The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 753 You Are Not Qualified

Arthur was extremely morose as he said to Laura, "Stop your nonsense! I've told you that Sheryl has nothing to do with Anthony. What you should be doing is keeping an eye on him. Please keep him away from Sheryl, and I can assure you that Sheryl won't be seeing Anthony again..."

"Grandpa!" blurted Sheryl. She paused for a moment before she continued speaking to Arthur, "I think I know where Anthony is now."

Though Sheryl said it very plainly, Arthur looked astonished, as if he were missing something. Hearing that, Laura sneered, "Well, well, that explains everything."

"Sher, are you sure what you're talking about?" Arthur asked.

"Of course, I am," she answered. Sheryl glanced at Laura and said, "I said that I think I know where he is, it doesn't mean that I'm sure about it, it just means that he's probably there. I can take you there so you can see for yourself, but there is definitely a possibility that you still won't replace him there either."

"All right, all right, I get your point," Laura said, impatiently, while not so subtly motioned for her to lead the way.

Of course, Laura didn't believe what Sheryl had said. In her mind, she was absolutely certain that Sheryl knew exactly where Anthony was, but she was just refusing to tell her.

Although she had known Sheryl was Arthur's granddaughter, she still looked down upon her, which was the exact feeling she got when she had first met her. As far as Laura was concerned, Sheryl was lying. As they walked into the elevator, Sheryl held Shirley in her arms and she could feel her baby trembling. Sheryl gave her a warm mommy squeeze and kissed her on her squishy, round cheek, Amy looked at Shirley and said, "Poor girl, why must she go through all of this at her age? She just got out of the hospital! This is too much, for someone so young, to have to deal with already!"

Laura glanced at them, with not one shred of compassion, nothing but malice in her eyes, and sneered, "Don't be so dramatic! She's just got a little cold. Why do you have to make it such a big deal?" She seriously thought that there was nothing very wrong with her at all.

But Junia felt very differently. Based on the way Sheryl looked at Shirley, she wore a look of undeniable fear on her face. How could a common cold be so nerve wrecking for a mother? There had to be something more. Plus, Shirley did look a little off.

Junia couldn't help herself. She just had to know the truth. So she asked Sheryl what was the real situation with Shirley.

With distain and loathing, Amy glanced at Laura and said, "Why don't you ask her and her good son about it? Can you replace any young guys who..."

Arthur interrupted, "Come on, that is not an appropriate conversation to have in front of the children. Okay?"

Amy understood what he meant and respectfully stopped. Laura still sneered at it, but Junia felt more confused than she had originally been.

Arthur looked at Laura and said flatly, "Whether Sheryl can or can't help you replace your son, I'd prefer you to keep a large distance away from us from that point forward. You live your lives and we live ours, and we won't owe each other any more. Okay?"

Laura sneered, "Uncle Arthur, since you have already decided to act like strangers to me, I'm just fine with that." She didn't have to be polite to Arthur any more since he had told her that he didn't like Anthony at the beginning and wanted to sever any ties with them.

The fact of the matter was, that he was just the friend of her departed father-in-law, after all, so there was no reason for her to associate with him anymore.

So Laura smiled coldly and said, "Very good, then. I can make sure that Anthony won't go to see Sheryl. Now, if only she can stay away from him. You have my word."

With the ding of the elevator, the door opened. Sheryl walked out of the elevator first, with Shirley still in her arms. Amy was wondering if Sheryl would take Laura to her apartment, so she asked her, "Sher, where are you taking her to? Anthony isn't in your room, is he?"

Sheryl ignored Amy and turned to face Laura saying, "Wait here for a second. I'll be right back.

And then she took Shirley back inside so she could get some rest. Upon returning to the group, she turned to Sue's apartment and rang the bell.

Sue called from behind the closed door, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Sheryl," Sheryl answered.

Anthony had been there for a little while. He was making lunch. He kept trying to erase the memory about what had happened that night, but the throbbing pain that he still felt from the wound on his head made it extremely difficult to do so.

He had to force himself to think about something other than Sheryl. But, all of a sudden, he could hear that Sheryl was just outside the door of the very space that he was occupying. What should he do? He was caught so off guard that he dropped the spatula onto the floor, leaving a splatter of what he was making on everything it hit on the way down.

Sue smiled pitifully when she saw the anxious clumsiness that Anthony exhibited at just the mere sound of Sheryl's voice.

She was very well aware that she couldn't compete with or replace Sheryl forever. Even if for the moment, it was her that Anthony was with. She knew that Sheryl was the only one that mattered most in his heart.

She glanced at Anthony and said, "I think you'd better move to somewhere that you can't be seen. It's probably better for you if you replace someplace to hide for a moment."

Coming back to his senses, Anthony quickly took off that apron, picked up the freshly fallen spatula off the floor, stealthily wiped up the splatters left behind, and turned to quietly addressed Sue, "Okay, whatever you do, please don't tell her that I'm here."

Sue looked at him, smiled sweetly with compassion in her eyes, and nodded.

After Anthony was well out of sight, in her bedroom, Sue slowly walked over to open the door. She froze when she saw that Sheryl was not by herself. She saw that there were five people standing in front of her.

"Sheryl, what are you..."

"How Is your foot feeling now?" Sheryl interrupted her.

Sue paused for a moment and she got her bearings. "Yes, I've been feeling a bit better and you..."

Sheryl interrupted her again, "Are you cooking now? You seem a little off, are you sure you're okay?" Sheryl glanced at Sue and sneered. She knew that Sue didn't know how to cook. when she stepped into the room, she didn't see any fast food boxes, but she smelled the distinct aroma of a delicious meal being made from scratch, coming from the kitchen.

So that gave her the feeling that she was pretty sure that Anthony was there.

Sue was very clear about the possibility of what could happen if she found out that it was Anthony who had been cooking. Sheryl used to be her close friend, after all, so they knew each other pretty well. The tension in the room was so tense that she could almost taste it. She wanted nothing more than to make the awkwardness go away. Thinking as quickly as she could, she managed to say, "I'm making lunch out of a new cookbook I found."

"Really?" Sheryl asked with peaked interest. "I assumed that you had asked somebody to make lunch for you. I remember that you have never cooked before."

"You're right. Not before today. However, once I saw the cookbook I figured I would give it a shot today." Feeling at least a little pride at how she covered that up effortlessly made her smile to herself before remembering the matter of Anthony hiding in her bedroom. With the reality of the situation setting back in, Sue was nervous and prayed to herself that Sheryl bought her story. But suddenly she realized that she couldn't allow her to control the conversation this way in her own home. She frowned and asked Sheryl, "What are you doing here? What is the reason for you to think it is okay to just invite so many people to come over to my place without letting me know?"

Laura looked at them with a half smile and said, "Well, well. Sheryl, I'm a little confused. You said that you would take me to see my son, but why do you bring us here?

Oh, as far as I know, your apartment is not too far from here, right? Why don't you take us to go see if he's in your room?"

"Shut up! You want to go and see if you can get to my room on your own?! Go ahead and try... I DARE you!!" Sheryl said through gritted teeth.

She took Shirley back home so as to avoid her having to be exposed to that foolishness and not being able to rest, but Laura wanted to look for her son in her apartment. How could she let Shirley be disturbed again? She was not going to let anyone, least of all, Laura, make her child couldn't get the rest she needed to recover. As a mother, it was her job to protect her kid! And damn it all, she was going to do just that. If protecting her daughter meant fighting the whole world and even dying, she would do it happily.

Everyone was shocked by what Sheryl had said, especially Sue.

Sheryl was always kind, quiet and soft. In the time she had spent as her best friend, she had never seen Sheryl like that.

"What are you talking about?" Laura was sullen. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"Is that something I should be aware of?" Sheryl turned to Laura, and in a solid, firm tone, she said, "I don't need to know who you are, you're just a nobody to me. Why don't you just stop acting like one of my elders, because you're not qualified to do so."

Hearing that, Laura froze in her tracks.