ENCHANTED LOVE, VOLUME 2 - Season 8 Episode 52

“Of course,” Amy retorted. Laura was fuming mad. She failed to notice the underlying meaning behind Amy’s words.

And in a voice full of derision, she continued to lash out, “I have known many girls like her. Girls who are ambitious enough to dream of marrying into rich families. Ha! But I’m not stupid.

And I will never allow her to be a member of our family.”

Then she hastily turned towards Arthur. She tried to squeeze her way past him and said, “Mr. Murphy, move aside, please. I’ll teach that bitch a lesson.”

“Don’t you dare?” Arthur, who was enraged by the sudden outburst of Laura, stood firmly to block Laura’s way. His face was emitting a strong sense of total displeasure and he said in a cold tone, “I won’t let go of you if you dare lay a finger on her.”

“Mr. Murphy?” Taken aback, Laura stared incredulously at Arthur. She could faintly discern that something was off and asked, “What do you mean?”

Holding Laura’s bewildered expression, Arthur sneered. And he reminded her, “I’ve warned you yesterday to mind your son. But obviously, you paid no attention at all. You just let it slide and went too far.”

Arthur, who was still looking at her with open disdain, contemptuously continued, “Don’t worry. It doesn’t matter if you hate, loathe or detest my Sheryl. She feels quite the same way towards your son too. We don’t know where Anthony is, but if you’d find him one day, please tell him I want to talk with him!”

“Your Sheryl?” she asked unwittingly.

Laura seemed to have caught up something from Arthur’s words. Still dumbfounded, she asked Arthur in complete astonishment, “What do you mean? You and Sheryl… What’s your relationship?”

“She is my granddaughter,” he curtly replied. His voice sounded warm but with an imposing tone. Arthur, who still couldn’t contain the revulsion of disgust, continued to glower at her. And he muttered, “The bitch you referred to is my granddaughter!”

“How… how can it be possible?” Laura stammered in shock. Her mind was in total mess. “Her last name is Courtenay, but yours is Murphy. So how can it be possible?” she asked pressing for an answer.

“It’s none of your business. Suffice to say that it’s something you need not know,” he said cutting her words off.

Arthur gave her an icy-cold stare and menacingly mouthed, “Don’t be afraid that Sheryl will marry your son. He is not rich enough to suit her. If you dare speak ill of Sheryl again, I will teach you a lesson. And you’ll live to regret it.”

When everything had dawned on her, Laura was rooted to the spot. She was stunned. She stood transfixed for a brief moment and was unable to move. Her face showed conflicting emotions. Never did she expect that Sheryl was Arthur’s granddaughter.

Deep regrets clouded her mind. If she had known from the start, she wouldn’t be that harsh towards Sheryl. And now, Arthur was extremely displeased with her. She felt so mortified.

“I didn’t mean that, Mr. Murphy,” she said weakly as she finally gathered her wits to speak up. Laura gave a bitter smile and started explaining to Arthur, “I didn’t know she is your granddaughter.”

Much to her chagrin, Laura apologized and concluded, “If I knew she is your granddaughter, I wouldn’t say such harsh words.”

She then turned her gaze towards Sheryl and cautiously said, “Child, we are family. Why didn’t you tell me your real identity?”

Sheryl opted to ignore her question. After all, she didn’t feel like saying even a single word to her at all.

Seeing Sheryl’s indifferent attitude, uncaring towards her, Laura felt more embarrassed.

Then she moved her gaze back to Arthur and said, “I’m sorry Mr. Murphy. It is all my fault. If I only knew she is your granddaughter, I would be polite right there and then and be friendly with her.”

She reasoned out to Arthur as she tentatively cast a glimpse at Sheryl. In a slightly pleading tone, she said, “Let me invite you for lunch. It’s my treat. I want to make up for the grave mistake I committed. Sheryl, you can come too.”

Laura said in an imposing and lofty way as she tilted her gaze back to Sheryl. At the back of her mind, she still believed that Sheryl long wanted to be with Anthony. So she safely assumed that Sheryl must still be polite with her.

She watched Sheryl closely and demanded, “Insist with your Grandpa to come with us, for my sake. And ask him not to be angry at me.”

Laura’s face blushed out of humiliation.

And she gave off an awkward smile. She certainly expected that Sheryl would help her. But Sheryl remained nonchalant with Laura’s hypocrisy.

Sheryl felt intensely irritated. She was totally annoyed that she couldn’t bring herself to say any good words for her.

“We won’t go for the lunch,” Sheryl remarked with utter calmness as she permitted herself a small mirthless smile at Laura. “I’m sorry, but I have to decline your invitation. I’m afraid that I’d already lose my appetite knowing that we’d share the table with you. All I wish, for now, is that you stop coming here and bothering me.”

“You..” Laura was rendered speechless by the bluntness of Sheryl’s response.

Her face contorted in anger but she managed to restrain herself. With refrained emotions, she said, “Sheryl, don’t be so stubborn! The honor is yours to be invited to have lunch with me, so don’t…”

“I don’t feel honored at all much less need it from you,” Sheryl immediately countered at her. Her tone was full of indifference.

Hearing those words, Laura couldn’t help losing her temper. She completely ignored Arthur, who was standing by near her. She exploded in a fury and yelled at Sheryl, “You are shameless! Let me warn you..”

“What are you accusing of?” Arthur’s authoritative voice rang in her ears, interrupting her. He could no longer stand the way Laura had been treating his granddaughter right before his very eyes. “Who is shameless?” he asked in slowly, enunciating each word as he spoke.

The severity of Arthur’s voice and demeanor snapped her out of her towering rage. Her body shuddered and in a trembling voice she uttered, “Mr. Murphy, I…”

“Grandpa…” Sheryl prompted. Sheryl started to feel the emotional toll within her. And she didn’t want to prolong the conflict with Laura, so she said to her grandfather, “Don’t say anything to her. Shirley should rest now.”

“Okay.” Arthur relented. Arthur nodded his head in acknowledgement. Noticing the tiredness creeping at his granddaughter’s face, he said to Sheryl, “Then go upstairs with Shirley. Have a rest. Let me deal with her.”

Laura got impatient and look disgruntled. When she saw Amy and Sheryl making their way towards the stairs, she shouted, “Stop! Don’t leave! You must give Anthony back to me, otherwise, I won’t let go of you!”

Sheryl was confused about why Laura was still so arrogant even with Arthur’s presence. She frowned slightly and asked her, “Why are you so sure that he is in my house?”

“It’s quite obvious,” Laura replied sarcastically. Laura snorted and added, “During the period that I was in the hospital, he didn’t want to visit me, because of you. I went to his house earlier and he wasn’t there. So where do you think I expect to find him now? Where else except in your house?”

Laura stood glaring contemptuously at Sheryl and said, “Moreover, I just saw Anthony’s car at the front gate of your apartment. So he must be here!”
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Laura was adamantly conclusive that her son was at Sheryl’s place. Sheryl could discern from Laura’s stern expression that she was warning her not to deny it.

With a slight frown creasing on Sheryl’s forehead, she paused for a long while taking in for consideration all that Laura had said. She knew Anthony’s car was parked outside. She thought that Anthony just left it there, and went home taking a cab. Then as she continued to deduce, a sudden realization hit her that maybe he had never gone straight home since that night.

If he was still here, then there was only one place he could go.

Sheryl put the pieces together to figure out. And she sensed that she knew where he was now.
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