The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 2022 Isla’s Pub

The love she'd shown to Charles might have been excessive, but Vicky had no plans to quit. If it meant that Charles would still be around her, she'd do anything she could. Besides, compared to the accident she went through, it was nothing to confront indifference, as long as Charles was around.

After their dinner, Charles excused himself and claimed that he had business to deal with, but Vicky quickly grabbed his arm and insisted on going with him.

"It's something urgent, and I'm on a schedule, so even if you go with me, I can't spare any time for you. Please just stay home and let go of me. Don't put me in an awkward position," Charles said, furrowing his eyebrows and glancing down at her hands, which were still holding on to his arm.

Seeing where Charles was looking, Vicky lowered her head, pretending that she was embarrassed.

"Oh, okay. Please just go. It's okay for me to be alone, but please come back as soon as you're available. Don't forget that I'm waiting for you!" she repeated the things that she had said before. It seemed that there was nothing to talk about between them, except for asking Charles to stay.

"Well, I need to go now," Charles said as soon as he stepped away from her grasp.

He strode out of the house without looking back and met with David, who was waiting for him at the gate.

"What happened with the investigation? Anything new?" Charles asked the moment he got into the car. Based on the time he calculated, they should have some progress by now.

"Yes, Mr. Lu," David nodded, his voice excited.

He drove away from the house for a bit further, but then pulled over for a moment to have a proper conversation.

"We checked the surveillance video of the house and found that she took a taxi the other day. We then followed the route she took and reached a pub called Dark Night," David reported with an annoyed face. Charles was confused to see such an expression on David. In the meantime, he couldn't believe that there was someone who dared to insult him in this city.

David hesitated for a second before saying, "Mr. Lu, we went there, and we asked the bartender to take a look at their monitoring system, but they turned us down,"

Charles was even more confused because it was impossible for a small pub to reject him.

"Who's the owner?" Charles asked coldly, and he wondered if the boss was as blind as a bat to dare to offend him.

David stole a glance at Charles and continued, "Mr. Lu, Isla is one of the bosses of that pub."

"Isla? That Isla?" Charles asked and awkwardly massaged his temples.

"Yes, she didn't even allow me to step into the pub. She told me to get lost before I could finish talking and warned me never to try to come in again," David added, distressed. The lead that they were closely following stopped there, and they could do nothing about it.

Charles made no comment and blankly stared outside the window.

David opened his mouth to speak but shut it immediately because he was afraid that it would push Charles into feeling even more embarrassed.

A long quiet moment later, David started the car again and drove Charles back to his house at Dream Garden.

He didn't leave until Charles got inside the house, and the light of the upstairs bedroom was turned on.

The atmosphere was choking and overwhelming the moment Charles entered the bedroom, and he couldn't bear to see the familiar surroundings and not have Sheryl with him. He headed to the French door to catch some fresh air outside.

It wasn't surprising that Isla wouldn't make things easy and convenient. Ever since the divorce, people around Sheryl all became cold to him, especially Nick and Isla.

It was understandable because they had witnessed what Sheryl had gone through, and even after their false divorce, they had hoped that Sheryl could live happily together with him and their two kids. That was why they couldn't forgive him for hurting her over and over again.

A silver dagger stabbed right in his heart every time he thought of Sheryl, and it shredded his heart into pieces. He has no idea how she managed to get through this when he hated every second of it and wished that he could end it as soon as possible.

The hopelessness was drowning him, and for the first time in his life, Charles hated himself. He hated himself so much.

"I'm sorry, Sher. Please wait for me. I'm trying to be there," Charles murmured and clenched his hands tightly around the railing to suppress the impulse to run to her.

"Knock! Knock!" The sudden knock on the bedroom door broke the silence and cut through the thick fog of his thoughts.

"Are you awake, Charles?" Melissa's voice sounded from behind the door.

Charles hurriedly pulled his drifting thoughts together and took a deep breath to calm down before replying, "I'm still up, Mother. Please come in."

Melissa pushed the door open from outside and walked in quietly.

Charles was still standing by the window, but he turned to look at Melissa, and he looked exhausted.

It was clear at one glance that Charles was troubled, and it made Melissa sigh. She had heard Charles' steps from her room a moment ago and could tell from the heavy sound of his steps that something must be troubling him. Unable to put her heart at rest, Melissa had decided to look in on her son.

"Is there something wrong, Mother? Why aren't you in bed?" Charles asked. His voice was even and sounded like nothing was wrong, and his expression was just as usual.

"Nothing's wrong. I heard you come back and wanted to talk to you. How are things with you?" Melissa stopped right in front of Charles and peered into his eyes, hoping that he would tell the truth.

Charles was a little nervous under his mother's gaze. Forcing a faint smile, he replied, "Mother, please don't worry. Everything's fine. A lot of things are happening in the company, and it is normal for me to come back late. Please go to sleep. It's already late-we can talk another time."

Melissa was even more confused, and she said sourly, "I want to know. I know that you're troubled. Talk to me. It may make you feel better. Is it that Vicky again?"

"Mother, please don't think anything stupid. Just spend your time playing bridge or shopping. It'll be a great help to me if you live a peaceful life," Charles said seriously. He said so because he was worried that Melissa would ask for trouble again, which would just add fuel onto the burning flames.

"I promise that I won't do anything. I'm just worried about you!" Melissa promised. She understood what Charles was talking about.

"Thank you. Thank you for your cooperation. Please go to bed," Charles said with a smile, gesturing for her to leave.

"Okay, I'm going to bed now. You need to go to sleep too. Good night," Melissa replied and left Charles' room, sighing on her way back to her room.

Compared to before she came to see Charles, her heart had sunk even lower, but she also understood that there was nothing she could do.

She knew her son quite well. If things weren't bad, he wouldn't act like that. She wished she could share the burden on his shoulders, even a little would be fine.

But since she couldn't, all she could do was wait and let nature take its course. Maybe tomorrow everything would be fine, and Charles could replace a way to solve all of this. On the other side of the city, Sheryl had just finished with her work.

She was taken aback when she spotted what time it was. She hurriedly stood up and ran to the kids' room. The guilt was strong that she felt as she silently walked to their beds. Sheryl kissed both Shirley and Clark before leaving their room and closing the door behind her as quietly as when she had entered.

She stretched and walked back to her room to sleep as usual, but her eyes barely closed when her phone rang, and a quick glance showed that the call was from Isla.

"Are you sleeping, Sher?" Isla voice was anxious on the other side of the line.

"I was about to if you hadn't called me," Sheryl replied drowsily and wanted to hang up as soon as possible.

"Get up and join me at Dark Night. I want to show you something! It's urgent!" Isla blurted out and hung up before Sheryl could utter another word.

Sheryl sat up on her bed abruptly, wondering if it was just a dream, but when she saw the phone in her hand, she had to accept that it was real. She sighed and reluctantly got up.

Quickly changing out of her clothes, she exited her room and found both Shirley and Clark were standing in the living room.

"What are you two doing here? Go back to sleep!" she said while looking at both of them, confused.

"Mommy, Clark and I waited for you to come back today. You haven't played with us for so long... It's the weekend tomorrow; why don't we play for a while? Please!" Shirley grabbed their mother's arm and shook it with her lips turned into a pout.

Clark also nodded in approval behind her. Sheryl looked at them with a helpless smile.

"Sorry for that, kids. Mommy was so busy the past few days and didn't spend time with you. I promise I'll make up to you. Can you please wait for a day or two?" She squatted down to their level and looked into their eyes, begging for their forgiveness.

"It's okay, Mommy. We don't blame you. But can we sleep in your bed tonight?" Shirley asked and looked back expectantly at their mother.

At the same time, Clark stepped forward with the same intention as his younger sister.