The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 835 Late Night Confessions

Sheryl was a woman whose heart was filled with compassion - she would carry her good intentions around with her, even if it meant that she had to go to the extent of reasoning with her grandmother Amy, who was a challenge she was always reluctant to take, but, not tonight, because this time she had to be tough enough to negotiate with her granny since she insisted on bringing Sue home. The poor woman Sheryl took in was too shy to decline her considerate offer. When they finally got home, Amy had her arms crossed; she was doing her best not to succumb to emotion as to not express any feelings of remorse Sue thought the sophisticated lady looked firm and keen, maybe even too tough for any man and she thought right - the head of the house always wanted things verified before she could allow anyone inside their abode. Sheryl was trying not to get intimidated by her grandmother's exterior and composed herself, knowing the strict lady her elder would hold her accountable and knowing real well that she looked like she was up for the job. Sue was feeling the tension when Sheryl asked her to help herself to the guest room and take a shower. The worn out woman immediately followed the orders of her host and as soon as she left, Amy no longer waited to talk about the elephant in the room. "Sher, isn't this girl... Why did you bring her back into our home?" asked the old woman who was clearly in distress.

"She is my friend, Grandma. Please, don't worry," Sheryl explained nervously. "About Anthony's involvement in this certain issue... Well, I actually don't blame Sue for whatever happened. It wasn't a pretty conflict to be caught up in, but I don't think it's right to blame her either."

The grandmother was surprised at her granddaughter's remarks. Upon hearing it, she gathered her own thoughts on the situation. "But you know..." Amy said with her brows now knitted almost too closely to each other. She was about to rebut her beloved child into a debate but along the way she got caught up trying to search for the right words for the sake of the conversation, but before she could even formulate an idea or a thought that would put the young woman back to her senses, Sheryl interrupted her trail of thought and tried to pick the lock to her grandmother's sympathy towards the woman she decided to shelter in their home. "Believe me when I say that she is absolutely a woman to pity, Grandma," explained the woman in hopes to convince her grandmother. "I can't hold back and just let her carry on like this knowing that she has nowhere else to go. Do you think she can go anywhere else if you shoo her from the only home that might be the only home kind enough to take her in?"

The older woman scoffed, "Pitiful? Why? What happened to her that you should feel pity towards her?" Clearly dumbfounded, the senior took time to pause and became more open to the situation; Amy though of the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe her grandchild must have a good reason for what she had decided to do. However, the elder wanted questions right away so she bombarded the young woman with questions, wanting to know the answers to all of them - if she was going to open her home to people she couldn't trust, then she must first get to the bottom of the entire situation.

Sheryl knew that if she wanted her grandmother to agree with the big decision to take Sue in, she had to narrate the full story in detail to her beloved grandmother with patience, not sacrificing a single loophole. Otherwise, it would be very difficult for her to get the woman of the house to get convinced that whatever she was doing was the right thing to do.

Minutes had passed when Sheryl told the sorrowful story of Sue to her attentive grandmother, who offered nothing but her ears. The young woman dotted the whole story with a sigh, still feeling sympathetic over whatever Sue had to suffer. It was bad enough to be mistreated by other people, so Sheryl was sure nobody would want to be mistreated by their own family. She once again persuaded her grandmother to let Sue stay. It was not long after that when Amy, who happened to be the one to raise such a compassionate child, was able to empathize with their visitor. "Oh, I'm sorry I ever judged her. That poor woman... Tell her she can stay for as long as she wants and tell her to live here as if this is her home until she can find another roof to put over her head."

Sheryl was delighted to hear the good news. "Thank you, Grandma! Oh, I knew you had it in you." The young woman rejoiced that her grandmother had finally budged in her favor.

The senior took no time to transform from a very strict manager to a very accommodating host. "Sue must be anxiously waiting for you thinking that I don't approve of her. You should go up to her room to assure her that I have nothing against her, dear. I'll have food prepared for the both of you. That poor girl must be hungry!" exclaimed the old woman, who was a very softhearted person after all. Besides, she was a mother and her motherly instinct was bound to manifest. When Amy remembered who she was, she headed straight to the kitchen. Sheryl immediately did as her grandmother instructed and went up to check on Sue, who had just finished showering. The new addition to their house was toweled when Sheryl saw that she had scars all over her body; she whimpered, trying to hold back the tears that would be shed out of pity for Sue. 'How can they do this to her?' thought the good Samaritan. 'How can anyone be this cruel?'

Sue, who realized that Sheryl had spotted the parts of her she tried so hard to hide, smiled bitterly trying not to seem too vulnerable. "I know what you're thinking and I'm fine. This is nothing compared to whatever they did to me in the past. This time around, they were nicer to me," explained the victim.

The words that came out of the lambasted woman did not make Sheryl feel a tad bit comfortable about the thought; she felt worse and even sorrier for the person who now had nowhere to run. "Well, luckily you've outrun your demons. You don't have to worry anymore; you're safe here," Sheryl assured Sue. "My grandmother has promised that you can live here for as long as you want and no one in here will ever try to lay a finger on you; I'll make sure to protect you."

Sue was relieved and was able to breathe better after hearing that the one who rescued her would not stop at just rescuing her, but would even go the mile to protect her. But she could not help but feel her impermanence. "I appreciate it, but you know... I can't live with her for the rest of my life," the abused woman said. Sue was still pessimistic but no one could really blame her; she learned not to trust anything, not even hope. "You're Amy's granddaughter and you can't stay here forever; what more myself? I'm in no way related to you, no matter how much I try for that to be the case."

Sheryl quickly cancelled Sue's negativity and affirmed her, "You don't have to worry. Right before we find a place to stay, I'll make sure we'll be situated somewhere they can never ever find you. And the house of yours, we can't let them just live there as they wish. Even if it is not in our hands, I will make sure it is not in theirs as well."

Sheryl then paused and realized that she only had futuristic plans, but none of them were apparent. "But right now, I have no idea what I should do," she admitted. "Me neither. I don't know how I should carry on with my life." Sue said with a sigh as a frown plastered onto her face, "I don't even know if I should carry on with this never ending battle for life."

The two women continued having their late night conversation until they were unable to tell how long they have been talking. Amy, who had cooked food for the two young maidens, went inside to serve the food she had prepared. Even the old woman had not seen anything more cruel than the sight of the scars of their new housemate. "For God's sake! Which devil did this to you, my poor child?" the grandmother exclaimed. "How can anyone be this cruel?"

The grandmother was careful not to overwhelm Sue, so she lowered her voice and comforted the young victim gently, "Oh, child... My poor girl, please stay here. No one in here wishes to banish you; you are a part of this family now."

The rock of the house averted her gaze to Sheryl and reminded her that they still had some medicinal oils and ointments. "Get them from the room and apply them onto this young lady's skin so that she can recover more quickly."

Sheryl nodded in obedience and once again did as she was instructed by her grandmother. Together, they aided Sue and when they were finished mending her scars, they laid side by side, talking about all the worries that they had inside their minds.

Sheryl began to talk about Charles and gave Sue a quick rundown of the story regarding the subject of her tale. Sue sighed and replied, "I can never imagine that there were so many things between you and Mr. Lu. No wonder you're someone else whenever you're around him."

Sheryl gasped in agreement, "I don't know what to do with myself either! From what I recall, I turned my life understand for this whole thing." The heartbroken woman smiled bitterly and added, "The thing that happened between me and Anthony caused Shirley autism. With the barrier between him and myself, we will never be able to go back to the way we were."

"Oh, Sher." Sue felt sorry for Sheryl. She held the damsel's hand and consoled her gently, "You know what? What's past is past."

The beautiful woman nodded. "Indeed," she agreed with a nod, as if she was trying to savor what the phrase clearly meant. Sheryl grinned with hope and turned to Sue. "Now, you're his girlfriend, Mimi. I really hope for the best."

Sue suddenly fell silent, hesitating to break the news to Sheryl that she and Anthony were already broken up.

"There were surely a lot of things that went on between the both of you and whatever has happened and whatever happens, I will always sincerely hope that you find true happiness in him," the forgiving woman wished Sue as she glanced at her. "About that... Have you ever mentioned your family to Anthony?"

Sue shook her head bitterly, and after much consideration, she finally decided to trust Sheryl with the information she was about to tell her. "I never had a chance to tell you, Sher, but actually... I've broken up with Anthony."

"What?" Sheryl was surprised. Out of shock, she jumped out of bed and asked, "What exactly do you mean by that? Why did you break up?"

Sue stood and motioned for Sheryl to relax. "I'll tell you, but you have to calm down first." Sue sat Sheryl back down with her, ready to share more about her feelings. "Actually, I always know that we are doomed to departure. As long as I could be with him for even a few days, I am already satisfied. The past few days with him was the happiest days I've ever had."

"What are you talking about?" Sheryl exclaimed. Angered by the words that came out of Sue's mouth, Sheryl questioned in irritation, "Why do you always put yourself in such an inferior position? In love, there is only love; no status, no standing, no barriers - all of these things are irrelevant! Why would you think so lowly of yourselves?"

Sue stuttered, "Sher, you wouldn't get it; we were born into different lives. You have the privilege to live in such a big house, to be entitled to almost everything you want, to have a supportive family who will give you everything you need, but I don't. We have nuances, and those are some of them." Sue smiled wryly and added, "You've seen what they've done to me. Honestly, I did my best to force family matters out of my mind back when Anthony and I were still together, and I did, but now they're right in front of me like ghost trying to haunt me and I'm really scared. I'm afraid that they won't stop hunting for Anthony's money when they find out that I'm related to such a delightfully rich guy; I know them and I know what they can and will do. How am I supposed to live a life with Anthony if my family will always be breathing down our necks?"

Having heard Sue's huge confession, Sheryl thought of her own experiences and after hesitating for a while, she finally decided to have a piece of her name in the same story. "Mimi, the story I told you about Charles is only the second half. Would you also like to hear about the first half of the whole story as well?"

Sue looked doubtful but nodded; she wasn't about to hide her curiosity.

Sheryl took a deep breath and regained her memory, flashback after flashback. When she had gathered all the elements of her story, she came to realize that she had been Sheryl for so long that she had forgotten to remember her life as Autumn. She thought carefully and recalled every little detail, making sure not to miss anything. It was as if she was re-watching her favorite movie in her mind; it was still so real and vivid to her.

These memories were so deeply embedded to her soul that no power in the world could ever take her memories away.

She started telling Sue about the marriage arranged by Wendy then slowly worked her way up to everything else: the efforts of Rachel and Yvonne to split her and Charles up, the pregnancy, the memory loss, and whatnot. After an hour and a half, Sheryl finally came to a conclusion, "Then, I finally approached the second chapter, which was the part I conveniently told you first about."

Sheryl anxiously forced a smile and gave Sue the most important piece of advice that she learned from all her past dwellings of cruelty. "Mimi, I was just inferior as you are when I first married Charles. I was in no way confident; I was insecure and anxious that I would never be half the person Charles deserves. But, it was Charles who taught me that love can be just as simple as love - no more, and no less, regardless of everything else that is not love. You are no different, Sue. Make Charles and I your cautionary tale; we illustrate what you should do instead, don't we?"

Staring at Sue with the eyes of affection, she continued to persuade the young woman before her to expel all her worries. "If you really love Anthony, then you definitely shouldn't give up. I'm sure that if you let him go, you will regret it for the rest of your life."

Sue finally responded, "I can't believe you've been through so much hardship. It must have been tough." She then smiled as it all made sense to her. Now, she could finally understand why Sheryl could say the things that she said.

'She's been through so much with Charles,' Sue thought to herself. 'And they also have children. The tie between Anthony and Sheryl will in no way ever amount to that of Charles and her. No wonder she loves him so much.'