Chapter 1332 An Awkward Situation
Chapter 1332 An Awkward Situation
"Thank you, Mom. But I don't want to eat right now," Charles said, going to shut the door. Melissa shot
her hand out to prevent the door from closing on her. This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.
Charles sighed with exasperation and looked at his mother. "What's wrong now?" Charles had almost
run out of patience; the one thing he wanted more than anything else right now was to be alone with
Sheryl where no one could disturb them.
"I... There is one more thing. I didn't want to tell you because you'd be worried." Melissa paused and
Charles raised an eyebrow, curious.
To Melissa's delight, Charles asked in a worried voice, "Mom, what happened? Is everything alright?
Are you feeling unwell?" Charles was thinking that Melissa's shoulder might still be hurting.
Melissa nodded. "Yes, my headaches are making me feel dizzy." She pressed her fingers against her
temples and rubbed them in demonstration.
"Okay, Mom. I'll call a doctor to come." Charles turned to go back to his bedroom, intending to call the
doctor from there.
But Melissa reached over to grab his arm. She didn't want the doctor to come because she didn't want
her pretense to be discovered. Then her plan would be ruined.
She couldn't let that happen.
"Charles, no need to call a doctor. I'll be fine after some rest," she told him.
Charles looked at her, then shook her hand off his arm, resuming on his way to the bedroom. "Mom, I'd
better call a doctor. What if your headaches get worse?"
Charles eventually found his phone; he dialed the number of the family doctor, but then he stopped and
paused. Then he hung up and walked over to the bathroom door. Sheryl was inside. "Sher, Mom's not
feeling well. Let's go down and take care of her together."
He thought that because his mother had a bad impression of Sheryl, it would be best if he gave Sheryl
a chance to prove herself to her, so that Melissa would like her more.
Sheryl looked from the mirror to him. "What?" she asked worriedly. "Mom is sick? I'll be there in just a
minute."
"Okay, I'll take her to her room," Charles said. Then he returned to Melissa and helped her to her room.
"Okay, Mom. Rest a bit."
"Charles, I felt dizzy downstairs. Then Nancy gave me a cup of hot tea and it spilled on my hand. It hurt
so badly, but luckily Leila applied some medicine on the burn." She held up her hand to show him the
wound as soon as she laid on the bed.
"Mom, I don't think Nancy did it on purpose. It was just an accident."
Charles was exasperated at how his mother was acting—she had been acting this way since she got
out from the hospital. He didn't understand why she was acting this way, but due to her behavior, he felt
like he didn't need to care about her as much.
"She did do it on purpose," Melissa insisted. "Leila and I both saw what happened with our own eyes! I
saw the smug look on Nancy's face when the tea spilled and burned my hand!"
"Mom, you must be mistaken. Nancy's a nice person. I think you're reading her all wrong."
"Stop defending her, Charles. She's really a mean-spirited person. You should fire her immediately."
"Mom. Forget about it. Now go and have some rest, and I'll call a doctor here for you," Charles said,
cutting his mother off. Knowing how gentle and kind Nancy was, he didn't believe one bit what his
mother was accusing her of doing.
Melissa was about to say something else, but Charles got up and left the room before she could. She
sighed and was resigned into silence.
Not wanting to hear his mother complain and badmouth Nancy any longer, he walked over to the
window to make his call.
"Hello, is this Ricky?" Charles asked into the receiver.
"Yes, what's the matter?" Ricky answered him politely.
"Ricky, can you come over to Dream Garden now? My mother isn't feeling well, and she has a
headache. Can you check up on her and see how she's doing?" Charles asked.
"Okay. I'll head over right now," Ricky said and then hung up.
Charles hung up as well, and as he did, the door opened and Sheryl entered with a glass of water in
her hand.
"Mom, have some water," she said as she carried the glass of water over to Melissa's bed and set it on
the bedside table.
Melissa turned her head away from Sheryl, showing her unwillingness to have any sort of interaction
with her, blatantly ignoring her.
Sheryl tried so hard not to roll her eyes. She knew that Melissa would act like that. She breathed a sigh
and then stepped forward to right the pillow behind Melissa. "There. Keep your pillow straight like this
and it'll help your dizziness," she told her.
Then she stepped back silently to stand beside Charles.
None of them spoke for a long time. Sheryl didn't know what to say. Charles was too tired to speak.
And Melissa was reluctant to talk in the presence of Sheryl.
It wasn't long before Leila heard that Melissa was sick; she entered the room quickly.
"Aunt Melissa, what's the matter? Are you feeling alright?" she asked worriedly, rushing to kneel beside
the bed.
"Don't worry, Leila. Charles called the doctor. I'll be fine." Melissa motioned for Leila to sit on the bed,
which she did. There was a very big and noticeable difference between the way she treated Leila and
the way she treated Sheryl.
Although she had gotten used to it, Sheryl could not help but feel sad whenever she observed the way
Melissa would treat Leila. Even after she'd cooked all morning for Melissa, Sheryl still got the cold
shoulder from her.
Seeing Sheryl getting frustrated, Charles leaned over to pat her shoulder consolingly with one hand
while he snaked his free arm around her waist.
Silence once again overtook the room.
Melissa started to think about how she would handle the doctor when he arrived. She just pretended to
be uncomfortable in front of Charles. What could she do if the doctor found out her ruse?
After a while, she gave up thinking and decided that she would keep up with her pretense. If the doctor
couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, he wouldn't be a good doctor. Melissa was a good liar and
she could spin stories that everyone would believe. She was good at this.
Leila had guessed already that Melissa was pretending to be sick when she heard that Melissa was not
comfortable, and seeing her like this only proved it. She could see that Melissa was a proficient liar,
and that her lying and manipulation skills helped her out a lot, in all sorts of situations.
Then she noticed the way Charles was consoling Sheryl and felt a little pang of jealousy. She wished
she was the woman in his arms instead of Sheryl, and that Charles was consoling her not Sheryl.
Charles, Melissa, Leila, and Sheryl were all in their own thoughts; silence continued to loom over them,
and the room was deadly still.