The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 91 Dinner in Gu Family House

"I see," replied Charles. He did not care about Sam's thoughts for Autumn as he trusted her. "Let's go inside. They are waiting for us," he said to Autumn.

He then took Autumn by her hand and walked straight into the house, leaving Sam behind with a frown.

Almost immediately after they entered the living room, Yvonne walked up to them with a grin on her face. "Did you have a pleasing conversation with Mr. Lin?" she asked. "Despite having been abroad for many years, he still has feelings for you. If my first boyfriend was enchanted by me this way I would be ecstatic!"

"Are you?" With a sly smile Autumn replied, "Of course you would. After all, you are a precocious girl. You started dating boys since the beginning of middle school. Do you even remember your first boyfriend?" Without an appropriate come-back Yvonne angrily stammered, "You..." She attempted to create an impression of being innocent and lovely on Charles. But as Autumn aired her dirty laundry in front of Charles, it was only natural that Yvonne was upset with her half sister's words.

'If I continue this conversation, Autumn will only reveal more of despicable past to Charles, ' Yvonne muttered to herself. In an attempt to save her pride, she turned to Charles and said in an injured voice, "Charles... don't believe what Yvonne said. She made up every bit of these fictitious stories."

Charles didn't respond and he pretended like he did not hear her. He walked past her to the table, still holding Autumn's hand firmly. Keeping up the charade, Wendy acted like she hadn't witnessed the spat and greeted them with a warm smile, "Take a seat here."

Charles took the seat on Autumn's left side while others were taking a spot to sit. When Sam entered, he only found the spot beside Autumn empty and calmly sat there.

Autumn felt a pinch of embarrassment and also awkward to sit between Charles and Sam.

Yvonne slowly came and grabbed the spot beside Charles. While pouring a glass of wine for him she said, "Charles, try this. This is my... uncle's favorite wine that he has kept and matured for years." Brushing off Yvonne yet again, Charles handed that glass of wine to Autumn, who was pouring a soft drink, and said, "I need to drive us home later. I can't drink."

With a bottle of wine between her lap, Yvonne sat rather awkwardly beside Charles not knowing what to do next. She tried to attract his attention several times but Charles was on guard and paid her no heed.

Wendy and Simon looked at each other after observing this tension. Wendy immediately turned to Charles and with a smile on her face said, "Charles, just take a sip of the wine. It is excellent! You can sleep here if you drink too much to be able to drive. We have many empty rooms here."

Simon jumped right into the conversation, "Wendy is right. You have been married to Yvonne for a long time, you are family! You should stay here overnight." Despite their persuasion, Charles declined their polite offer.

He replied to Simon rather blatantly, "No, thanks. I cannot fall asleep in someone else's house comfortably."

After hearing this, Autumn tried hard to control her laughter. 'When we got married he slept in his study for days. And now he just used such a lame excuse,' she thought.

Wendy and Simon knew as well that Charles was making excuses to avoid staying the night. 'He is the CEO of Shining Company. With frequent business trip every now and then, he has spent many nights and days living in hotels. There is no reason he can be so particular about beds.'

Noticing Charles was reluctant to drink, Yvonne grew impatient. After having a discussion with Wendy, she arranged the dinner with only two purposes in mind, one was to get Charles drunk and the other was to destroy Charles's relationship with Autumn.

'As long as Charles gets drunk, he will be mine, ' Yvonne pondered.

"Charles, just drink a little, see everyone is requesting you so nicely, " Yvonne tried her luck again. She hurried to pour Charles a glass but unexpectedly the whole bottle of wine tumbled onto his lap. His entire dark blue trousers were drenched.

Out of instinct, Yvonne grabbed the first table cloth she could replace in an attempt to clean up his pants with the cloth. She apologized, "Charles, I'm sorry. I didn't expect..."

Charles yelled out, "That is enough!" He was unwilling to come here to begin with. And after this incident, he was impatient to leave. He grabbed Yvonne by the hand, and said, "I am going to the bathroom." Charles got up and stormed to the bathroom while Autumn followed him.

As soon as Charles was out of sight, Wendy gave a disapproving glance to Yvonne. In that moment Yvonne realized how unbecoming her behavior was all night.

'How could I wipe the private parts of Charles in front of Sam? Besides, Autumn was there too,' she cursed herself.

Despite seeing through Yvonne for who she truly was, Sam pretended to be ignorant. In an attempt to humiliate her, he spoke out, "Uncle, aunty, please tell me what is this woman's relationship with you? She has very poor manners. After all, Mr. Lu is Autumn's husband. Her behavior is unbecoming."

Angered by his outburst, Yvonne retorted, "Who do you think you are? How can you intervene in our family affairs?"

Sam said as he was standing up, "I'd better leave now that I'm no longer welcome here." Wendy got up from her seat in a hurry to stop him, "Sam, you're a wise man. You must have known... what had happened in our family."

"Yes, I do." With a slight nod, Sam continued, "To be honest, I have never met a mother like you. Autumn is your daughter too. How can you treat her like this?" Yvonne sneered, "How could you compare that bitch to me?"

Sam shouted at Yvonne, "Shut up!" "Your parents have thoroughly spoiled you, but I will not.' He continued, "A woman like you can never be equal to Little Ye."

"If you care so much about her, you can take her with you." Wendy said coldly, "Even a sage cannot treat everyone equally, let alone me. I can't love Autumn as I love Yvonne. It is only natural for me to be impartial to Yvonne. However..."

"She is my daughter, too. I don't want to see her lead a hard life. You have known each other since you were children and have grown up together. If you decide to get together, I will be happy for you." Even though Wendy gave him her blessings, Sam understood that her intention was to steer a clean path for Yvonne and that she said everything for her sake.

Sam responded with a sigh, "All of this is pleasing to hear but if you really treated Autumn as your daughter, you wouldn't have sold her out for Gu family and your rude daughter."

Yvonne asked furiously, "Who gave you the right to speak in our matters and how dare you blame me?" As soon as she uttered these words, Wendy shouted at her, "Please shut up now! You have only brought us trouble and shame."

Yvonne was shocked and hurt, this time she kept silent. Wendy turned to Sam and said, "Sam, I know you haven't been able to forget Autumn after all these years. As long as you want to be with her, I can help you."

After a long pause and hesitating, Sam asked, "What is your plan?"

Wendy gave a rather comforting smile. She knew Sam would accept her advice.