The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 181 Poor Relatives

Every time Autumn thought of her grandma's condition she would blame herself as to how she could be so naive to believe Wendy after all they had been through together. 'If I hadn't believed what Wendy said grandma wouldn't have missed the best time for her surgery.'

"Wendy you disgust me! How could you neglect grandma's health..."

"Did you replace her? I have thoroughly underestimated you, "Wendy declared. "You are my daughter and Yvonne is your sister. You must take good care of her before I come back, as she is part of your family. Do you understand?"

"Grandma is my only family in the world. I don't have a mother let alone a sister, "Autumn shouted at Wendy, sending the message loud and clear across the phone. "Let me be clear here. I will pay for Yvonne's surgery but it is simply impossible for me to attend to her and be at her beck and call. You better come back right now if you are really concerned about your daughter." Autumn then abruptly disconnected the call.

Meanwhile, Isla and her parents arrived at Mandy's house. They gathered at the gate. Aron and Mike had come here earlier in the morning to discuss Aron's wedding with Becky.

Mandy had seldom visited her brother John since she got married, and John didn't even know where Mandy lived.

"Isla, does your aunt live here?" Looking at the grand villa, John said with his eyes wide open, "Isla, this villa alone must cost over hundreds of thousands."

"Hundreds of thousands? Are you kidding me?" Jina responded blankly, staring at John. "Your sister approached us two years back. She bragged to the villagers that she had spent several millions buying a house."

Upon hearing the estimate, John affixed his eyes on the grand mansion with his mouth wide open. After recalling the purpose of his visit, he rubbed his hands on his pants and intended to shout his sister's name. Isla grabbed him by his hand in an attempt to stop him and rang the bell. She explained to John, "Dad, this is a doorbell. Once you press this button, a bell will notify the residents of the house that they have a visitor. Now almost all of the people living in the city use it."

With an embarrassed smile John responded, "Well... I see." Within seconds a servant appeared at the gate. After briefly observing the three visitors outside the gate, the servant said with a frown, "What are you doing here? You have come to the wrong place for begging. Leave now!"

John turned red with rage and yelled out, "How dare you talk to us in such a rude manner? Do I look like a pauper to you?" "It seems Mandy has become more and more overbearing as years went by. Even he servants follow her footsteps,' thought John angrily.

The servant snorted, "Well I definitely don't think you are guests of my mistress. I have never heard once that she had any poor relatives like you." 'Poverty and destitution must have driven them mad enough to resort to such extreme measures. How dare they pretend to be mistress's relatives to deceive me?' she thought scornfully.

Jina stammered furiously, "You..." Isla walked closer to the gate and said, "You must remember me."

The servant observed her discreetly. Even though Isla hadn't come here for several years, she finally recognized her. After all, she had been working here for decades. With an awkward smile she tried to make amends, she said, "Isla... You should have told me your name the second I came to the door."

However, even after recognizing her, she didn't open the gate.

'Today is an important day for my lady. I cannot let Isla inside as she may stir up some trouble,' she mused.

"You haven't visited your aunt in a long time. May I know why you have come here after all this time?" continued the servant. "If you have something important to tell the mistress, please let me know. I can forward your message to her."

Isla wasn't bothered by what the staff had just said but she was just embarrassed and felt sorry for her parents. 'They came here after a long and tiring journey, and now after all that trouble they went through, they weren't even allowed to enter the house.

Mandy is going too far this time, ' Isla thought to herself.

Isla was now cold and resolute as she said, "Is this how you have been trained to treat the guests? To just keep them waiting outside after you interrogate their purpose to visit."

The servant responded, "I... You have misunderstood what I am trying to convey. My mistress is currently attending to some important guests. How about you wait here and once she is free I will ask her if she would like to see you today. Will that work for you?"

Isla threatened with a grim expression as her anger was now growing, "I think it would be better if you go to her right now. Otherwise I will be more than happy to tell your neighbors that my father had paid for your mistress's education whe she was young, without thinking twice about it, but now she is so ungrateful and selfish that she won't allow her own brother to enter the house. I am sure this way she will be the one getting disgraced..."

The servant got angry upon hearing the open-ended threat and stuttered, "You..." "Isla, don't forget who you are. I treated you with respect only because you're my mistress's niece. That is all you are. How dare you threaten me like this?"

"I am sparing you five minutes of my time beyond what you have already wasted in this futile conversation. If Mandy refuses to see us in five minutes, I will leave the premise immediately. But before leaving, I will surely like to discuss with the neighbors about the woman living next to them. After that you can tell whether I dare to blurt or not."

The servant could not take such a risk to put her job and her mistress's reputation at stake; so she walked right into the house and sought to speak with Mandy.

John looked at Isla with a concerned expression and said, "Isla, do you think it was really necessary to threaten her like this?"

Jina berated as she patted John's shoulder, "What are you talking about? Your sister bullied us since the second we got onto the property. She spent all of your money without uttering one grateful word. Now she has stooped down to the level of keeping us waiting outside after thinking we were beggars. How could she treat us like this?"

John could not conjure up one word to utter.

Within the next five minutes, the servant opened up the gate and took them to the hall.

Mandy greeted John and Jina enthusiastically, "Nice to see you! Why didn't give me a call before your visit? I could have gotten you picked up. Isla, my dear, why didn't tell me in advance?"

In the end she just snubbed the blame on Isla.

Isla did not respond but Jina was impatient. She retorted with a snort, "Now you live in such a grand house. How could you spare your time to pick us up? You know what? Your servant didn't even let us into the house, assuming that we were beggars."

Mandy explained with a smile, "Jina, don't get angry at me. You and John have always been my saviors." Then she turned towards the servant and in a reproachful tone commanded, "Lucy, take them to the guest room and serve them well. Do you understand?"

"I will..."

"I am really sorry. I have some urgent matters to attend to. Please retire to that room, have some refreshments and take a rest. I will come to you the moment I get free. Isla, please do me a favor and help me treat your parents well on my behalf."

Before Isla could answer, Mandy said hastily, "Now please excuse me for a moment."

Mandy walked away in a hurry. She assumed that John had come there for Jennifer. 'Today is important for Becky and I can't allow anyone to destroy it.

Becky has waited for four years. And now after all her struggle and efforts she is finally going to marry the man she loves. I can't let anything come in the way on her much delayed happiness,' Mandy was resolute with her intentions.

Mandy said to Aron calmly, "Excuse me I had to greet some visitors. Let us continue..."