Chapter 855 We Are Not Leaving

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

he told herself.

She immediately gathered her things and rushed back home. Upon arrival, she was shocked to see Anthony sitting on the living room couch. She was unprepared for that and was rather annoyed. Her irritation was obvious as she asked with a frown, "Why are you here?"

However, her tone made it seem more like a statement rather than a question. It definitely showed how impatient she was.

"Mind your tone, Sue. Is this how we should talk to our guest?" The chiding tone of Peggy scolded her from the kitchen. She said, "Mr. Xiao has come to visit me. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Mom, you..." The frown on Sue's face became deeper as she walked to the kitchen. Her apparent displeasure heightened.

All she wanted was to stay away from Anthony, but now...

"Alright then Sue, host our guest well. He is not a guest who visits us regularly. Be nice and spend some good time to chat with him." Even until now, Peggy's voice still held that motherly tone when she spoke. However, it suddenly turned harsh and she hissed, "Mind your language. If I ever come to know that you… You will see what I will do to you."

Sue's eyes were downcast as she left the kitchen. It was evident from her tone of voice that Peggy was indisputably confident that she didn't have to state everything outright in order for her warning to effect. After making sure that Sue would do as she said, she turned to Doris who was still in the living room and said in a soft, gentle tone that was a complete opposite of her voice to Sue, "Doris, you can go back to your room and take a rest for now. I will call you when the meal is ready."

In turn, Doris was smart enough to decipher her words -- Peggy wanted to create some space for them to have a private conversation, so she just nodded in agreement and returned to her room.

After that, only Sue and Anthony were left in the room.

She was quite annoyed and questioned Anthony straight to his face, "What do you want to do here?"

In return, Anthony carefully replied, "Sue, I am just worried for you. I want to know if you are fine." His lips forced a bitter smile on his face. Who else should he blame but himself? He didn't appreciate the love Sue had shown to him and took everything she gave for granted, because he held on to the stupid idea that Sue wouldn't leave him no matter what. Now it was a completely different story. Sue didn't even give him a chance to talk to her. The tables were turned and now, it was he who needed to beg her to stay by his side. How lowly he had made himself!