The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 1415 Leila's Resistance Against Melissa

After Shirley came back, she became more dependent than normal on her parents. Whenever they weren't around, she would become tense and burst into tears.

Naturally, Shirley's sensitive behavior drew Charles' attention. Perhaps his daughter was suffering from some type of mental illness? He couldn't wait to make an appointment with a psychologist. However, the doctor was only available the next day.

Burnt out from anxiety, Charles went out of Melissa's bedroom. Melissa's nerves were on edge. Finally, she sighed in relief when Charles left and shut the door. Her heartbeat slowed down a little, but she felt her feet turn into jelly, and she couldn't support herself anymore. Her body fell down on the bed as if she'd lost her bones.

Melissa had been trying to avoid Charles' gaze recently. She felt drained whenever she looked into her son's eyes. The truth was that she felt rather uncomfortable that her authority in the whole family was challenged.

After she calmed herself down, she started to think seriously about how to convince Leila out of Dream Garden, and keep her quiet to avoid exposure of her involvement. The frown on her face deepened and her mind became more tense. After a while, she closed her eyes and shut her mind in an attempt to restart her thoughts.

The next morning

The smell of eggs and bacon wafted in the dining room. After a few minutes, Melissa stood up from her seat and walked towards Leila. "Leila, let's take a stroll down the street. We haven't done that in a while," she beamed.

As Melissa talked to Leila, she intentionally got closer to her in an attempt to foster kindness to Leila. Her face looked friendly and inviting. However, her sudden acts of being nice aroused Leila's suspicion. A frown creased Leila's face as she felt a little concerned. At that moment, she realized that Melissa wasn't asking for something so simple as going out for a walk.

However, she didn't have a choice but to accept Melissa's invitation in case she would get annoyed. For Leila, it wasn't wise to irritate Melissa now.

"Sure, let's go for a walk!" Leila said with a nod.

At a coffee shop

It had been a few minutes since Leila and Melissa had been strolling outside. When they passed by a coffee shop, Melissa pretended her feet were sore and asked to enter the coffee shop to rest a bit. "Leila, let's have coffee here, so I could rest a bit," Melissa suggested. Still, Leila had easily detected the faint trace of indifference in Melissa's tone. It was clear that Melissa was trying to hide some feelings behind her words.

Leila was almost sure about what Melissa wanted to say, but if that was true-she didn't want to listen. She suddenly felt quite anxious. Besides, she couldn't help but be cautious and wary when she recalled that Sheryl once offered to make a deal with her.

In the silence, Leila prayed that Melissa wouldn't say anything yet because she wanted to mentally prepare herself. However...

"Leila, I have to tell you-we all know that it was you who orchestrated the kidnapping. Now for your own good, I strongly advise you to move out of Dream Garden as soon as possible. But don't worry too much, I'll help you replace a new place..." Melissa blurted out of the blue.

As she spoke to Leila, she didn't feel confident enough and kept her gaze on Leila's reaction. She had expected that Leila might overreact to her words, so it was why she decided to talk about the issue in a public place.

Leila's face suddenly blanched as she mentally questioned herself, 'We all know? What do you mean by that? Does everyone include Charles?' Leila couldn't believe her ears.

She found it so unacceptable. She had never thought that Charles had known her plan. She couldn't even imagine how Charles felt when he knew that it was she who had kidnapped his daughter. At that moment, all she felt in her heart was bleeding and pain.

All her hopes were gone now. 'Now that even Charles knows that I had led the kidnapping, it's impossible to win his heart. He already knew, Oh, my goodness...'

The more Leila thought about it, the more pain she felt. Her eyes dropped and she trembled in distress, tears threatening to spill out. Suddenly, she raised her head and glared at Melissa. 'Melissa, you ruthless hag! Both you and Sheryl have no integrity. You're both liars, liars!' she mentally cursed.

Anger got the better of Leila. She couldn't help but inwardly sneer, 'Melissa, you traitor! You said that you would support me and stand with me against Sheryl. Now you just change sides all of a sudden and want me to take all the blame?

And Sheryl, didn't you promise me that I could continue to stay in Dream Garden? Now, you just sold me out! You disgusting bitch!' Leila's teeth gritted so hard in anger that her inner lip got cut. A faint salty tang of blood slowly spread in her mouth. She felt bitter.

'Sheryl, you will pay for this! Just wait for my revenge!' Leila cursed in her thoughts. Her eyes blazed with fiery anger. Her lips curved into a subtle smile at the thought of Sheryl kneeling down before her in pain and suffering.

"Aunt Melissa, are you trying to drive me away?" The cold question made the atmosphere quite tense. After a short pause, Melissa shook her head and tried to make an excuse.

"That's not true. Leila, listen to me. I hope you understand why I'm doing this. It isn't what you think. I just suggested that you leave Dream Garden temporarily," she explained.

Even with Melissa's explanation, Leila was overcome by rage and didn't listen to reason. She ignored her surroundings and shouted at Melissa.

"Melissa! Don't expect me to trust a word of what you've said! I am not a five-year-old child! You just want to keep me at a distance. As your partner, I never expected that you could be so ruthless, abandoning me when I needed your help more than ever! Back then, if you hadn't asked me to help you against Sheryl, I wouldn't have thought of this plan. Now that the kidnapping plan had failed, you want me to take all the blame! But don't forget that you were also part of this plan! There's some evidence of your stains that you can't wash!" Leila said coldly.

She casted an angry look at Melissa, who was in shock.

It was clear that Leila was desperate, and now ready to fight back. Melissa saw through her mind and was surprised. Melissa was at a loss, but she couldn't do anything but to feign being weak and helpless to arouse Leila's pity. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Leila, you have to believe me! I'm not abandoning you. It's all because Charles and Sheryl forced me to do so, or else they will put you in prison. I chose to make you leave temporarily to protect you. I'm just protecting you, Leila!" Melissa pleaded and gripped Leila's arm.

At first, Leila was in a bit of disbelief and showed indifference. Then, she thought that it might just be Melissa's attempt to drive her out of Dream Garden. Her expression went from grim to a mocking sneer. When Melissa saw that her tricks didn't work, she tried hard to squeeze more tears from her eyes, and tightened her grip on Leila's arm more. Leila just felt irritated and wanted to shake off Melissa's hands. "Leila, I am begging you! Please forgive me! I really have no other choice. And I promise I will get you back not too long after."

Melissa looked sincerely and innocently at Leila in hopes of making her believe what she said.

But still, Leila had no faith in such a crafty hag. Even if Melissa promised just now that her departure from Dream Garden was temporary, Leila just dismissed it as Melissa's excuse. She knew that Melissa was full of tricks, unworthy of her trust.

Then again, she really had no other choice. Now, Melissa wasn't in the position to make decisions, and Leila knew that she would be forced out of Dream Garden sooner or later.

Even if Leila struggled and resisted, she had nearly zero chances left, now that she had lost her only chance to approach Charles. Despite that, she wouldn't resign herself to failure just because of the heavy price she had paid in trying to earn Charles' favor.