The Apple of My Eye novel Chapter 1351

"Okay. Let's ask Dad to come with us next time," Sheryl promised as she held Clark's and Shirley's hands to lead them to the park gate. Suddenly, Clark stopped walking and shook Sheryl's hand.

"What's wrong, Clark?" she asked with concern.

"Mom, I want to go to the bathroom."

"Mom, me too," Shirley chimed in. With all that had been going on, Shirley seemed to have forgotten about even going to the bathroom before Clark brought it up.

As Sheryl wondered how she would manage to take them to separate bathrooms on her own, Leila seemed to understand what she was thinking and offered to help.

"Sheryl, I can take Clark to the bathroom while you take Shirley," she suggested. Though she spoke casually, she was thinking about the evil plan she was about to carry out. She would have someone kidnap Shirley on their way back from the bathroom and she was expecting to see that Shirley's missing would trigger some kind of breakdown in Sheryl.

Meanwhile, Sheryl was oblivious. Nodding at Leila, she turned to her son and said, "Clark, Aunt Leila will bring you to the bathroom. You two have to wait for me here after, okay?"

"Okay," he replied obediently. With that, he followed Leila as she led him to the bathroom. Meanwhile, Shirley held onto her mother's hand as they followed behind.

Since the park bathrooms were a little far from the front gate, they had to walk past a small bamboo grove area. Because it was already evening, most of the visitors had already left, and there weren't many people around the bathroom area.

Everything was going well until Sheryl led her daughter out of the bathroom and began walking back to the front gate. Suddenly, a masked man struck her from behind, and she fell to the ground in an instant. Scared out of her mind, Shirley screamed as hard as she could. The man covered her mouth immediately and picked her up to take her away.

Meanwhile, Melissa and Leila waited at the front gate for over ten minutes. Not seeing Sheryl or Shirley return, they were assured that their plan had been carried out successfully. Though the two were glad that everything went as planned, they knew they had to pretend to be worried because Clark was still with them.

The boy, who was genuinely concerned about his mother and sister, stared at the bathroom area in worry, waiting for them to come into sight—he was so anxious that he kept trying to drag Melissa to the bathroom.

"Where are they? Let's go to the bathroom in case something's wrong," Leila suggested finally. Then they rushed to the bathroom, only to find Sheryl lying unconscious on the ground.

Clark went into a panic. Tears streamed down his face the moment he saw his mom on the ground. Apprehension and fear filled his heavy heart.

Running to her as fast as he could, he shouted her name and tried to shake her awake.

"Mom! Mom! Wake up! What happened? Where's Shirley? Wake up, Mom!" he cried over and over. Meanwhile, Melissa and Leila, who knew exactly what had happened, could only smile under their skin, but wore the appropriate worried look on their faces. Rushing to Sheryl, they helped her sit up beside Clark.

Slowly, Sheryl started coming back to herself as she heard Clark's voice. The stinging pain on the back of her head came rushing immediately. Still feeling woozy, she didn't realize what had just happened.

When she opened her eyes, Clark's face came into view, already bathed in tears. Scanning the area, she found Melissa staring at her with a grim look on her face.

Before Sheryl was able to get her head straight completely, Melissa began questioning her. "What happened? Why were you lying there? Where is Shirley? Did you lose her?"

Knowing it would break Sheryl's heart, Melissa spoke as if it was her fault Shirley was missing.

Though her head still hurt badly, Sheryl began to recall what happened as she heard her daughter's name.

"Shirley? Where is Shirley?" she murmured to herself. In an instant, she pushed herself to stand up and looked around in worry. She began to realize that Shirley was kidnapped. Still in a slight daze, she was ready to run around to see if she could find her daughter on her own.

However, Melissa stopped her before she could even make a step. "Sheryl Xia, don't tell me that you've lost Shirley! Where is she?" Melissa demanded harshly.

Sheryl's face growing more and more pallid. She began sobbing without control. 'Where is Shirley?!' she shouted to herself inwardly. Consumed by her worry, she seemed unable to breathe. As the fact that Shirley was missing sank in, Sheryl could feel the ache of her heart breaking.

At that moment, Sheryl nearly went mad as she recalled what had happened. Sadness overcame her as the tears continued to stream down her face. Taking deep breaths, she tried to use her voice, but she couldn't utter a word. Finally, she pushed Melissa away and ran ahead, getting anyone's attention she could to find her daughter.