The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 585 Dream Garden

After they left, Charles warned Nacy, "Don't say a word in front her later, okay? Just consider her as our guest and I don't want her to be annoyed. You must know that she has lost all her memories. Understand?"

Nacy nodded but looked unconvinced. She said, "Alright. But, may I ask something?" Nacy was already frowning when she continued, "Is she really Mrs. Lu?"

"Of course, she is!" Charles replied firmly. "Please make a fancy dinner for her later," he added.

"May I know what she likes?" Nacy asked in return. Nacy tried to pry and get more information but Charles was hesitant to answer. Eventually, he replied, "The dishes that you usually make for me will be fine." There were two dishes that Nacy was really good at and Charles would always ask her to make them for him every time he remembered Autumn.

"Mr. Lu, wait a moment!" Nacy exclaimed. She remembered something when she saw Charles heading inside. "Leila came by today and she just left. She kept coming every day recently and said that she wouldn't stop until she met little Charlie," she said.

"Okay, I know. I'll settle that later," Charles replied carelessly. It seemed that hiding Charlie from her wasn't a good idea so he must make a perfect solution.

After all, he knew that he had to talk to Leila about this sooner or later. He couldn't just ignore this situation.

A while later, Sheryl and Shirley arrived at Charles' home. Sheryl felt so familiar with this house but just couldn't explain why. As Charlie was about to show them inside, she felt like she already knew what awaited them inside before he could even open the door.

She wondered what was going on in her mind. She couldn't understand why she had a very strong sense of familiarity to this place despite the fact that she had never been here before.

"You must be Ms. Xia!" Gary greeted her warmly. His voice helped her go back to her senses. Gary had initially planned to dine out with a friend but canceled it the moment he learned that Sheryl was coming. He was actually really waiting for her at home.

It had been three years. But today, his granddaughter-in-law finally came home, and he couldn't be more excited.

"Yes, it's me. Nice to meet you, Mr. Lu," Sheryl greeted him back nervously. Sheryl couldn't fathom why she felt so nervous right now.

"Don't be nervous," Gary said with a pleasant smile. It seemed that he could sense Sheryl's nervousness so he added,"Please make yourself at home!"

"Okay," Sheryl timidly replied. "It's so kind of you to say so!" she added smiling shyly. She wondered if people in this city were always so warm to their guests. But how she could make herself at home in a stranger's house?

"Nice to meet you, Grandpa!" Shirley said sweetly. Her expression was much different from Sheryl's. Well, she was never shy in front of strangers. She ran into Gary's arms and held him cheerfully. Gary had known that she was his own great granddaughter and he already loved her at first sight. The more he looked at her, the more he loved her.

All of a sudden, the house became noisy and full of excitement.

Gary had asked the servants to build a playing area in one of the corners of the living room when Charlie came to live with them. There were all kinds of toys, including a slide and oceans of balls. However, Charlie never liked playing there. On the other hand, it became Shirley's wonderland.

If in the past Charlie didn't like this place, this time he was here playing with Shirley. He wanted to make sure that she was safe. He didn't know why he was so protective of her and he just wanted to spend more time playing with her. He was happy to watch her laughing and it felt that she was his own sister.

On the other hand, Sheryl was the only one feeling uneasy among them. She felt suffocated with people surrounding her. So she decided to go to the bathroom to catch some air although she didn't really have the urge to pee. She had a feeling that she was an outsider there. After washing her hands, she looked at herself in the mirror. She felt like something had changed on her even though reflection still looked the same as before.

"Uncle Charles!" Shirley shouted. She was actually looking for her mom. She looked around for Sheryl but couldn't replace her so she had no other choice but ask Charles for help. She had two braided pigtails this morning and one of them was now falling in front of her face because she had played so madly just now. The rubber bond was cut. With hair covering her face, she felt so uncomfortable and inconvenient. She also looked weird with this kind of hairstyle.

Shirley came to Charles for help because she was so eager to join back Charlie to play immediately.

"Look at my hair!" She pointed to her head with a pout. Charles immediately got what she meant. He turned to Charlie and asked, "Go and fetch a comb for me please, Charlie!"

Charlie remembered that they bought a new one today and it was cute. He ran fast to get it and handed it to Charles.

Charles found a small stool and let Shirley sit down. Then he said to her with a smile, "How about a ponytail, Shirley? Maybe I can do it."

He admitted that he didn't know how to braid a hair so he offered a simple one.

Shirley nodded her head slightly thinking that anything would be fine as long as he could fix her hair and she could go back playing with Charlie again.

When Sheryl came out of the bathroom, she saw Charles fumbling on Shirley's hair. For her, he wasn't a sentimental man. But looking at how careful and patient he was to her daughter, it was as if she were a piece of treasure in his hands.

It took Charles a moment to finish doing Shirley's hair so the child became impatient.

"Uncle Charles, how's my hair now?" she asked hastily.

"Wait!" he replied. "One more minute, please," Charles stumbled nervously. He'd never thought that he could run into such a situation, feeling awkward doing his own daughter's hair. He had been a tough and a capable man, but now he got sweat on his forehead.

'How could doing hair be so difficult?' he wondered.

Sheryl couldn't help but laugh while watching behind them.

Hearing her laughter, Charles felt even more embarrassed and said, "It's so embarrassing. And I'm afraid that my heavy hand might hurt her."

He didn't realize that the reason he got nervous was that she was his own daughter and he was too eager to be nice to her.

"Let me do it. Do you mind?" Sheryl said and smiled at him. She took the comb from Charles and expertly braided Shirley's hair just in few seconds.

Charles was stunned. 'How did she make it?' he thought. He just couldn't believe his eyes. Why was it just like a piece of small cake for her but a mission impossible for him?

"You must have gone through a lot since you've been raising Shirley by yourself alone, Miss Xia!" Charles commented casually as he tried to hold back his curiosity.

"No, it's actually a lot of fun!" Sheryl replied disapprovingly. "Don't you remember I've got a fiancé? He helped me a lot," she added sounding proud.

Charles clenched his fists tightly upon her words, and his bright eyes darkened.

'Anthony! Now, she mentioned Anthony again!

If not because of him, how could the two of us be separated for three long years?' he thought. He wanted to say it loud to Sheryl but just couldn't.

Sheryl didn't seem to realize Charles' emotion. Or maybe, she just didn't pay much attention to it. After then, she quietly watched the two kids playing until it was half past four. By that time, she called out to Shirley, "Honey, time to go home! I believe you've had a good time with Charlie. Come on! Let's go home now."

"I want to stay more time, Sher! Can I have ten more minutes, please?" Shirley begged her pathetically. She indeed had a good time with Charlie and she didn't want to leave now even if Sheryl said it was the time to go home.

Sheryl frowned and urged her,"Listen, I agreed to come here with you but we can't stay very long. We might already trouble them. We need to go home now." "Sher!" Shirley complained. She wanted to resist more but just nodded and agreed when she saw her mom's serious face. There was no use complaining anymore. Sheryl sighed in relief and then said, "Thank you, honey! Come to say goodbye to Uncle Charles and Grandpa Gary now!"

Seeing Sheryl and Shirley intending to leave, Charles and Gary looked at each other. Charles spoke, "The dinner is ready. Please stay and have dinner with us!"

"Right!" Gary agreed. A big smile was plastered on his face. Then he added, "It's getting late. Since you've played with Charlie the whole afternoon, we felt like we owe you such a big favor. So please, stay for dinner!"