Charles didn't notice anything strange with Sheryl's face until he saw her reaction. He grew anxious, however, when he realized that she was intentionally lowering her head to avert his gaze.
"Sher, what happened to your face? What happened tonight? Will you please talk to me?" Charles squatted down and gently asked Sheryl, who was sitting on the bed, twiddling her thumbs.
No matter how many times Charles asked or what he said to her, Sheryl just kept her head down and her mouth shut.
Having run out of patience with Sheryl, Charles came downstairs. When Melissa saw Charles, she tried to grab his hand for a chat, but he just ignored her. He waved at Nancy and she walked to him.
"Nancy, what happened tonight? Please tell me everything in details." Charles' voice was low and stern. It sounded like he was trying his best to suppress his anger.
Melissa recognized the timbre of Charles' voice and feelings of anxiety and apprehension arose within her. She was afraid of what would happen once Charles insisted on getting to the bottom of the matter. As if that weren't bad enough, Melissa knew that Nancy wouldn't have anything nice to say about her since she was on Sheryl's side. Anger took over Charles' face as he went upstairs. Melissa gritted her teeth in displeasure, almost certain that Sheryl must have gone behind her back.
"Yes, Mr. Lu." Every word Nancy said struck fear in Melissa's heart and made Charles angrier.
"At tonight's dinner, Miss Zhang complained that the dishes were too oily, so Mrs. Lu asked Sher to cook for her. Mrs. Lu was very picky and she scolded Sher, but she didn't say anything back. She just listened and remained silent. Then out of the blue, Mrs. Lu lost her temper and threw the dishes to the floor and slapped Sher."
Nancy reported everything to Charles, sparing no details. Judging by Nancy's words, Charles could feel her resentment towards Melissa and her sympathy for Sheryl in her voice.
As Charles listened to Nancy, his eyebrows furrowed and slowly a grimace spread over his face.
When Charles had heard enough, he cast a vicious glance at Melissa and said, "Mom, is that true?"
Melissa hemmed and hawed, deliberately avoiding Charles' eyes. "It's... it's not like that. Sheryl was the one who started it."
Unfortunately for Melissa, Charles knew her too well. As outrageous as it sounded from Nancy's mouth, he knew that she did not exaggerate a single word. Otherwise, Melissa wouldn't have hesitated to give Nancy an earful.
"Then why does Sher's face look like that? Did you slap her?" Charles squinted his eyes as if he was trying to read the information from her face.
"I… It was an accident. But that's because…" Charles snapped, his eyes filled with fiery anger and he didn't even bother to listen to Melissa's words.
"Mom, you can't just abuse Sheryl whenever you feel like it. Let me remind you that she is my wife. No one has the right to hurt her like that. Let's be clear, if you continue this nonsense then I am afraid that I will have to ask you to leave. It won't be difficult for me to find you another place to stay. But I can promise you, it won't be as comfortable as the Dream Garden."
Charles would not condone his mother's abusive behavior, especially not towards his wife. He felt mad at Melissa and sorry for Sheryl, both at the same time.
Needless to say, Melissa was dumbfounded by the harshness of Charles' words.
Her mind went back and forth in between two feelings. On one hand, she couldn't believe that her son would even consider kicking his own mother out of his house. And on the other hand, if indeed Charles kicked her out, what was she supposed to do?
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