The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 999 The Meal (Part Two)

Donna handed the menu to Sula, smiling. "Sula, here. You order the dishes. You know my tastes better."

Sula hesitated. She looked at Holley and paused for a moment, but then nodded to Donna and took the menu from her.

Holley wasn't very happy about that particular exchange. She thought to herself angrily, 'It's quite obvious that Donna likes her more than me. But I am her future daughter-in-law. What does Sula have that I don't?'

By the time Sula finished ordering the food, George came back with their refreshments. He greeted them with a smile and then placed a cup of watermelon juice in front of Sula, orange juice before Donna and pear juice before Holley. He looked joyously at the ladies and asked, "Have you ordered the food?"

"Yes, we have," Holley smiled and responded. "I've already told the kitchen to prepare our meal. And we have also ordered some extra dishes."

"Wonderful! Mother, the food in this restaurant is very delicious," George turned to Donna and said. "It is so popular that you have to wait in line to book a table here. Holley had come here very early to book this room for us. So you should eat well and make it worth the wait."

"Really?" Donna responded without any emotions. She looked at George and then turned to Holley and said, "Thank you so much, Miss Ye."

Holley smiled and answered with respect, "You are being too polite, Aunt Donna. It's my pleasure."

George was pleased to see that they were having a friendly conversation. 'Everything will be fine as long as Mom gets along with Holley. I couldn't ask for anything more,' George thought, smiling at them both. "I'm sure we aren't gathered here just to have a simple meal, right?" Donna asked coldly as she looked at Holley without showing any emotion on her face.

"Of course not," George said with a little embarrassment. "Holley and I have something important to tell you."

George turned to Holley and fixed his gaze on her. He stared at her intently, and the love in his eyes were sincere. Sula, who was sitting beside him, couldn't bear to watch his display of affection anymore, and she looked away. She was bitter and she wanted to leave that place soon.

Holley blushed as she looked back into his loving eyes. She wanted to respond to his romantic gesture, but she saw Donna staring at her with a smirk on her face. Holley hesitated and took a moment to clear her fear. When she finally calmed herself down, she said to George, "We don't have to talk about that right away. We can tell her later. I have another important thing to tell her."

George nodded to her and remained silence, waiting for Holley to speak.

Holley turned back towards Donna. She grabbed her glass and poured some white wine into it. Then she held the glass up and said to Donna, "Aunt Donna, I'm really sorry for what happened yesterday in the meeting room. It was entirely my fault. I wasn't myself yesterday. I shouldn't have lost my temper and yelled at you. I insulted you in front of the staff and I know that it was wrong. I apologize."

Holley paused and closed her eyes in regret. A moment later, she opened her eyes again and continued, "Your anger is natural and I deserve to be punished for my rude behavior. I will gladly accept any punishment you give me. And to show my sincerity, I will drink this cup of wine. Aunt Donna, I hope you can forgive me."

Holley held up her glass and drank the liquid to the last drop in a single gulp. George frowned and said in a displeased tone, "Holley, what are you doing? You are not very good at holding your liquor." "I'm fine." Holley wiped her mouth with a tissue and said, "As long as Aunt Donna forgives me, I am all good."

"Holley..." George sighed. Then he turned to his mother and said, "Holley has apologized to you so sincerely. Please forgive her, Mom. Tell us that you've forgiven her."

Donna pursed her lips and didn't say a word. She glared at Holley and carefully read her expression for any possible clues which would lead her to believe what Sheryl had told her. But she couldn't replace any similarity between the person in front of her and Yvonne, whom Sheryl had talked about.

'It's not my son's fault. It's not that he's not smart enough to see Holley's real face, but that bitch is so good at pretending to be a different person that she has made a fool out of my son, 'thought Donna. Holley felt a little uncomfortable being glared at by Donna. However, she hid her feelings and managed a smile. "Aunt Donna, I know that I was out of line yesterday. I will do whatever you ask of me, as long as you can forgive my mistake."

"Is that so?" Donna sneered. She looked at Holley disdainfully and asked, "You will do whatever you can to please me?"

Holley hesitated for a moment before giving her answer. "Yes," she said. She looked straight at Donna and had a bad feeling that she was going to ask for something unreal.

"You'd better make good on that promise," Donna said, knowing well that Holley was not capable of keeping her promise. She went on, "What I want from you is nothing extravagant. I simply want you to leave my son and go as far away from him as you can."

"Mother!" George burst out. He was utterly displeased by his mother's words. "Don't you see that you are hurting her? Holley and I came here to apologize to you sincerely. But you are just being completely unreasonable."

George had to pause to take a deep breath. He finally said, "Holley and I are getting married. If this is going to be your attitude towards her, then I..."

Holley grabbed his hand and stopped him from saying more. She tried to comfort George with her words, "It's no big deal. Aunt Donna is still angry with me, so I won't take her words seriously. You are her son, and you don't have to hurt your relationship with her for my sake."

Holley laughed lightly and continued, "Don't worry. Aunt Donna will forgive me soon. Believe me."

When George heard Holley's sweet words, he calmed down. He couldn't think of another person who was as understandable than Holley, and at the same time, he also couldn't think of another person who was unreasonable and mean like his mother. The difference in their character seemed so obvious to him.

After comforting George, Holley turned to Donna and said, "Aunt Donna, I know that you don't like me at all and that you've never wanted me to be your daughter-in-law ever since George and I started dating. had thought about giving up on this relationship at first because your family status is much higher than mine and I thought that I didn't deserve a successful and handsome young man like George. But he insisted on being with me and he moved my heart with his unconditional love. He proved to me with his own actions that money was not a barrier in our relationship at all. And he told me that I deserve a man like him, again and again."

Holley paused for a moment, lost in her own thoughts, thinking about all the touching things George had done for her in the past. She continued, "I know that my family is not as wealthy as yours and we don't have the social status that you do. But George doesn't care about all that. He loves me as I am, and he isn't bothered about my appearance, my family or my past. Nothing else matters more than our love, and I know that now. That's why I have decided to be with him forever. In these past years, no matter how many difficulties we'd been through and no matter what you had done to separate us, we stuck together."

"And that is only because you shamelessly lean on his moneybag and seduce him with your hypocritical face," Donna accused as she stared at Holley angrily. "No one knows George better than I do. If it weren't for your fake beauty and seduction, he would never have hurt his mother after listening to your honey-laced words."

"Mother!" George bellowed and tried to stop her from saying more hurtful words.

However, Holley stayed calm and padded on George's hands, comforting him. She smiled again and said, "One person doesn't have any authority over the other in a romantic relationship. We are equal and we make our own choices. You can be with the person if you like, and if you don't, then you can split up. Yet, here we are. I've been with George for a long time and that's because we love each other. If you stil think that we are together simply because I seduced him, I don't have any means to disprove it otherwise."