The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 301 Agreeing To Meet

Isla paused for an unusually long time before she mustered the courage to answer Jina's burning question, "Aron."

Upon hearing their daughter utter his name, both Jina and John were taken aback with shock. For a moment, they assured one another that they had heard the wrong name or that Isla was cracking an elaborate prank. But, when they noticed unwavering seriousness set on Isla's face, they realized that they heard it right, Aron was Isla's boyfriend.

"Have you gone crazy?" Jina looked at Isla, in shock as she has still not recovered from the blow. She asked, "Have you not received enough grief from him yet? And now you are going to walk towards the cause of your own unhappiness like a moth flies into the fire?"

"Mom, I have thought it over in depth and trust me have thought about all aspects of our relation before I even considered taking it forward." Isla said to her parents with determination, "I want to be with Aron. Besides, from now on, I will never have to go on a blind date as I am in a committed and happy relationship with Aron"

"You..." At this point, Jina was so angry that she involuntarily raised her hand, but she could not get herself slap Isla. "It is no wonder that Stephen told me he saw you staying with a man and then swore at you as a bitch. I was so annoyed with his nonsense talk that I almost had a fight with him that day. After hearing your confession I feel ridiculous to have defended you in that manner."

Jina gave out a bitter smile. She continued to speak to Isla, "Why do you insist on being with Aron Gu? Don't you think he hasn't hurt you enough for the pain to last a lifetime?"

John used to respect Isla's choice. But this time, he decided not to support Isla at all as he was dead set against the idea of Aron and Isla together.

"Isla, no matter what decisions you made in the past, I always supported you with blind faith and love. But this time you have taken it very far!" John gave Isla a serious look as he continued speaking, "I don't care about what has happened between Aron and you earlier. But now, after all of that history it is impossible for you to share a relationship with him. There is just no way!"

"Daddy..." Isla frowned slightly. She knew she had to convince her parents but what she did not expect was that, both her dad and mom would outright deny Aron a chance without hearing her out. This was not a good situation to be in.

"Isla, I am warning you, for your welfare, you should break up with that guy the minute you can. I mean what's wrong with Stephen? You should not have picked a fight with him even if you really don't like him." Jina almost went crazy with rage.

"Mom!" Isla seemed to have become a little grumpy after drinking as much as she did. It had been quite a while since she lost her temper like today. She also then began to raise her voice, "You always praise Stephen as a good man, but how good is he really? Could you be so kind as to share some details?"

"He..." Jina went blank for a moment, but soon she came back to her senses and answered, "At least, unlike Aron Gun, he won't make out with your cousin when you have a relationship with each other. Now that Aron Gu has returned for a reunion. Today I have to make something crystal clear in advance, I will never, ever approve of your relationship with Aron Gu."

Isla went blank when she heard such harsh words coming from her mother.

"You are crossing the line with your words, Jina. You can speak in an appropriate tone. Isla is not a little baby." John held Jina back, and pacified her.

"Are you sure she is not a little baby? Are you?" Jina said sarcastically, "How could she make such ridiculous decisions motivated without any reason and sanity if she is not a baby? That guy was engaged to be married to your daughter first. And right before their wedding, he broke up with your daughter somehow, and in no time was he about to marry Becky. And now after all that drama, he had changed his mind yet again to rekindle his relationship with Isla. I will be humiliated all over again if our neighbors and relatives come to know of this entire charade, you know? Besides, they might even mock me and cuss at me behind my back!"

"You are destined to live a hard and sad life if you always care about what others think of you." Isla too lost her temper as she responded to Jina, "Mom, you said you wondered what my reason was to break up with Stephen. OK, so I will tell you now."

Isla told her mom the incidents exactly as it happened on that fateful day. Finally, she looked into Jina's eyes, and said, "Mom, I admit that I am not young anymore, but you must understand that it is even my desire to marry a man of excellent character. After all, who hopes that their marriage will end up in a divorce? Keeping that in mind, do you really think I will lead a better life if I marry a man like Stephen? If your answer is still 'Yes', I will call Stephen right away."

John frowned upon hearing Isla's story, and asked, "You silly girl, why could you have just not told us such a serious matter?"

"Would it have made any sense had I told you the truth?" Isla had no choice. She knew her parents advised her to marry Stephen for her welfare. But they also didn't expect for such thing to happen with their daughter, either. Isla didn't want them to worry about her or feel guilty for such a failed match.

"Even considering this, it is unwise for you to be in a relationship with Aron." After knowing the truth, Jina felt deeply remorseful for all that she said, so her tone slowly mellowed down, "Our suggestion to marry Stephen was our fault, as we didn't exactly get acquainted with Stephen in haste. But Isla this does not mean that we approve of your relationship with Aron, in anyway."

"You..." Isla wanted to shout at her mother again, but her father stopped her in the nick of time.

Jina was always a woman who could be persuaded only by reason but not be cowed by force. Therefore, if Isla continued to go against her, Jina wouldn't allow her to reunite Aron without any doubt.

Isla calmed down the moment John stopped her. She took a deep breath to get a sense of the situation before she addressed her mother again, "Mom, I know you have a bias against Aron. So do I. But do you know... If it was not for Aron who saved me that night, I can't imagine what terrible things would have happened with me.

True. Now you will say that his bid to rescue me can hardly make up for his bad behavior in the past. But in fact, you should be clear that all the issues were caused by Becky who directed and acted the entire affair all by herself. Both Aron and I were the victims of her charade." Isla sighed with profound resignation. She sat next her to Jina, and said, "Mom, do you know that Aron came to look for me also when he was sick, too. It was stomach perforation. He fainted the moment he attacked Stephen away from there. Forgive me, mom. After that I was just unable to keep a hard heart and leave him alone. I want to give a chance to Aron, and rekindle our relationship for me as well. I was very happy when we were together. We had a spark and I wanted to see if that was still there. I really hope that you can understand the reasons behind my choice and support it. Please give Aron another opportunity like I did."

Jina was shocked beyond what she anticipated when she heard that Aron was in poor health when he helped her. She was a woman whose bark was worse than her bite. Although she had a nonchalant expression on her face, she couldn't helping caring about Aron's health. So she asked with hesitation, "So... How is everything with him? Has he recovered completely now?"

No matter what had happened in the past, it could not alter the fact that Aron saved Isla. She was grateful for his opportune timing of helping Isla out of politeness.

"He has almost recovered." Isla answered in a calm tone, "Mom, I have had a discussion with Aron. We are planning to invite you to dinner tomorrow. Could you please oblige us and have the dinner with us? I will be ever grateful. Please come even if it is just for my sake."

Isla held Jina's hands, and asked like a spoiled child. At first, Jina hesitated, but finally she gave in and nodded her head. "Fine, I will attend this dinner in a bid to thank him for saving you. You will decide the place, won't you?"

"Thank you, dear mom. I appreciate this." Isla kissed Jina on her face with happiness, "So I will share the good news with Aron."

Isla was ecstatic to go upstairs to give Aron a call. She exhorted Aron again and again to behave well in front of her mother. Although Jina agreed to meet Aron, she could never accept Aron Gu from her heart.