The Substitute Bride

Looking sideways, Holley was frightened out of wits when she saw Black. On the back of her mind, she could foresee the terrible consequences the incident would cause her and how things would slip out of her control. Without any hesitation, she loosened her grip of Charles and trotted towards Black subconsciously.

When Black saw her approach, his face turned ghastly pale with anger. Turning his head away from the unpleasant sight, he ignored Holley and strode away immediately. Holley tried to chase his footsteps, however, Black was a tall man with long legs and he was determined to leave this place and keep his distance away from her. Thus with his long strides, it was impossible for her to catch up with him.

Black went out of her sight soon. Holley had to give up and leaned against the wall, panting. She pulled her phone out and called Black, but couldn't get through. She had to explain to him, but he just refused to listen to her.

Sad and dejected, Holley didn't know what to do. But no matter how restless she was, she had to cheer herself up and force herself to attend the meeting.

The meeting was resumed and Holley pinched her arm, trying her best to focus on what others were talking about, but she just couldn't concentrate. She just sat there in a trance. The project manager of Tarsan Corporation was talking something about the plans, but she couldn't care less. Her mind had drifted away.

"And this is our opinion. We insist on Plan A. Thank you!" The delegate of Shining Company made a bow and returned to his seat.

After that, the delegate of Tarsan Corporation also stated his opinion. Time was going by, yet the members still couldn't reach a consensus on this issue. The delegates were restless and raising their voices as to force the meeting to a stop. However, the project manager of Tarsan Corporation stood up and raised his voice breaking the incessant huddles.

"Miss Ye, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this," motioned the project manager of Tarsan Corporation, shifting his eyes towards Holley's direction. Both sides could not convince each other, and the atmosphere grew tense, so he wanted to seek help from Holley.

To his dismay, however, Holley was absent-minded. All she was thinking about was the man who had turned his back on her. When she suddenly heard someone call out her name, she came back to earth. She cleared her throat and blinked nervously. "Excuse me, but could you repeat your question? I didn't catch it."

"What do you think of the reasons that the Shining Company gave us in adopting Plan A, Miss Ye?"

With every eye in the meeting room focused on her, Holley was in a cold sweat. She clenched her fist and forced herself to come up with an answer, considering that her brain was almost blank yet preoccupied at the same time. Though she was thinking hard as to answer the question, still nothing concrete came into her mind.

As a matter of fact, she was completely at a loss as to what they were talking about, let alone the reasons given by the Shining Company. But she couldn't just tell them that she was absent-minded, or else not only her but the whole Tarsan Corporation would be disgraced. Right at that crucial moment, she panicked even more at the thought that she was carrying the name of the company

, and the clerk as proof of that. Much even more of a fortune teller for that matter.

"Is that so?" the receptionist asked in astonishment upon hearing the clerk's assumptions. Young and innocent as she was, the receptionist didn't think that way and was surprised to hear her colleague's words. Without any idea of what was happening, she just simply believed on everything that the clerk had said., "You see, she was so anxious to see Mr. Hu that she was almost bathed in sweat. If she came with some business, then why did she refuse to leave a message? So I think she came here for some private affairs. Since it is a private affair, what else can it be aside from emotional disputes? I really think Mr. Hu dumped her."

The clerk was a middle-aged woman who liked to tittle-tattle and was extremely good at it. The receptionist was soon convinced by her analysis and nodded with admiration. Looking at Holley's back as she headed towards the exit, the receptionist couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

Though she had her back on them already, Holley knew that they were gossiping about her, but she had no time to argue with them. She ignored them, hurried to her car and started it. The car roared down the highway and headed for Black's house.

After a couple of minutes, she stopped the car at Black's gate.

"Black? Are you home? Please talk to me."

At the gate, Holley kept pressing the doorbell and calling his name, but nobody answered the door. Holley was starting to get hopeless this time.

Desperately, Holley had been looking for Black since the moment the meeting was over, but she couldn't find him anywhere. Now she was overwhelmed by regret, fear, and tiredness. She threw herself down in an agony of pain and sorrow.

She tried his phone again, but Black's phone was still powered off. Holding the phone in her hand, Holley laughed bitterly to herself. This time, she had pushed him over the edge and he was really mad at her. Holley always had confidence in herself, but this time was different. She was not sure whether she could make up with Black again. "Please, come back to me," murmured Holley painfully as bitter tears fell from the corners of her eye.