The Apple of My Eye

Then they got into the car and headed back home. Gary and Chris sat in the back seats while Autumn sat in the passenger seat beside Charles. After they drove to the downtown, Autumn pointed at the next corner and said, "Charles, please stop at the next corner. I have to get down here. You can drive Gary and Chris home so that they can have some rest first."

"Where are you going?" Chris asked out of curiosity.

"She is going to make you dinner tonight to welcome you back. So she needs to go to the market to fetch some cooking materials," Charles said with a smile on his face.

"Oh? You know how to cook?" Chris was surprised to know about that.

"Yes, she does. She is a great cook." said Charles.

"Don't believe his word. I only know how to cook some simple dishes. He is just flattering me," Autumn said with a red face.

Autumn never had such a warm family. She felt overwhelmed. In no time, she felt as if she was part of this family.

"Grandpa, Let's go to the market with her, shall we?" Chris was thrilled. She thought that Charles was lucky to marry such a good woman.

"Okay, let's go," Gary said with a big smile. Chris was so happy to have dinner at home that she kept telling Autumn what she wanted to eat,"Yvonne, I want to eat sweet-and-sour fish. Can you cook it for me?" "Okay."

"Oh, I also want to try your stewed beef brisket with tomato."

"No problem."

"Oh oh, can you make it..."

"No, she can't!" Charles stared at Chris through the rearview mirror and continued, "She would be exhausted to make all these different kinds of dishes for you."

"But I've just asked for two dishes..." Autumn glanced at Charles. He said nothing more and kept his eyes on the road.

Chris glanced at Gary, who couldn't hide the smile on his face.

It seemed that Charles liked Autumn a lot. He never cared like this about any other women. Chris had a feeling that they would soon have a baby and she would become an aunt.

Since Gary and Chris wanted to come with Autumn to the market, she decided to go to the supermarket for shopping instead. Though the food in the supermarket was comparatively expensive, the environment was definitely better. They got all the ingredients for the dishes Chris wanted to eat. Then they walked around the supermarket for a while and went back home.

Gary was chatting with Charles in the study, while Autumn was preparing the dinner in the kitchen. Chris felt embarrassed sitting in the living room, so she went to help Autumn in the kitchen. "Yvonne, when did you learn to cook?" Chris asked out of curiosity. Nowadays, there were very few women who knew how to cook. Autumn was an exception. The manner in which she handled the ingredients suggested that she learnt cooking when she was young. She was really good at it.

"I... Autumn stopped what she was doing for a second. She tried to come up with an appropriate answer. She remembered that Yvonne had been abroad for a while. "While I was abroad, I didn't like eating the foreign food everyday. So I had no choice but to learn cooking."

"How I envy you," Chris curled his upper lip and said, "You had the chance and you were willing to learn how to cook. I would rather die than learn something that difficult. Did Charles tell you that I don't know how to cook and never wanted to cook by myself while I was abroad. So he sent a servant abroad to cook for me every day. If it were not for that servant, I don't think I would come back alive."

Autumn laughed and said, "You silly girl, stop exaggerating. Don't say that you would die or something like that."

"Okay, I won't," Chris said with a smile. She started liking Autumn a lot.

Autumn had soaked the white fungus in the water before she went out to the airport. Now she put them into the casserole, added some water to it and turned on the gas. Further, she went on to prepare the other materials. After a while, the kitchen was filled with the sweet aroma of white fungus.

Then she added red dates, Chinese wolfberries and sugar in the casserole. In a short while, the dessert was ready. She served it in the bowl and handed it to Chris and said, "Have some. This soup is good for health, especially for women's health."

"Thank you, Yvonne," Chris took a sip and said, "It tastes really good." She liked its rich taste.

Autumn replied with a smile,"If you like it, I can make it for you often."

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Since Autumn was busy cooking in the kitchen, Chris went ahead to answer the doorbell.

Wendy Ye and Simon Gu arrived. They rushed here as soon as they got to know that Gary was back.

"Yvonne, your parents are here. I've invited them in." Chris shouted from the door. When Autumn heard what Chris said, her hands trembled a bit and the spatula in her hand almost fell on the floor. "What are you thinking? Why are you so absent-minded?" asked Charles. When he heard the doorbell, he went downstairs. Standing at the kitchen door, he noticed Autumn's unusual behaviour. "Nothing..." Autumn forced a smile and said to Charles, "The kitchen is messy right now. Please go to the living room first. There is still a dish left to be prepared. The dinner will be ready soon." The purpose of Wendy's arrival was pretty obvious. Since Gary and Chris just got here, Autumn didn't want them to be disturbed.

But she very well knew what might happen next. She had no option but to face it.

Then Charles left Autumn alone to finish the cooking. After Autumn added the seasoning to the soup, she stirred it for a while. Thereafter, she turned off the flame, untied the apron and walked out of the kitchen.

Charles and Gary were sitting on the couch. They were telling Wendy that she had raised her daughter very well. Though Wendy put on a smile on her face, Autumn could tell the smile wasn't from the heart. Since Charles had given some days off to the servants, Chris went to serve the tea for everyone. Autumn walked up to Chris. She tried to take the pot from her hand and said, "Let me help you." "No, I can do it by myself," said Chris. Chris had noticed that Autumn was tired, so she led her to the living room and said, "You have some rest first. The tea will be ready soon."

Autumn understood Chris's desire to help, so she went into the living room reluctantly. Wendy and Simon were sitting next to each other on the same couch. Charles stood up and let Autumn sit besides him. "Father, mother, thank you for coming," Autumn said with her head bowed down. Wendy and Simon answered her gesture with a smile. Wendy looked at Autumn and said, "Au... Yvonne, you seem to have put on some weight in these two days. You look great..."

Then Wendy turned to Charles and continued, "Mr. Lu, I'm very glad to see that you two are getting along with each other. As Yvonne's parents, we are more than relieved."

"Mother, Yvonne and I are a family now. Stop calling me Mr. Lu please. You can call me Charles," Charles placed his hand on Autumn's shoulder and continued, "Yvonne is a great wife. I must thank you for raising her so well. I am glad you let her marry me. I am a very lucky man."

Autumn knew that Charles was only acting, but his flattering words still made her blush a bit.

"Yes, we are a family now. Stop being so polite to each other. We all think Yvonne is a very great woman," Gary said with a smile. "Since you are here now, let's have dinner together, shall we?" "Great!" Wendy said without any hesitation.

The reason why she came here today was to remind Charles to handle the crisis for Gu's Group. Since she couldn't convey that to him yet, she didn't want to leave.

Hearing what Gary said, Autumn went back to the kitchen to bring the dishes out. Autumn hadn't spoken much ever since her parents were here. Even Chris noticed that there was something wrong with Autumn. So she went to kitchen with Autumn and tried to find out if anything was wrong. "Yvonne, is there anything wrong? Do you feel sick?" asked Chris.

"No, I'm fine," answered Autumn. She was touched by Chris's concern for her. Now, there was some one else in this world that cared about her besides her grandma. Her eyes got wet with emotions. Though Wendy was her own mother, she treated her even worse than a stranger.

"Are you really fine?" Chris was confused, "If you do feel sick, you must tell me. Don't try to tough it out all by yourself."

"Okay, I will," Autumn nodded her head and answered. After she placed all the dishes on the table, she sat next to Charles and ladled out a bowl of sparerib soup for Gary.

Wendy was watching Autumn with silent contempt.

Though Autumn was her daughter, she never showed any concern to her. She was not pleased with Autumn no matter what she did. If Yvonne hadn't run away from the wedding, Autumn would never have the chance to marry someone like Charles.

"Are you okay?" Charles turned his head to Autumn and asked, "If you are not feeling fine, you can go upstairs and get some rest first. It's okay. I'm here."

These simple words warmed Autumn's heart. She never felt the same concern from her family members.

She answered him with a smile to show him that she was okay.

Wendy's heart was filled with hatred when she saw that Charles treated Autumn really well.

Charles was nothing like the man she heard of from the public and the media. He was a true gentleman. Wendy felt uncomfortable knowing that Autumn was married to such a nice man. She wished to reveal Autumn's true identity to everyone right away, But she stopped when she thought of the crisis on Gu's Group.

"Mother, why don't you take something to eat?" Charles raised his head and looked right into Wendy's eyes. There was a look of resentment in her eyes. Charles narrowed his eyebrows a bit. Wendy stopped staring when she realised that Charles was looking at her. She smiled at him and said, "You should get yourself something to eat too." She acted like nothing had happened.

Charles was confused and glanced at Wendy again. 'Are they really mother and daughter? Why would Wendy look at her daughter so resentfully? It seemed as if she was looking at her enemy, 'wondered Charles.

Since Gary and Chris had been in America for a long time, they missed having a lavish home cooked meal. This was why they liked the dishes prepared by Autumn even more. They were focused on eating so failed to notice anything odd.