The Substitute Bride

"I should go and find my mother," said George after thinking about it for a while. He had said that only to test her reaction; he wanted to know if Holley really got pregnant. "If my mother knows that you are pregnant, she will never stop us from being together again."

"No, it's useless," Holley said, forcing a smile. "Your mother would never agree on us being together."

She quickly grabbed George's hands and pleaded, "George, please listen to me this time. If we managed to get the money from your mom, we could be together forever."

Holley held George's waist. "Can you do that for me? Only this time, please listen to me. For my sake and our baby's."

"Let's not talk about these things right now," George said, avoiding her question. "We have more important things to do. We have to go to the hospital and check on the baby."

"No! There's no need for that," Holley refused in a hurry. She was taken aback by his words. "The baby is fine. I went to the hospital the other day. The doctor said that the baby is healthy."

Holley squeezed George's hands and said, "Please, George. Please listen to me this time. I'm begging you."

George hesitated for a long time and finally nodded. "All right. It looks like I have no other options at this moment. I'll do as you say."

"George, thank you so much," said Holley, wrapping her arms around his neck. She was happy that George was finally in a better mood.

George looked at the girl in his arms and said, "But you have to promise me. Once you get that money, we will immediately go to a place where no one recognizes us. We will be together and will never part again. Will you promise me that?"

"Yes, I promise you," Holley answered without any hesitation.

George gazed silently at her, lost in his own thoughts. After learning about all her lies, there was no way that he could ever trust her again. He knew that she wasn't pregnant. And he also figured that Holley was pretending to be pregnant to make him an ally to deceive his mother and get her money. He was furious. He wanted revenge. He wanted to shatter her dreams and destroy her when she was at her happiest moment.

Holley didn't know what was going on in George's mind and thought that he was in her trap once again. She was stil

xtremely hard for both of them.

Sula remained silent as she got into the car. George drove without a word. Sula didn't say anything until she realized that they were leaving the city. "Where are we going?"

"You will know when we arrive," George said mysteriously.

They drove into a suburban area and George parked beside an agritainment house. He turned to Sula and said, "Here we are."

Sula got out of the car after George and saw someone from the house walk towards them. The person smiled at George and Sula figured that they were friends.

"George, you've finally come!" the owner of the house greeted them with a big smile. "I've been inviting you over for so long and you just decided to show up? What took you so long, huh?"

"My bad. I've been really busy recently. I just managed to make some time to come over." George talked to the man like they've known each other for a long time.

"And this lady is...?" When the owner noticed Sula, he asked, "Is this lady your fiancee? She's so beautiful!"

Sula was astonished and embarrassed. She waved her hands in a hurry and tried to say something. But before she could say anything, George put his arm around her and said, "Tim, please prepare a room for us. And please serve us some of your specialty. We'll talk later."

"The room is already set for you," Tim smiled and guided them to the door of their room. "This is the room with the best view here. Thank me for it later. And now, wait for me to cook my specialty with my own hands."