The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 1618 Don't Give Up

"Regardless of what you may say or think, Sheryl is still Charles' wife, isn't she? You're her mother-in-law, don't you think that you are being mean by scolding her in public like this?" Lewis tried his best to remain reserved while he reasoned with Melissa.

However, Melissa was mightily pissed off at Lewis for saying that Sheryl was Charles' wife. Melissa would never accept such a shameless woman as her daughter-in-law since Sheryl had brought shame to the Lu family. Pointing a finger at Lewis, Melissa almost shouted now as she vented. "You're right, Sheryl is my daughter-in-law, but that's none of your business. This concerns our family's problems. You have no say in it!"

Melissa, who was about to burst with frustration, had made a valid point.

"I'm Sheryl's friend. I don't see any problem with lending her my support," Lewis confidently retorted, which irritated Melissa all the more. She lost control of her temper and raised her hand, swiftly landing a slap on Lewis's face.

Lewis hadn't expected that Melissa would lay a hand on him. He wanted to avoid the sudden move, but it was already too late. However, out of instinct, he managed to push Melissa away, making her stumble and fall flat to the ground.

Sheryl was overwhelmed by embarrassment when she saw Lewis and Melissa arguing over her. She didn't know how to mediate between two anger-fueled people. As she saw Melissa tumble to the ground, Sheryl was completely at a loss for words. She just stood there, blankly staring as her mother-in-law fell like a paper doll.

Lewis overreacted. He didn't mean to hurt Melissa and felt truly sorry for what he had done in a moment of rage. He took a step forward and reached out to help, but Melissa was too upset, and she refused help; instead, she struggled up on her own.

But Melissa had misunderstood Lewis as she had initially thought that he was going to hit her. Now she shook off his hand and yelled at him, "What were you trying to do? You wanted to hit me, didn't you?" "You lost your balance and fell on the ground. I had nothing to do with that, okay?" Melissa's aggressive and unpredictable attitude made Lewis give up in exasperation. She shouted at the top of her lungs for help, and her charade left Lewis speechless. He stood next to her, watching her drama indifferently.

Melissa's screaming pretense caught Sheryl's attention.

'Why would things turn into such a mess?' Sheryl was completely annoyed and frustrated by everything that was happening. She already had a lot on her plate and was too tired to clear up this new mess Melissa had made.

"Mom, can you stand up, please? Lewis has nothing to do with the failure of my marriage to Charles. You shouldn't have involved him in this." Sheryl squatted down, reached out her hand, and tried to help her mother-in-law stand up as she spoke.

But Melissa firmly refused to let anyone touch her as if Lewis and Sheryl made her sick and she didn't want to have any physical contact with them. She pushed Sheryl away, crying out loudly while blaming the two.

Lewis and Sheryl couldn't get any closer to Melissa, so a passerby helped her stand up instead.

"Thank you, that's so nice of you." Melissa held the stranger's hand and thanked him as if he was part of her family, which made the passerby a little awkward.

But Melissa wasn't about to let go of the stranger. Making use of the unwitting stranger, she continued, "I guess you must be wondering what happened. Let me tell you. This woman is my daughter-in-law. My son is in a coma now, and she is seeing her new boyfriend in the hospital. When I found out about this, they teamed up to bully me. What kind of person could do such a thing?"

Melissa explained her drama to the passerby, with her eyes welling up. Those who didn't know the truth would probably believe her and feel sorry for her.

Sheryl was speechless. Wasn't Melissa the one bringing shame to Charles and the family by defaming her daughter-in-law in public like this? After all, Sheryl and Charles were still legally married. Why didn't Melissa think about this before running her mouth like that?

"Enough! You are the one bringing shame to the Lu family. Do you now want to ruin the Shining Company too?" Sheryl was utterly disappointed and couldn't help herself from now yelling back at her mother-in- law, which only added fuel to the fire.

Melissa's eyes instantly filled with tears. She held one of her hands to her chest to express her distress, the other she pointed shakily at Sheryl and said, "Is that what you want, Sheryl?"

Sheryl didn't bother to answer Melissa's goading question.

There were more and more curious people gathering around them as the drama unfolded and drew a crowd. The swarm of bystanders would have loved to replace out what had happened to the famous Lu family. Some of them even took out their cell phones to film this drama. It would look spectacular on social media!

Seeing this, Lewis realized that it would do them no good to stay. He didn't want to be a news headline or the subject of gossip. He grabbed Sheryl by the hand, ready to leave.

"Wait, we can't just leave like this!" Sheryl wanted to make Lewis let go of her hand. But no matter how hard she tried, Lewis wouldn't let go of her.

Lewis didn't release Sheryl's hand, because he badly wanted to protect her. He dragged Sheryl out of the hospital, and he said, "Don't you realize? Melissa did that on purpose to make a huge scene. Staying there would do you no good. Why didn't you just leave? You're so stubborn!"

Lewis looked into Sheryl's worried eyes, hoping that she could understand what he meant.

Sheryl felt embarrassed and guilty when she saw Lewis' flustered facial expression, especially since she knew that he was right. But how could she leave when she saw her mother-in-law fall to the ground? "Don't worry. She is fine. I didn't even touch her back there. She just fell deliberately and tried to blame that on me. Do you even know Melissa? She would never let herself get hurt," Lewis comforted Sheryl as he saw how her face spoke of worry and concern.

Then Lewis asked her to get into his car.

"Should I drive you to the company or what?" Lewis mindfully asked Sheryl but dared not say anything more, afraid that it would make her more upset.

Sheryl sighed determinedly and nodded her head, and calmly said, "The company."

Both of them remained silent during the rest of the drive.

Soon, they had arrived at the Cloud Advertising Company. Sheryl sat back in the passenger seat and showed no intention of getting out of the car. Lewis coughed and politely reminded Sheryl, "We're here." Sheryl came to her senses then, nodded, and opened the door.

Lewis thoughtfully watched Sheryl walk into the company before he restarted the car and drove away.

Slowly and reflectively, Sheryl walked back to her office. There were piles of files stacked on her desk waiting to be signed, but her mind was preoccupied with what happened in the hospital. She was not in the mood to do anything work-related.

"Knock knock!"

"Come in!" Sheryl composed herself as she walked straight to the door.

It was Phoebe. She knew Charles was staying in the hospital, and Sheryl was busy taking care of him. The long hours of vigil had tired Sheryl out, so Phoebe had tried her best to handle the business on her own. Being proactive, she didn't believe in bothering Sheryl with minor business matters, unless it was something urgent.

Phoebe had been on the phone when Sheryl had entered. She was worried about Sheryl, so she went into the office to check on her when she had finished with the call.

"What's wrong?" Sheryl thought something had happened to the company as she saw how anxious and worried Phoebe was, so she immediately asked.

Shaking her head to ease her boss' worry, Phoebe walked to Sheryl's desk, before she answered, "Everything is okay, President Xia. Is President Lu okay? You don't look well, either."

Upon hearing this, Sheryl realized where Phoebe's anxiety and worry stemmed from. She sighed and shook her head. "That is hard to say. I don't know when he will wake up. But I am sure that he will be fine." Sheryl had been saying this to herself and everyone else multiple times as each day passed. She reminded herself with these words that she could never give up hope.

"Uh-huh, President Xia, don't let it get you down. I am sure President Lu will get through this." Phoebe comforted Sheryl as this was the only thing she could think of doing for her at the moment.