The Apple of My Eye

Every time Autumn thought of her grandma's condition she would blame herself as to how she could be so naive to believe Wendy after all they had been through together. 'If I hadn't believed what Wendy said, grandma wouldn't have missed the best time for her surgery.'

"Wendy you disgust me! How could you neglect grandma's health..."

"Did you find her? I have thoroughly underestimated you, " Wendy declared. "You are my daughter and Yvonne is your sister. You must take good care of her before I come back, as she is part of your family. Do you understand?"

"Grandma is my only family in the world. I don't have a mother let alone a sister, " Autumn shouted at Wendy, sending the message loud and clear across the phone. "Let me be clear here. I will pay for Yvonne's surgery but it is simply impossible for me to attend to her and be at her beck and call. You better come back right now if you are really concerned about your daughter."

Autumn then abruptly disconnected the call.

Meanwhile, Isla and her parents arrived at Mandy's house. They gathered at the gate. Aron and Mike had come here earlier in the morning to discuss Aron's wedding with Becky.

Mandy had seldom visited her brother John since she got married, and John didn't even know where Mandy lived.

"Isla, does your aunt live here?" Looking at the grand villa, John said with his eyes wide open, "Isla, this villa alone must cost over hundreds of thousands."

"Hundreds of thousands? Are you kidding me?" Jina responded blankly, staring at John. "Your sister approached us two years back. She bragged to the villagers that she had spent several millions buying a house."

Upon hearing the estimate, John affixed his eyes on the grand mansion with his mouth wide open. After recalling the purpose of his visit, he rubbed his hands on his pants and intended to shout his sister's name. Isla grabbed him by his hand in an attempt to stop him and rang the bell. She explained to John, "Dad, this is a doorbell. Once you press this button, a bell will notify the residents of the house that they have a visitor. Now almost all of the people living in the city use it."

With an embarrassed smile John responded, "Well... I see." Within seconds a servant appeared at the gate. After briefly observing the three visitors outside the gate, the servant said with a frown, "What are you doing here? You have come to the wrong place for begging. Leave now!"

and yelled out, "How dare you talk to us in such a rude manner? Do I look like a pauper to you?" 'It seems Mandy has become more and more overbearing as years went

I definitely don't think you are guests of my mistress. I have never heard once that she had any poor relatives like you." 'Poverty and destitution must have driven them mad enough to resort to such extreme measures.

closer to

years, she finally recognized her. After all, she had been working here for decades. With an awkward smile she tried to

after recognizing her, she didn't open

an important day for my lady. I cannot let Isla inside as she may stir up some trouble,

I know why you have come here after all this time?" continued the servant. "If you have something important to tell the mistress, please let me know. I can

wasn't bothered by what the staff had just said but she was just embarrassed and felt sorry for her parents. 'They came here after a long and tiring journey, and now after

too far this time, ' Isla thought to herself.

resolute as she said, "Is this how you have been trained to

currently attending to some important guests. How about you wait here and once she is free I will ask her if

will be more than happy to tell your neighbors that my father had paid for your mistress's education whe she was young, without thinking twice about it, but now she is so ungrateful and selfish that she won't allow her own brother to enter the

threat and stuttered, "You..." "Isla, don't forget who you are. I treated you with respect only because you're my mistress's niece. That is all you are. How dare

five minutes of my time beyond what you have already wasted in this futile conversation. If Mandy refuses to see us in five minutes, I will leave the premise immediately. But before leaving, I will surely like to discuss with the neighbors about the woman living next to them. After that you can tell

her mistress's reputation at stake; so she walked right into the house and sought to

do you think it was

second we got onto the property. She spent all of your money without uttering one grateful word.

conjure up one word to utter.