The Substitute Bride

"Charles, don't worry. You will be okay. I am praying for you." The hall was eerily quiet as Sheryl kept praying in her mind. Her eyes darted to the operating room door, but she remained still on her spot like a soldier who guarded her beloved.

Many hours had passed, and Sheryl had sat in the hall until it was midnight and her body had become numb. After a while, the operating room door finally opened. Sheryl hurriedly staggered to the door and hopefully looked at the doctor.

"The surgery was a success, and the patient would probably wake up tomorrow. He just needs to recover in the hospital for a few days," the surgeon in charge said.

When the doctor's words reached Sheryl's ears, tears of joy flowed out from her eyes. She had gone from immense sadness to joyful relief in a span of few hours.

"Thanks. Thank you so much," Sheryl choked out to the nurse and doctor in front of her. The two of them nodded, and made way for Sheryl to take a look at Charles.

Her eyes carefully scanned Charles' face. It was only at this time that she finally felt that he was beside her. She was extremely happy that her beloved husband was still alive.

Relief washed over her as her legs buckled a bit, and she sat on the floor. Upon making contact with the cold tiles, she burst into tears of joy. She had been fearful for quite some time, but everything was now replaced by happiness because her love had survived.

Soon enough, Charles was wheeled into a recovery room. Sheryl stayed by his bedside all night long and gently gazed at his sleeping face. She didn't dare fall asleep.

It had been a long time since she had watched him like this.

After Melissa fell down from the stairs, Charles didn't say anything but he clearly stayed away from Sheryl. She had wanted to explain to him many times that she didn't push Melissa down, but whenever she did, he didn't believe her for some reason.

While she thought about it, she was even afraid that Charles would still be indifferent to her even after he woke up. Her heart broke into pieces whenever he looked at her that way.

Just a few days later, it was confirmed that the driver who was behind the hit-and-run accident was arrested and put

e woman, I'm so jealous of them!" a nurse said wistfully. Sheryl paused in her tracks.

'In Ward 301? Isn't it the ward where Charles is? There is only one patient in that ward, ' Sheryl thought sadly. It turned out that Holley had visited so many times, that even strangers had mistaken her for Charles' wife.

Depression consumed Sheryl and she just shook her head. She really wanted to run and tell those nurses loud and proud that she was Charles' wife.

"Wife? I don't think so. His wife came to sign on the day of his surgery. She is not the one in the ward right now," the other nurse replied mockingly. The other nurses widened their eyes in surprise.

"No way…" one of them gasped. The other nurse simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Who knows? Ward 301 is for VIPs, and the patient in it is an obviously rich man. Nothing's impossible for a wealthy man's relationship. What's more, he's so handsome, right?"

The nurses' voice drowned into a blur, but Sheryl remained still. Her strength had seemingly left her body and she suddenly didn't know where to go.

Meanwhile in the ward, Charles endured the pain as he pushed away the spoon that Holley kept putting into his mouth. He knew that it was pointless to say anything to her, so he told the nurse to ask Holley to leave.

It was like a gloomy cloud perpetually circulated on top of Charles' head. The one he'd been expecting didn't come, but the one he really hated always appeared in front of him.