The Apple of My Eye

Chapter 1736 Worried

Black was taken aback by the drastic change in Holley's attitude, but before he could respond, he

realized that she had locked him out.

"Holley, I'm sorry. It's all my fault, and I want to apologize. Please! Just let me in, okay?"

Black's voice shook as he softly knocked on the door, hoping Holley would open it again.

Holley, however, had a different worry on her mind and thought, 'Ferry has already decided that I will be

marrying Jason in a few days. We are in a quiet war, not the type with guns and fire, but just as deadly.

I can't just drag Black onto the battlefield. He doesn't deserve this.'

Tears formed in Holley's eyes as she thought about what they had become. Emotionally exhausted,

she leaned against the door.

'If I had met Black earlier, I could have gotten away from Ferry. But now, there's no other way to go. I'm

stuck where I am, ' she thought. The wet hot tears that had filled her eyes, finally fell, as her knees

buckled. She knelt on the ground, sobbing.

"Go away! I don't love you anymore. I only want to be with Jason. Please, go away," Holley said

through the door as she choked on her sobs.

He felt the pain in her voice and was equally devastated. Black responded in a soft voice, "Alright,

Holley. I'll go, but please, don't cry. Don't cry."

Black thought he must have been making things harder for Holley, and that Holley was in more pain

because he couldn't let her go. With this, he gently backed away from the door and silently went away.

After a moment, Holley noticed how quiet it was outside the door. She took a deep breath, shut her

eyes, and opened the door. Black was gone. Right then and there, she knew it was the end. She could

never be with him again.

It was nighttime in the crowded and prosperous city. The dazzling lights against the background of a

dark sky would astonish anyone. Colorful lights from buildings and streets illuminated Black's way, but

he was unable to appreciate any of it.

He walked like the dead, unaware of anything that went on around him. In his head, memories of

Holley played over and over. First, it was the happy things, like her face and her smile. Then came the

memories of her words and the determination that had shown so clearly on her face when she rejected

him. He felt a sharp pain in his chest. Who knew that memories could physically hurt?

Although Sheryl was in a completely different place, she was hurting just the same at that time.

Isla and Aron were on vacation and were traveling abroad together. Naturally, Isla's absence meant

more work for Sheryl. However, she didn't feel tired at all. In fact, all the work she had been doing had

been a good distraction from Charles' heartlessness.

The last time she had crossed paths with Charles was at the kids' school. And now that she thought

about it, she hadn't really even seen him then. She had only known he was there because she had

seen his car that day. She had never seen him since. It was as if he was disappearing from her life

completely.

In the past, Charles had diligently waited at the gates of Cloud Advertising Company to meet Sheryl.

She managed a sad smile at the thought of how sweet he had been. But her smile disappeared as

quickly as it had formed when she realized she was losing Charles.

Sheryl suddenly became aware that she was not as strong as she had previously thought. She had

thought that by this time, she would no longer feel anything about Charles and the divorce. However, at

the moment, her heart was in a strange place of complete awareness and honesty.

She knew she couldn't just give up on her love for Charles that easily. However, Charles no longer

cared about her. She had no choice now but to go along in this way. Ironically, this was exactly how

Ferry wanted it to be.

The moment Sheryl arrived home, she put her things down, locked the door, and silently walked to the

children's room. Upon seeing their innocent faces, she managed a more sincere smile.

After kissing the two children on their foreheads, Sheryl dragged herself into her bedroom. She didn't

have the energy to wash her face or brush her teeth, so she went straight to bed and tried to sleep.

Sleeping was so difficult all of a sudden. After more than two hours of tossing and turning in bed, she

began to accept that she wasn't going to get any decent rest that night. She was actually used to losing

sleep at night these days, so she didn't react to this by getting angry. She lay wide awake on her bed

and let her mind wander. Original from NôvelDrama.Org.

At Dream Garden, Charles had just returned home.

It was not the first time that Charles had gotten home at midnight. Leila and Melissa were wide awake

at the time. They stood quietly at the top of the staircase and studied Charles, who was sitting on the

couch and staring into space. Silently, they made their way back to Melissa's room.

They had done this so quietly and so carefully that Charles didn't notice a thing.

"Aunt Melissa, Charles had been coming home so late every night. I'm worried that work might wear

him out," Leila found herself whispering, even though they were already out of earshot. While Leila's

concern was real, Charles' health was not her only worry.

At that time, Leila was more worried about her reputation. She didn't want people gossiping about her

when she finally became the Mistress of Shining Company. If Charles fell ill as soon as she became his

wife, people would talk. The possibility of this happening was dreadful.

Besides, she had already heard enough gossip about what made Charles this way. People at the

company had all been talking about how Charles' and Sheryl's looming divorce had caused this.

Suddenly, Leila flinched. The memory that Sheryl was Charles' wife caused an unpleasant feeling.

"Leila, is there really that much work to do at the company? What does Charles work on every night?"

Melissa asked Leila. Unlike Leila, Melissa sincerely cared about Charles' health.

It was difficult for Melissa to watch her son falling into depression and being exhausted all the time. She

was terrified. If something happened to her son, she would lose everything that she had.

Leila shook her head and sighed. Then she said, "There's not much to do in Shining Company at the

moment. I think Charles has been stressing over a specific project. He has been on that project for a

while now."

As soon as Leila said this, she unintentionally looked away. She couldn't look Melissa in the eyes.

Shining Company had been doing very well since Charles became president. However, their project

with Star Company has been Shining Company's biggest this year. Leila had not expected the number

and magnitude of the problems that they had been facing since their plans for the project went awry.

The situation had become much worse than anyone had anticipated.

At that point, there was no going back. Leila couldn't just give everything up. If she did, years of effort

would be in vain.

Therefore, no matter how Charles felt, Leila couldn't give her plan up.

"It's just a project. Charles has handled so many of those in the past. I don't think a single project would

bother him or stress him out as much as this one is doing. Sheryl must be causing this. That bitch

knows she has a hold on Charles' heart. She has been causing him so much suffering, and this must

be why he's exhausting himself on purpose. He's trying to forget everything that has happened

between him and Sheryl. So, Leila, we can't let him be by himself right now. You should spend more

time with him and take care of him. Okay?" Melissa said.

As soon as the thought of Sheryl crossed Melissa's mind, she felt vexed.

"Yes, I get it, Aunt Melissa. Don't worry about it. I will take good care of Charles. Look, it's getting late.

Please, go to bed and get some rest. I will go downstairs to talk to Charles and make sure he's okay,"

Leila said reassuringly.

After Leila had made sure that Melissa had gone to bed, she quietly went downstairs and walked over

to Charles.

Leila wanted to show how concerned she was about Charles, and how thoughtful and sweet she was—

the perfect wife-to-be! Unfortunately, Charles had been so exhausted that he had fallen asleep on the

couch. Leila tried to wake him up several times, but he couldn't respond as he was sound asleep.

She stopped trying. Instead, she grabbed a blanket and put it over Charles' body. She stood still and

studied his face. 'His eyes were like stars in the night, so sharp and full of life. Too bad I can't see them

right now. He looks so weak and vulnerable, ' Leila thought to herself.

Leila let herself get lost in thoughts of Charles' perfect face for a while. When she became vaguely

aware that she was blushing, she took one last look at Charles, stood up, and made her way up the

stairs and into her room.

The following day, Charles awoke to find himself sleeping in the living room.

He felt like his bones were not where they should have been, so he stretched a few times.

"Charles? Did you sleep here again last night?" Melissa called out from the second floor as she

gestured toward the living room.

She noticed that Charles was still wearing the clothes he had been wearing the day before and

assumed that he did not sleep in his room again.

"Yes. I was exhausted. I wanted to rest on the couch for a bit, but then I dozed off," Charles replied

nonchalantly.

"Charles, you have to take better care of yourself. You want me to worry about you, don't you?" Melissa

said as she approached her son. She was wearing a worried look on her face.

Charles didn't want to do this to his mother on purpose. The guilt rendered him speechless.

When Leila noticed Charles' expression, she told Melissa, "Don't worry, Aunt Melissa. Charles is a

grown man. He will take good care of himself. I know he will."

"I hope he does," Melissa replied to Leila as she pretended to be unhappy about what Charles had

done.