His Real Wedded Bride

Chapter 1328 Sheryl’s Question

Charles had no other choice than to accept Melissa's request. He knew that Melissa wouldn't take no

for an answer. In fact, she could even ruin this dinner, which Sheryl had so meticulously prepared.

"Mom, there is no need to tidy up the guest room. Let the servant do the job later. You should taste

these wonderful dishes. Sher has cooked them all for you," Charles said with a faint smile. Sheryl's last

hope was gone now. She sat silently next to Charles. The sting in her heart after knowing that she

would have to share the same roof with Leila, was clearly visible on her face. On the top of that,

Charles' smiling face at Melissa's suggestion worsened her state of mind. Charles' words fell like

stones on her, hitting her heart. She could not believe her ears.

Humiliated and heartbroken at Charles' behavior, Sheryl thought to herself, 'What is he doing? Doesn't

he know I dislike Leila? Has he forgotten the series of unpleasant events that we have been through

because of Leila? How could he accept Melissa's unreasonable request so easily? Even without asking

me for my opinion!'

The more she thought of it, the angrier she got. If it weren't for Melissa being discharged from the

hospital today, she would certainly keep Leila out of the door. Now she tried not to anger Melissa, lest

Melissa might get ill again. She swallowed the grievance but it made her lose her appetite completely.

Observing the upset look on Sheryl's face, Leila and Melissa couldn't be more delighted. That even

boosted their appetite and both of them relished the meal with great interest.

The delicious meal prepared with so much love could not eradicate the malice from the hearts of the

people who shared the table. They were all full of counterfeit smiles, contriving conversations and

sarcastic words.

Sheryl finished her food, left her seat and walked back to her bedroom without uttering a single word.

She was in no mind to spend even a second more at the table, facing the sham countenances. She

thought it would be better to wait for Charles in her room and ask for an explanation from him when she

was with him in private, no matter how much longer she might have to wait.

It was over half an hour that Sheryl had been waiting for Charles, yet he hadn't come back to her. With

every passing moment, the wait became more and more difficult. Sitting alone on the bed, Sheryl

started to become anxious.

Melissa was well aware that Sheryl would be waiting for Charles. Hence, she left no stone unturned to

prevent Charles from leaving the table. The very thought of Sheryl alone and anxious made her heart

jump with joy. She twisted her lips in a sarcastic smile as she thought of it.

"Ouch! I feel a sharp pain on my shoulder. Could it be the after-effects after Sheryl pushed me down

the stairs? Oh, my god! It hurts so much!" Melissa turned towards Charles and whined in an aching

voice. With a flinched face, she lifted her hands to massage her shoulders. She creased her brow and

feigned a painful look.

"Are you okay? Aunt Melissa," Leila promptly asked with much care.

"Mom, are you okay?" Charles sprang up from his seat and walked toward Melissa with a concerned

look on his face. However, he could not help being skeptical about Melissa's sudden occurrence of

pain. He thought to himself, 'What's wrong with her? Just a while ago, she was enjoying her food.

There was no sign of illness in her. How come she starts feeling the pain all of a sudden?' However,

seeing Melissa was really in distress, Charles pushed back the conflicting thoughts and became

concerned for his mother. After all, in his view, there was no need for Melissa to pretend to be in a state

of illness, just to draw her son's attention.

Charles grew more and more anxious as he saw his mother writhe in pain. After a while, he advised

with concern, "Mom, let's go to the hospital. You should get proper medical attention before it is too

late. Let's not delay!"

"That's not that necessary. Besides, I am tired of lying in the hospital. I think it just needs some

massage. Charles, would you mind massaging me for a while?"

Melissa said as she squinted her eyes in distress as if she urgently needed someone to massage her

shoulders.

Charles' face became grim. He fidgeted for a while in hesitation at the request. His mind was occupied

with the thoughts of Sheryl waiting for him in the bedroom. Helpless, Charles decided to stay with

Melissa for a while to make her feel better. He gently kneaded her shoulders, from side to side,

carefully applying his strength.

As Leila marked the expression on Charles' face, a faint smile appeared on her lips. She could not feel

happier at the sight of Charles being bound by his duties as a son which eventually kept him away from

Sheryl. She knew what Melissa was playing at, and felt delighted that Melissa was in the same camp

as hers to oppose Sheryl. As long as there was anything that could make Sheryl suffer, even the

slightest hint of it would make Leila obtain pleasure.

"Mom, do you feel any better?" Charles asked after massaging Melissa's shoulders for a long time.

Both his arms turned sore and he even felt paralyzed.

"Ouch! Still too painful! But your kneading is making a difference. Keep it up!" Melissa replied, still with

a twisted expression.

Charles saw that there was absolutely no way he could leave his mother in this state. He started

moving his hands over her shoulders with renewed vigor to make sure that his mother felt relieved from

her pain. However, though he was physically present there, his mind was somewhere else.

The gloomy look on Sheryl's face at the time of the dinner loomed in front of his eyes. Even as she

walked towards her bedroom, Charles could feel that she went with a heavy heart. Since then, he could

hardly wait to talk to her.

However, he felt being tied down at this place by Melissa and could not leave until Melissa felt better.

His anxiety reached its peak as he thought that Sheryl might get tired waiting for him. After all, she had

spent the whole day cooking for Melissa. At last, he decided to make a legitimate excuse.

"Mom, I just remember that there is some important work from my office that needs immediate

attention. I will have to go back to my room and deal with it. Let Leila massage you. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Miss Zhang, can you help my mom? It's an urgent business that I need to look into."

Saying this, Charles just excused himself from the two of them and left for his bedroom without giving

them a chance to react.

Upstairs, in front of their bedroom, he knocked the door gently before he was permitted to get in. He

took every step with a lot of caution lest his rudeness would anger Sheryl all the more.

As he pushed the door open, his eyes fell upon Sheryl sitting at the corner of the bed with a gloomy

face. He tiptoed inside the room and without saying a single word, he closed the door and locked it first,

as the prelude to starting a long and serious conversation.

He quickly adjusted himself and put on a smile, before he turned and faced her. To his surprise, he

didn't even realize when and how Sheryl had risen from the bed and was standing right behind his

back. When he turned around, he saw Sheryl also cast a beam at him. But by taking a closer look,

Charles caught a hint of frustration.

"Well, you finally come up to me. But don't you think it is still too early? You have such a beautiful

female guest today. It must be hard for you to resist her soft voice and come to me. Besides, your

mother is just discharged from the hospital today. You certainly have a lot to share with each other.

Why end your family love and joy so quickly?" Sheryl shot sarcastic remarks at Charles one by one.

Recognizing what she was insinuating and at the same time realizing how much hurt she must have

been, Charles ignored her harsh words. Rather, he coaxed, in an attempt to make her feel better, "In

my eyes, you are the most beautiful woman. No one can be more irresistible than you. You have to

know how much you mean to me. That's why I can't wait to come to you and keep you company." No

one knew about Sheryl more than he did. Every time Sheryl felt unhappy, he would be the first person

to know about it and do everything within his means to make her smile.

However, at the same time, Charles also didn't take for granted what Sheryl had said. Considering this

dinner, he felt helpless. Indeed, he was aware of how much trouble Melissa had caused to his family

since she returned to this house. However, Melissa was his mother after all. Unlike the inferiors and the

staff in the company, he couldn't simply lose his temper and scold his mother when she made

mistakes. If he dared to say "No" to Melissa, Melissa would bear it in her heart and cause a bigger one.

Besides Charles did not want to be entangled with such petty things. Rather he chose to put up with

Melissa's mistakes, taking them as a normal phenomenon owing to her age. He thought that women

tended to become sensitive as their age progressed and made a mountain out of a mole just by a drop

of a hat. 'Perhaps, that's the way of their living, ' he thought.

However, at the same time he felt bad for Sheryl. His heart wrenched every time he found her with a

sullen face and a depressed mood. He was torn apart by the fact that it was hard for Sheryl to

understand his course of action.

Charles' sweet words seemed to have no impact on Sheryl. She had heard them so many times that

she became immune to them. They sounded like hollow excuses to her. As she turned her head away,

Charles noticed that her eyes were swollen. She doubted his sincerity. She could not understand when

to believe him and when not to. Especially after having full knowledge about what Melissa and Leila

had done to her, how could Charles be so accommodating towards them? If Charles cared about

Sheryl and held her to be the dearest to his heart as he claimed, how could he tacitly allow them to do

things which hurt his wife?

Sheryl retorted with a stern look, "Really? Do I really matter to you as you have always claimed?"

She threw that question to Charles with all her strength this time. Then she dropped her eyes, silent.

Clearly, she felt exhausted.

This one question had haunted her every now and then—did she really matter to Charles? Every time,

she held her tongue and refrained from saying this out in front of him. However, this one question had

torn her apart, throwing her into the fits of unspeakable dilemma and disruptive thoughts. But today, as

the same question came up again, she couldn't help but blurt it out, right in the presence of Charles. Of

course, it took her a lot of courage and energy.

However, once she threw this question towards Charles, myriads of memories of the happy times they

had spent together came flooding into her mind. Those unforgettable moments when Charles had

made her feel on the top of the world, the terrible days of their separation and the ecstasy of finding

each other; how they held onto each other at the time of despair, the bad times they got over holding

each other's hands and many more such bittersweet memories that testified the fact that the love they

hold for each other was much above such petty family disputes.

Charles never missed their wedding anniversary. He never belittled the importance of this event.

Rather, every year he did something special to surprise Sheryl by elaborately choosing a gift for her. No

matter how busy he was, he made sure to make it big and special for her. As she let her memories run

free, she even recalled that every night she took one of Charles' arms as her pillow, and woke up with

his other arm twisted around her waist every morning. It dawned on her that Charles was always

around her like sunshine. He never left her.

Other than that, Charles even felt jealous when she spent too much time with Clark and Shirley.

Feeling ignored, Charles would even deliberately act childishly to earn the same love as the children

from Sheryl. As these moments came alive in her mind, Charles' true love for her needed no further

testimony. It made her feel guilty and regretful for questioning his love. In an instant, she was filled with

remorse and her eyes brimmed with tears.

However, there was disappointment and desperation as well that Charles had brought to her in all

these years. Just as those beautiful memories, the unpleasant recollections hurt Sheryl as much.

There had been umpteen numbers of times when Charles chose to be compliant towards Melissa and

misjudged Sheryl, held her responsible for family disputes and even kept quiet when Melissa hurled

false blame at her. And now this Leila! Was Charles blind or mindless to be so casual and

accommodating towards people who deliberately created trouble in their family? Why did he do that?

These led to small grudges that piled up in her heart. She had spent countless nights in despair,

sleepless, with tears washing her cheeks relentlessly.

Sheryl heaved a deep sigh. No! Charles' love for her was still not enough, and his trust over her was

still not as strong as she had thought it to be. Otherwise, how could he believe in what Melissa and

Leila said, instead of having faith in her innocence? When Leila and Melissa made up that farce to set

her up, why would his first reaction be to doubt her instead of trusting her?

The thought of that moment was shattering for Sheryl. How much she longed for a firm and confident

look in his eyes that would establish the fact that he had unflinching faith in her! Charles would never

know how much that would have mattered to Sheryl. If he could not trust her, how could they stand by

each other through thick and thin and face the difficulties that laid in front of them?

Whenever Charles cast a skeptical look toward her, he hurt her feelings, and even worse, he left her

alone to deal with the situation which was beyond her explanation.

For all these reasons, she was afraid that their love would be running out sooner or later.

"Of course, I love you. Sher. No one will ever be able to take your place in my life! I have always tried

my best to save you from any harm, haven't I?" Charles said in a stern tone as he looked into her eyes.

He came closer and held her in his arms. He caressed her hair and cupped her face with his warm

hands. As he held her close, he noticed how fragile and light Sheryl felt. Her voice trembled and she

seemed to be using all her strength to utter each word as she spoke.

"Really? How would you explain this? You know that I have not been fond of Leila ever since I have

known her! She had even kidnapped our children! Why would you agree to let her enter our house?

How do you expect me to live with her under the same roof?" Sheryl mustered all her strength and

challenged Charles, as she started to question him with her cold eyes.