The Substitute Bride

"Don't be silly, Sher. There's no need for us to be so formal with each other!" Isla shook her head fondly and smiled happily at Sheryl. Then her face grew serious, and she asked Sheryl, "Thank God you're here. The company is in a really bad state at the moment. I really don't know what to do. What do you plan to do?"

"First things first, how many staff do we still have?" Sheryl asked. She knew the situation wasn't good, but she wanted to know how bad it was. That was why she had come to Cloud Advertising Company.

"We've lost about two thirds of our staff. The ones who are still here seem unreliable too. I don't think they are planning to stay; they just haven't found a better place yet. Either for that reason or for another, they are still undecided over what they want to do. I don't think any of them is still here because they sincerely believe in us." Isla's face turned even gloomier, for part of her had been hoping that Sheryl could miraculously come up with a solution to settle their problem. This felt like a nightmare. In fact, not even in her worst nightmares could she imagine the company being reduced to such a bad situation.

"Okay Isla, here's what I need you to do. Send out a notice and get everyone to gather in the meeting room in 5 minutes. I have an announcement to make," Sheryl said firmly.

"Okay." Isla agreed, without thinking any further. She didn't doubt Sheryl's judgement at all, so she didn't ask why. She just nodded and went to notify their staff. While Sheryl was gone, she had been running the company and dealing with the problems all by herself. She felt as if she might collapse in exhaustion at any time, and now she was glad to hand over the reins to Sheryl.

She was so grateful that Sheryl was here to have her back. Even though her own issues hadn't been settled, but at least she could help take some of the pressure off Isla's back, giving her much needed relief.

Truth be told, Isla knew perfectly well that there was nothing that Sheryl could do to reverse the problem. Once the word spread, it was impossible to undo the gossip. If she wanted to be selfish, she could easily stay away and there was nothing Isla could do to force her to help. All they could do was to wait and let the gossip be replaced by other hot news and eventually die by itself.

After all, time heals all wounds, and that included wounded reputations as well, not just emotional but also physical wounds.

Five minutes later, the few remaining staff were gathered in the meeting room.

"I believe everyone knows about the recent events, so I'm not going to go into further details about it. Nor am I gathering all of you here so I can tell my side of the story and try to make all of you believe me. I don't expect any of you to trust me blindly. What I do want to tell you though, is that I'm not leaving this company. So if any of you think that staying at this company and still being associated with me will be harmful to your careers or personal life, then by all means, please hand in your resignation letter as soon as possible. I'm not forcing anyone to stay." Sheryl chose her words carefully and spoke in a clear, crisp tone. When she was done, she looked at everyone in the room, checking if her message had been heard.

She wasn't surprised to find everyone avoiding her eyes. Some played with their pens, twirling and clicking them. Others simply looked down at their hands or at the table, showing no indication at all that they were listening to her.

eted all exit procedures, you are free to go.

Well, that's all for this meeting. There isn't much work left to do in this company. I was planning to retrench some staff anyway. Making your decision to leave is not just for your own good, but for the company's good as well. Be sure to decide wisely!"

Shortly after Sheryl finished her words, all the people just walked out of the meeting room with their tongues wagging.

Sheryl couldn't hear what they were talking about, and she didn't want to know either. She just watched them leaving the room, feeling nothing but indifference.

"Sher, why did you let all of them go? Now there's only two of us left! What kind of company only has two staff? Can we even be called a company with only two people?" Isla heaved a deep sigh. She finally released all the stress she had been feeling throughout the meeting. Now that everyone was gone, she couldn't help questioning Sheryl.

"Why don't you tell Charles what's going on? I'm sure if he knows the state our company is in, he can do something to help!" Isla couldn't bear to watch Cloud Advertising Company collapse like this. As she and Sheryl had put in years of time and effort, this couldn't be the end! Was their hard work all for nothing?

"I'm not going to ask for his help every time I face difficulties. Even without our staff, we still have each other. Isn't that how we started this company? We did it once, we can definitely do it again. What do you say? Will you stand with me and save this company?" Sheryl didn't believe that this was the end of the company. In fact, she saw the departure of their staff as a blessing. She could rebuild the company with sincere, hard-working people. Although the company's reputation wasn't very good at the moment, she was confident that their skills and charisma would help them recruit more staff and collaborate with other companies. She was looking forward to the challenge of rising again with fresh blood, with Isla by her side.

"Yes, we're still here, but..." Isla opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but she failed.

The staff in the financial and HR departments wanted to leave too, but luckily they were more conscientious than the other staff. They were considerate enough to stay through the process of helping the other staff complete the exit procedures.