The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 1657 A Secret Plan

Leila told herself not to panic. If she couldn't make rational decisions, the person that would benefit from this would be none other than Sheryl. Of course she wouldn't want this to happen. Being worried about Melissa, Leila comforted her until she finally stopped crying.

Nancy was in the kitchen, but she happened to overhear their conversation. She walked out of the kitchen and asked Melissa, "Ma'am, is Mr. Lu awake? Do you need me to prepare any food?" Whatever Leila and Melissa were planning didn't concern Nancy at all. To her, the only person that Charles would love was Sheryl. She knew that whatever they tried to break them up would fail. "The doctor says that he needs something less oily and spicy, so anything along those lines is fine." Melissa was in no mood to prepare something special and nutritious for Charles to eat. Anyway, he didn't really care about her. In turn, she wouldn't care about him that much then.

Leila kept her mouth shut while Nancy was still around. After Nancy returned to the kitchen, she quietly whispered to Melissa, "Aunt Melissa, you've been taking care of Charles so much over these past few days. Don't forget that your health isn't in the best condition. If you exhaust yourself, you might get sick, especially if you upset yourself too."

Leila had been secretly planning in her head. Recently, she'd finally finished her plan. The only way she could get what she wanted was to use Melissa, or to be more precise, to use the conflict between Melissa and Sheryl.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm not that healthy anymore. If Sheryl continues to upset me this much, I'll get sick. How could Charles just let that happen?" Melissa knew that even though Charles cared the most about Sheryl, she was still his mother. If anything happened to her, Charles would definitely feel bad.

'If I replace a way to blame Sheryl for my sickness, this may cause a strain in her relationship with Charles, 'Melissa thought.

As soon as she realized this, she replaced the sullen look on her face with a huge grin. Holding Leila's hand, she exclaimed, "Leila, thank you so much. You're so clever! The only person I can depend on is you now! If it weren't for you, I would still be panicking right now!"

"Aunt Melissa, please don't say things like that," Leila retorted, feigning displeasure on her face. Melissa beamed at her and said, "Right. We're one family now. I shouldn't have said that." "That's right. If you need me for anything, just tell me," Leila said with a sweet smile.

She figured that Nancy might be overhearing their conversation, so she and Melissa went to the second floor before continuing to discuss their plans. It wasn't until Nancy had finished preparing the meal that the two of them had finalized the details of their plan.

"Ma'am, can I go with you when you visit Mr. Lu?" Nancy asked with much anticipation.

There was a hint of contempt in Melissa's eyes. Eyeing Nancy up and down, she replied, "There's no need. You should stay at home. Charles just woke up. It's not going to help with his recovery if too many people visit him. You'll have the chance to see him when he is discharged from the hospital."

Melissa didn't really like Nancy, because of Sheryl. Even though Nancy had been loyal to the Lu family ever since she'd started working for the family, every time Melissa thought of Sheryl, she had a strong urge to fire Nancy. If it weren't for Charles, she would have done it a long time ago.

"Okay, Ma'am. I'll stay at home." Disappointed, Nancy gave her the food which she had packed for Charles and went back to the kitchen.

Melissa and Leila took the food and went straight to the hospital.

In the hospital, Sheryl was getting Charles some hot water.

Nick took the opportunity to sneak into Charles's room while Sheryl wasn't around.

"Charles, how do you feel now?" Nick asked bashfully.

They had rarely spent time together when there were just the two of them, and this was the first time that Nick felt uneasy with Charles.

Charles liked it that Nick still treated him as his brother-in-law.

Nick had always disliked Charles because of the whole Leila thing. Charles knew that. 'So now, does this mean that he doesn't hate me anymore?' Charles wondered.

Charles knew that for some people, all it took was a series of traumatic events for them to forget some things; however, that wasn't the case for Sheryl.

That was why Charles worried that Sheryl still hadn't forgotten about what had happened, even after he'd recovered. If Nick could help mediate by saying something nice about him in front of Sheryl, it might help their relationship!

With this in mind, Charles decided to get on Nick's good side.

"I'm feeling much better. Thanks for your help. I'm also so glad that Sheryl has you as her brother. If you need me for anything, please, don't hesitate to ask," Charles said.

Nick felt nervous upon hearing that. A man like Charles would do his best to keep his word.

At least, he knew that Charles had his back, and he would always be protected. He felt his heart racing with excitement.

Suddenly, the door flew open.

"Nick, why are you here?" Sheryl exclaimed the moment she saw Nick.

"I'm here to see my brother-in-law," Nick stuttered. He still wasn't used to addressing Charles this way.

Amused by Nick's stuttering, Sheryl let out a laugh. Handing a cup of hot water to Charles, she asked, "How are things going with Cassie?"

"Everything's fine. She'll start working tomorrow." Nick couldn't help but smile as he spoke of Cassie.

Sheryl envied Nick and Cassie's relationship because they didn't have to go through so many challenges just to be together. That was something foreign to Sheryl.

"Sher, I'll leave you two alone for now. Call me if you need me for anything," Nick said when he saw that Sheryl had lapsed into silence.

"All right," she answered.

After Nick left, Sheryl looked at Charles and asked quizzically, "What did you two talk about? How come I'm sensing something is off?"

Charles replied, "We didn't actually talk about anything. I also felt that he wanted to tell me something, but I guess before he could say anything, you'd already came in." As he spoke, Charles gripped Sheryl's hand, as if he was afraid that she would leave. Whenever she was with him, he always made sure that her hand was in his.

"Shall I call him back in so that you can continue your conversation with him?" Sheryl said, teasing him.

Charles tightened his grip on Sheryl's hand as if to say that he didn't want her to leave.

Seeing that her small trick worked, Sheryl put on a sly grin.

"You're lying!" Charles blurted out when he realized what Sheryl had done.

"No, I wasn't," Sheryl replied. After this playful back and forth, silence fell upon them.

Charles lay on his bed, quietly watching Sheryl peel an apple for him.

After the accident, Charles had discovered that he'd sort of changed. He'd started to hate silence, staying in bed, and not being able to do anything.

"Sheryl, I'm sorry. I won't let anyone mistreat you ever again," Charles slowly said.