The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 821 Shame

"If you did not want any part of it in the first place, then why did you join?"

Sheryl bravely asked Roger.

"Because of life," Roger responded with a wry smile. He continued to explain, "Unlike you, my family background wasn't always successful or well-off. To be exact, we had our humble beginnings. To you, money isn't a big issue, but to me it was. Becoming a star is one of the fastest ways of acquiring money, so I..."

Roger took a glance at Sheryl before continuing, "But you know? When I've reached the peak of my career where everything and anything I want, I can get; when I've finally had so much money, I've begun missing my old life wherein there had to be a certain degree of struggle before getting what I wanted. What I've really always dreamed of is a life just like today where I am allowed to stop whatever I am doing and just be with the person I love -- we could light up a candle or enjoy a nice cake, just as simple as that. It's just that....."

Roger once again paused with a bitter smile on his face and then proceeded finishing his thought, "It's just that a wish as simple as that could never be granted to me."

Sheryl glanced at Roger, without expressing her opinion.

That is the nature of being human -- there is barely a time wherein there is no conflict, dilemma, or irony.

Even these three words are an understatement. To be more precise, it is greediness that the human nature runs on.

"Roger." A little voice called out Roger's name while they were in the middle of conversation. Sheryl slightly tilted her head and found a young girl rushing into Roger's arms. "I missed you! Did you miss me?"

she asked while embracing Roger. It was as if she was throwing a tantrum and she did not mind that there were other people around them.

Roger frowned and said, "Helin, stop that!" The girl was named Helin He. She just wished to enjoy the warmth of being enveloped into a hug and refused to follow the wish of Roger.

She hugged him even tighter as if she was trying to morph her body with his. She replied, "No, I won't. We haven't seen each other for so long. Didn't you miss me at all?"

"Let go of me first," Roger demanded. He took a glance at Sheryl in embarrassment. For reasons he could not tell, he did not want Sheryl to witness the situation with Helin He. He wanted to get closer to Sheryl because he was afraid that she would misinterpret his relationship with Helin He. As a matter of fact, there was nothing between Roger and the clingy girl.

Despite the tightness of the hug, Roger managed to push the girl away and ordered her to sit down. "Don't get any closer," he demanded.

"Roger..."

Helin He fell sorrowful and asked, "What happened to you? You are being so strange."

Helin He was actually a famous hot star who was in the same company Roger was in.

While Roger climbed up the ladder of fame all by himself with his hard work, Helin He relied on her family's fortune. Her father held position on the Auspice Film Company and helped her clear the obstacles in the way of getting famous. She was privileged and had many opportunities served to her in silver platters.

Though their backgrounds greatly differed, Helin He fell in love with Roger. She would often describe it as love at first sight. Worrying that she would use her father's power to suppress him of his rights, which may be a major hindrance to his development in the industry, Roger could not turn her away. He could not reject her, but he did not accept her either.

If not for Sheryl's presence, Roger would have treated Helin He more nicely and he would have been more patient with her as if he were the older brother of a spoiled younger sister. He would satisfy her needs. But today was different since Sheryl was around. By instinct, Roger tried to draw a line between him and Helin He.

After reluctantly breaking away from Roger's arms, Helin He noticed that Sheryl was there. She realized this was the reason why her beloved Roger was acting so strange. She then eyed Sheryl from top to toe with her judgmental eyes as if she was inspecting her.

"Allow me to introduce her to you."

Upon realizing the awkwardness, Roger tried to break the ice by making things seem normal. He introduced Sheryl to Helin He. "This is Sheryl Xia, a model of BM Corporation."

Roger thought of so many ways to introduce Sheryl -- what she was the best at, what she did, how amazing she was -- but, he had to keep his admiration for her at a low-profile or else Sheryl herself would notice Roger's affection for her. He then gestured towards Helin He. "This is Helin He, a colleague of mine. She joined the company a few years later after I did."

"I'm aware," Sheryl smiled politely and said. "I have seen Miss He many times in TV Shows. She is the hottest and most popular star at the moment."

"Is she?" Roger smiled back yet Helin He was still dissatisfied despite the compliment given to her.

"Colleague?"

Helin He frowned and questioned Roger. "Am I only a colleague to you? Is that how you see me? This was not how you addressed me the last time."

Helin He was clearly a spoiled girl. Like most pampered girls, she had a bad temperament and had difficulty managing her anger upon hearing things that did not please her. Sensing that Sheryl might be a threat to her relationship with Roger, she gazed at Sheryl intensely and once again introduced herself, "Hello. It's nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Helin He, Roger's future girlfriend."

Sheryl felt awkward and was speechless. All she could afford to do was to return a few words to Helin He. "Hello. Nice to meet you, too."

Sheryl saw through the childish attempt of Helin He, trying to claim ownership over Roger. Sheryl could not help but let a laugh out.

"Helin, what are you talking about?" Roger questioned the naive girl with embarrassment.

"What are you laughing at?"

Helin He ignored Roger and began to take notice of every little detail Sheryl made.

Realizing that Helin He might have misinterpreted her laugh, Sheryl tried to explain herself so that Helin He would calm down. "I'm sorry, I hope you're not misinterpreting me, I just feel..."

Sheryl paused to gather her words. "I just feel that it's so rare to see an ingenuous girl like you these days."

Even though Helin He was acting like a child, she had her own way of doing things -- at least she was bold enough to express her feelings, good or bad. That was her edge.

"There's nothing for me to be proud of," Helin He taunted Sheryl. "You know, nowadays there are just so many seductresses out there. In this scenario, it is quite pressing for me to win Roger's heart before any of them could possibly get to him. Indeed, I'm claiming ownership over Roger. Tell anyone else who have the intention to take him from me this: you bitches will forever be out of his league."

"Well, that sounds really harsh and unacceptable, Helin. You've gone too far. Stop being rude." Roger was already pissed off. Even though she did not mention that Sheryl was the one she was pertaining to, it was pretty obvious that Helin He was just being passive-aggressive.

Sheryl disagreed with everything Helin He said, but she kept her composure. She was not mad. In fact, she found Helin He cute. To her, Helin He was just a child, an immature younger sister. Why would she be irritated with the childish words of Helin He?

"Roger!" Helin He suddenly raised her voice. Apparently, she was annoyed, too. Roger was usually soft-spoken to her and had never scolded her the way he just did. To her, Sheryl was the cause of the sudder shift of tone of Roger. Because of this, Helin He just despised Sheryl more. She asked, "Did I say anything wrong?"

"Apologize to Miss Xia. Now!"

Roger demanded angrily.

"For what?" Helin He felt so hurt that her voice was quivering. "Do you love her?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Roger was deeply embarrassed now. He tried to come up with the words to give Sheryl a reasonable explanation. "Miss Xia, don't listen to her. She's so spoiled to the extent that..." "It's no big deal, so don't bother about it,"

Sheryl said with an unbothered smile.

Sheryl was about to leave when Helin He got so agitated by her own assumptions. How could she let this woman go so easily? She sneered at Roger, "Don't try to fool me. I know you've fallen for this woman! You used to be such a gentleman to me no matter what I did or said. You've never lost your temper in front of me, but now that she's here, you've changed. How should I accept the fact that you're angry at me for some woman? How can I..."

"Shut up!"

Roger finally had it. He was offended at the position Helin He put him in. He then put his shame aside and explained, "Miss Xia is my friend and my guest. You said things that were so unnecessary. That's absolutely unfair."

"Is she really just a guest? Because, oh man, I don't buy it. The way I see it is that, you were showing her much more favor,"

Helin He grumbled in detectable dissatisfaction.

"Can you just..." Roger trembled with anger, but what could he do? He couldn't have known Helin He would overreact this way. Could he expect her to calm down and listen to him with rationality? 'Forget it, he thought. 'She'd never understand.'