The Apple of My Eye novel Chapter 855

The light in the living room was too bright for the afternoon. The cream upholstered sofa dipped from the weight of the three grown adults sitting on it. Doris, who sat on the edge, spoke first, "We have made the decision to stay." Her voice was firm but still polite. Her eyes darted slowly to the two other people beside her, and she then added, "As we have discussed about it, we find that life in the countryside is much worse than our current state of life. So then, Allen and I have made up our mind to stay in Y City. We are not going back anymore." The room remained silent for a little while.

From her seat, Peggy fidgeted a bit in awkwardness. Her eyes briefly cast a glance at Doris from her peripheral vision. To show her support to what Doris said, she spoke, "That's true. Remember the saying which reads 'Water without control flows to lower places in nature whereas men struggle to move to high positions'? It teaches us that we can't live in that poor place for the rest of our life. Instead, we should make use of each and every chance we have to live a better life. Now that we have that chance, then we should stay in this big city."

She sighed deeply, and then continued, "Y City is so huge. There are many more chances here than in the countryside. When they get married, Allen will go out and find a job. After that, we can become real 'people of Y City' as well. I can't wait to see that day coming." After she finished her words, Anthony's eyebrows shot up to his forehead.

Did he hear that right? "Wait, so you are going to stay in this house for a long period of time?" he asked, but he spoke in a curt voice to mask his contempt. 'The people in this family, except Sue, are so shameless, ' he thought. If they weren't in front of him, he would have slapped his hand on his forehead in exasperation by now.

Peggy responded, "It is not like we have another choice. We also don't want to do this to Sue." She sighed, as if she really felt sorry for Sue under all that fake sympathy. She hoped that her eyes reflected sadness with her tirades. However, she continued with her acting and added, "As it turns out now, Sue has to make her sacrifice. I feel so sorry for my girl."

On the other hand, Doris decided to go completely off-topic and didn't wait for their conversation to end, and interjected. She turned to Anthony who sat on the side sofa and talked to him, "Mr. Xiao, I didn't get a chance to ask you about something."

"What is it?" Anthony looked at her dubiously.

"What is there between you and Sue?" Doris asked in a skeptical tone. It was her turn to have her eyebrows raised.

"I..." he stammered in his seat. He couldn't find the right words to answer her question. He did not expect for Doris to ask such a question in quite the straightforward manner.

At this, Doris continued, "If you two are merely normal friends, then what does our family matter have to do with you? Why do you care about her family issues? Don't you think that this is beyond what an ordinary friend should care about?" She said in a seemingly jeering voice. She knew that she had hit a spot by asking the right question. She added, "So my conclusion is that you have an abnormal relationship with her. That is why you are here, and you are trying to do something for her in order to impress her, am I right?"

At this point, Anthony tried to give rather safe answers to her blunt questions. He asked, "What are you implying?" Though it was quite clear what Doris was referring to, at least to Doris, Anthony still asked in doubt.

"Mr. Xiao, You have feelings for Sue, don't you?" Once again, Doris asked straightforwardly. She continued, "You will answer me first, or else I won't explain what I mean."

"I have no feelings for her," Anthony firmly asserted. "We are just friends. I did not come to blame you or to do anything so I could please her. I simply feel that it may not be appropriate for you to make Sue live elsewhere. Indeed she does have a decent job and earn decent salaries, but still she is a young girl. It is going to be very hard for her. How long do you think she will be able to sustain living outside of her house on her own?" he added further.

However, Doris begged to differ. "Mr. Xiao, you are lying," she argued just as firmly. She then said, "If you have no feelings for Sue, why are you so eager to help and support her?"

"I..." Again, Anthony was rendered speechless. Doris sure was the blunt woman. After a short lapse of silence, he found some excuses to defend himself and said, "Any friend who sees Sue being mistreated by her family will do the same to protect her."

"Well, your story may fool others, but not me, not you." The tone of Doris' voice held a slight mirth as she laughed softly. She was a clever girl, and it was crystal clear to her that Anthony kept dodging her questions and finding excuses. She thought that was hilarious and ridiculous. She added, "Your words can lie, but your eyes can't. Just look at yourself, look at your own eyes. You can't hide the sincere care and overwhelming worry emitting from them. If this is not called affection, then I don't know what else is.

If what you said is true, the only explanation I can find for you is that you don't even know your own feelings."

When she finished, Doris' words struck the deepest part of Anthony's heart, where he was indeed hiding what he truly felt for Sue. Until now, he was clueless, or rather reluctant to figure out how he truly felt for Sue. He inwardly started to ask himself what it was that he was trying to cover up so badly.

"Mr. Xiao." The voice of Peggy broke Anthony from his deep train of thought, and pulled him back to reality. Peggy was suspicious of their relationship as well. Even from the first time that she met Anthony, she felt that something was up. Their conversations today only further validated her suspicion. However, to be honest, she was actually happy to see that a man of some power and wealth had fallen for her daughter. Sue had already been exploited to the fullest for the family's benefit, but now this worthless daughter of hers became a valuable asset once again. Now, to her, Anthony only meant money, so she would do everything she could to make sure that he would marry Sue.

At that thought, her eyes gazed at Anthony as she tried to give him her valuable advice as a caring parent, "Mr. Xiao, if you really like my daughter, you should be proactive and act bravely. I know my daughter very well. She is a person who usually hides her true feelings and tends to compromise herself for the benefit of others. So then, you should always ask her so you would know what she thinks and what she wants. I trust that you can do a good job. If she can find a responsible and mature man like you, I will be very happy to see that."

Anthony was again unsure of what to say. "Mrs. Wang, I..."

"Alright," her voice cut him off again. She further continued, "No matter what happens between you two in the future, I can assure you that I'm not going to say 'no' to your relationship. I'm not going to meddle in it. You are free to make your own decisions."

To assure Anthony that she did welcome him, she turned to Allen who remained quiet the whole time and instructed him to call Sue. She said, "Allen, give Sue a call and tell her to come back to eat. Tell her that I'm waiting for her."