The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 1277 Mrs. Huang

"Nick, why are you here?" Sheryl asked in surprise as she walked up to Nick.

A tinge of clear awkwardness flashed across his face. Putting on a smile, he answered, "I had something going on and just happened to pass by here. I saw you near the school so I thought I'd stop and say hi. Heaving a sigh of relief in his heart, he felt lucky he prepared an explanation before he arrived he wanted to make sure that when Sheryl asked, he would sound natural enough.

It would seem that he succeeded as Sheryl didn't even give it a second thought. After all, she had no reason to think that Nick was doing anything wrong.

"How's the company been? How are you? You're not overworking yourself, are you? Remember, you should take care of your health first."

As if on instinct, her care for Nick started surfacing.

Her concern for him was rather touching. "There has been some progress with regard to the project. Sher, you don't have to worry about my health. How about you? You seem a bit tired. Did you get enough sleep last night?"

Upon hearing his words, Sheryl fell into sudden silence. Dolefulness crept onto her face. Her lips mildly parted, but eventually, she didn't say her true feelings out. Suppressing her sorrow, she answered, "I'm fine. I just had a late night. Oh, right, you said you had something going on, didn't you? You should get back to that. I have to go home now." Not wanting to talk about what really happened, she quickly switched the topic.

Still, Nick could sense that she was hiding something. Although he had no intention of prying anything out of her, he wanted to keep her company. "Sher, it's been a long time since we last saw each other. Shal we get some breakfast together? I haven't had any yet. I think I'm feeling a little light with my empty stomach now, so I should grab a bite."

With exaggeration, he furrowed his eyebrows to feign a stomachache.

That was enough for Sheryl-when it came to his health, she was always a worrier. With a nod, she agreed to go with him and let her driver know where she was going before hopping into Nick's car. Before long, the car stopped at a restaurant.

It was a popular breakfast spot so they arrived at a busy time. The place was full of people eating and chatting away.

Even though it was an ideal atmosphere for breakfast, Nick found it rather unfortunate. What he really wanted was a quiet place where he could have a nice, intimate chat with Sheryl about what she was going through. As it turned out, the restaurant wasn't the best choice for that.

Unsatisfied about the place, he turned to Sheryl and asked, "There are too many people here. There doesn't seem to be a vacancy. Shall we move to another place?"

Wanting a less crowded place herself, she nodded.

It didn't take them very long to replace a smaller, less busy restaurant. Even with less variety on the menu, it was a comfortable place for a good chat.

Finally contented, Nick led Sheryl inside and ordered her dishes he knew she loved.

After graciously filling her cup with tea, he casually asked, "Sher, are you okay?"

After a moment of feeling dazed, she put on a rather unnatural smile. "Of course. Why do you ask? Have you heard anything?" After he invited her to a meal, she had a feeling that Nick had already heard something about her situation-it was likely the reason he went to the kindergarten to replace her.

With her question, Nick realized that it was a poor idea to pretend that he had just happened to pass by her at the school. After a sigh, he confessed, "Actually, I did hear something recently. You..." Before continuing his sentence, he felt the need to pause and mentally grasp for the proper words to say. Somehow, he couldn't seem to phrase things to lessen his embarrassment.

Given his behavior, Sheryl understood his dilemma, figuring that he probably knew quite a bit about what happened to her. It wasn't just "something" as he described, after all. It was a huge deal, almost everything. Otherwise, he wouldn't have hesitated for so long.

"Alright, it seems that I really can't hide it anymore. I do feel troubled," she said with a sigh. "I don't know how to feel lucky in my position. What can I even do about it? It's just becoming more and more complicated..."

Afterward, she described to him in full detail the entire incident.

Listening attentively, he took careful note of what she said and also posed questions to further clarify any details.

After laying everything out, Sheryl felt like some weight was lifted off her shoulders. Even though she wasn't expecting anything from Nick as talking to him about it certainly wouldn't solve the issue, she did fee like some negativity escaped her with the words she expressed.

"So...that's more or less what happened. I didn't really intend to tell you. I don't want to bother you..."

The way she said it sounded like a sigh.

Suddenly, Nick had a thought-he held onto her hand and solaced her, "Sher, please don't say that. What matters to you also matters to me. I feel honored to get to listen to you. At the very least, I can sympathize with you."

Smiling appreciatively, she answered in gratitude, "Nick, thank you."

"Please, you don't have to thank me. I can't even really do anything to help you."

Embarrassed, he scratched his head with his free hand.

Indulging in her own emotions, Sheryl forgot that her hand was still in Nick's.

At that moment, there were only a few guests in the restaurant. Even as they spoke rather softly, there was a single person trying to listen in on their conversation.

A middle-aged woman sat at a table nearby. It just so happened that she was Melissa's best mahjong mate, Irina-they played together after she was released from jail.

Irina's husband, Mr. Huang, was the manager of a listed company. One could say that they were part of the middle-class. As much as she wanted to make friends with people in the high-class circle, she lacked quite a bit, both in terms of wealth and of power. Moreover, she wasn't the type of person that had a natural sense of fashion. Even as she tried to dress herself up and try all kinds of delicate makeup, she still failed to get close to the kind of social clique she desired to join.

The only person she could truly rely on was Melissa. In spite of the fact that the Lu family was one of the wealthiest in the city, Melissa didn't have a strong relationship with the other women in the elite social circle because of her history of jail-time-the others didn't want their reputations to be tainted. A woman as arrogant as Melissa didn't want to bother lowering herself to establish good relationships with others. But with Irina, she managed to downgrade a little bit to make friends.

The moment Sheryl stepped into the restaurant, Irina took notice of her. Having been involved with the Lu family a number of times, she could easily identify Sheryl. Finding it strange that Sheryl was having breakfast with an unfamiliar man, she paid extra attention to the pair.

Even though she couldn't hear what they were talking about, she could clearly see that the man was holding Sheryl's hand-astonishingly, Sheryl didn't even show any discontent. Instead, she seemed to be moved by the gesture. The picture struck Irina in shock.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up in intrigue. It took her everything not to get closer to the two and eavesdrop on their conversation. With that information, she could surely gain Melissa's approval.

The exact cause was still unknown, but Irina had heard about Melissa's accident of falling down the stairs and being hospitalized. Although she was planning to visit her friend, she heard that Melissa wasn't in a very stable emotional state. It wasn't surprising, though, as she was aware that Melissa was bad-tempered at this time-she was still venting her anger toward her daughter-in-law, Sheryl.

Now with a huge secret at her disposal, she couldn't wait to see Melissa and tell her what she had just discovered.

As Irina got up from her seat, ready to leave, Nick made sure to console Sheryl and put her at ease. It was then when Sheryl realized that she shouldn't keep troubling Nick. Coming to her senses, she got up to pay the bill before getting ready to leave as well. Right at this moment, Irina came into view.