and Charles. But, things didn't turn out the way she expected.

Melissa took her gestures for weakness instead of kindness. She became more pompous and stared to torment everyone in the house, including Clark and Shirley. She even started to show her wicked attitude and acted viciously in front of her grandchildren. She showed her anger to everyone without caring for anyone's feelings.

Therefore, Sheryl couldn't stand her anymore. She refused to be under her any longer.

The sounds in the living room seemed to drown in Sheryl's ears as she remained silent. "Have you heard what I said? It is useless for you to sit there like a dead body," Melissa said loudly. When she saw that Sheryl still didn't respond, she became angrier.

Finally, Sheryl smiled and said, "Mother, I've heard what you had said. May I say something now?"

Melissa's smug face smirked once again. "What do you want to say? You should be too ashamed to say anything at all," she said and glared at Sheryl with displeasure. Even then, Sheryl still wasn't angry at all.

"After I moved to Dream Garden with my children, our lives were peaceful and harmonious," she calmly stated. "And after you got out of prison and moved in to Dream Garden, I treated you as if you were my own mother. I know that you think I'm not good enough for your son because of some reasons. But after all this time, I can honestly say that I have never done anything wrong to you. Didn't that reduce your hatred towards me?"