The Apple of My Eye

Josef turned towards Phoebe only to find her to be lost in her thoughts. He tapped on her hand to bring her back from the reverie, and he asked while gesturing towards some of the unknown faces, "Do you know them?"

"Yes, I do. That is Damian. He is the one who is interested in Sheryl. The man beside Damian is..." Phoebe stopped abruptly.

"Is there anything wrong with that man?" Josef frowned as he asked.

"No. He is Duke. He is a new client for our company. One fine morning, Duke just happened to appear out of nowhere and agreed to collaborate with us. At that time, we all, including Sheryl, felt strange about this gesture. Duke seems to be a seasoned businessman with overseas expansions as well. We did not know him till the time he walked into our office. And it was just like that; he visited us one day and gave a few big projects to us."

"As you say..." Josef remained thoughtful for a while and joined the crowd by clapping his hands, saying, "Maybe, Damian asked him to cooperate with you. He might want to help Sheryl."

Phoebe also agreed with him. She nodded in a hurry, saying, "That could be the reason. Damian knows about Duke. He was the one who introduced him to Sheryl. So, it could be possible that Damian could have referred us to Duke. Maybe that is why he gave us such big projects. Moreover, Duke was so kind to Sheryl that sometimes I even speculate that he might be in love with Sheryl..."

Phoebe said with a shy smile.

Josef smiled back and hugged Phoebe, saying, "Sheryl is lucky. Damian really loves her."

"Yes, of course. But I don't know whether Sheryl even wants to move or not. Sheryl is so ambivalent about the whole thing. Otherwise, she won't accept Damian's help." Phoebe sighed deeply as she spoke. "Does she still love Mr. Lu?" Josef asked, turning towards Phoebe.

Phoebe shook her head. She felt confused, saying, "In fact, I don't know who Sheryl loves. She never talks about love with us. Well, do I need to tell Sheryl about the relationship between Damian and Duke? What would you advise me to do?"

"I suggest you don't tell her, for the time being. After all, Sheryl is angry with Damian. Don't tell her about it at the moment," Josef explained to Phoebe.

Phoebe felt that he was right. She couldn't help leaning closer to Josef, saying, "That's so nice of you. If you were not there for me, I would not know what to do next."

Josef smiled affectionately at Phoebe as he pulled her closer and planted a kiss on her face.

"You... There are so many people." Phoebe became shy and her face turned red.

Joseph smiled at her, happy and unapologetic.

In the Shining Company

Charles held his head with his hands. It seemed that he was trying to read a document lying on the desk. But he couldn't focus on it at all.

He closed his eyes for a few moments and tried to concentrate on the document all over again. Yet again, he failed to put his mind into it. As soon as he closed his eyes, the only thing that flashed in his mind was the sad look on Sheryl's face. And this one thing wrenched his heart in a way that words failed to define.

Charles had called more than ten people who sucked up to him to ask them for help just now. But all of them refused to help him this time.

Charles knew how cruel the world could be at a time of crisis. He knew these people wouldn't help him because of his loss. But one thing that was beyond his understanding was that this time, he didn't even know who his enemy was.

How could it be? That was so unlikely of him.

He was not afraid of the gossip. But why did they want to hurt Sheryl?

Damn it!

Charles raised his head. His eyes looked darker out of despair.

He found it unbearable as he remembered that Sheryl was still lying in the bed of the ward and suffered people's curses.

When he had found the actual mastermind, he would never spare him.

The very thought of it made him sit upright. Suddenly, he found himself coming back from the lull to alertness. Charles sprang up. He could not sit there and do nothing. He had to do something to find out who the mastermind was.

The actual mastermind might have thought that Charles didn't dare to announce that he and Sheryl were divorced. But he would do it soon.

All of a sudden, Charles stood up and opened the door of his office. David was walking into his office when he met Charles at the door.

"Mr. Lu, are you going out?" David felt surprised and shocked because it was time for a video call with an overseas client. He was left perplexed at finding Charles literally storming out of the office. "Arrange a press conference soon," Charles blurted as soon as he met David.

A press conference! Right now?

David looked bewildered as he stared back at Charles. There was no press conference on the agenda.

"Don't you understand?" Charles looked at him with a grim expression.

David reminded Charles, "Mr. Lu, you are scheduled for an important video call with an overseas client in 10 minutes from now. Do you remember that?"

"I see. Cancel it," Charles replied. "I will apologize to the client later. Don't worry."

"Well... I see." David thought for a while and asked, "What is this press conference about?"

"Everyone wants to know what happened between me and Sheryl. You can tell them that I will announce something important about Sheryl and me," Charles said in a very cold tone.

David couldn't help feeling nervous. Mr. Lu sounded so resolute at the moment. David didn't dare to stop him.

"Okay, Mr. Lu. I will do it soon." David didn't know what Charles wanted to do. But since his boss had given him the order, he had to prepare for a press conference.

David returned his own office immediately and called all the media companies.

Half an hour later

The big conference room in the Shining Company was filled with reporters and photographers from several media houses and news agencies. They were all getting ready with their camera and recording devices to capture the major scoop of the day.

At the same time, outside the conference room at Shining Company, the employees concentrated on their own work and remained undeterred by the hustle-bustle at the press conference. They hardly noticed that the press conference was going on in the same office premises.

Apart from the reporters, some troublemakers also wanted to come into the meeting room. But the guards showed them the way out. Though they were not happy, they had no other option than to leave the Shining Company.

David was a brilliant assistant. He had left no stone unturned to make sure that the entire media fraternity attended the press conference.

Before he called the newspaper companies, he had told the guards to close all entrances of the company to ensure no one without an invitation could enter the company.

Therefore, these troublemakers had to leave disheartened.

"Do you know why the president of the Shining Company called the press conference today?" a reporter asked as he rushed into the conference room. He hurried to the Shining Company directly after he received his boss's call. He didn't get enough time to do a background study.

"He is going to announce something about him and his wife," another reporter casually updated him. He seemed to be quite relaxed.

"As you say, we must concentrate on the press conference. This could be the scoop of the day. It is the hottest topic now. Everyone is talking about Sheryl and her lover now. I'm also curious about it. How could the president explain it?"

"Ha-ha, me, too. I am just looking forward to it."

"We just have to wait and watch."

Charles had no idea what the reporters were talking about. He was sitting in his own office. The dark look on his face made David very nervous.

"Is it all set?" Charles asked.

David replied promptly, "Yes, Mr. Lu. Everyone is already here. We can begin the press conference in five minutes."

"All right."

Charles nodded and then kept silent.

David looked at Charles carefully. Charles' silence and the grim look on his face were killing David. He was apprehensive about all the worst possibilities that he could think of.

But he fought back his negative thoughts. His boss was a wise and rational person. He would not risk the reputation of their company at any cost. He should have faith in his boss.

However, contrary to what David thought, his boss cared the least about himself and the reputation of the company. His mind was occupied with just one thing, and as long as he could do something to help Sheryl, he didn't care about anything in the world.