The Substitute Bride

After Shirley came back, she became more dependent than normal on her parents. Whenever they weren't around, she would become tense and burst into tears.

Naturally, Shirley's sensitive behavior drew Charles' attention. Perhaps his daughter was suffering from some type of mental illness? He couldn't wait to make an appointment with a psychologist. However, the doctor was only available the next day.

Burnt out from anxiety, Charles went out of Melissa's bedroom. Melissa's nerves were on edge. Finally, she sighed in relief when Charles left and shut the door. Her heartbeat slowed down a little, but she felt her feet turn into jelly, and she couldn't support herself anymore. Her body fell down on the bed as if she'd lost her bones.

Melissa had been trying to avoid Charles' gaze recently. She felt drained whenever she looked into her son's eyes. The truth was that she felt rather uncomfortable that her authority in the whole family was challenged.

After she calmed herself down, she started to think seriously about how to convince Leila out of Dream Garden, and keep her quiet to avoid exposure of her involvement. The frown on her face deepened and her mind became more tense. After a while, she closed her eyes and shut her mind in an attempt to restart her thoughts.

The next morning

The smell of eggs and bacon wafted in the dining room. After a few minutes, Melissa stood up from her seat and walked towards Leila. "Leila, let's take a stroll down the street. We haven't done that in a while," she beamed.

As Melissa talked to Leila, she intentionally got closer to her in an attempt to foster kindness to Leila. Her face looked friendly and inviting. However, her sudden acts of being nice aroused Leila's suspicion.

A frown creased Leila's face as she felt a little concerned. At that moment, she realized that Melissa wasn't asking for something so simple as going out for a walk.

However, she didn't have a choice but to accept Melissa's invitation in case she would get annoyed. For Leila, it wasn't wise to irritate Melissa now.

"Sure, let's go for a walk!" Leila said with a nod.

At a coffee shop

It had been a few minutes since Leila and Melissa had been strolling outside. When they passed by a coffee shop, Melissa pretended her feet were sore and asked to enter the coffee shop to rest a bit.

"Leila, let's have coffee here, so I could rest a bit," Melissa suggested. Still, Leila h

"Leila, you have to believe me! I'm not abandoning you. It's all because Charles and Sheryl forced me to do so, or else they will put you in prison. I chose to make you leave temporarily to protect you. I'm just protecting you, Leila!" Melissa pleaded and gripped Leila's arm.

At first, Leila was in a bit of disbelief and showed indifference. Then, she thought that it might just be Melissa's attempt to drive her out of Dream Garden. Her expression went from grim to a mocking sneer.

When Melissa saw that her tricks didn't work, she tried hard to squeeze more tears from her eyes, and tightened her grip on Leila's arm more. Leila just felt irritated and wanted to shake off Melissa's hands.

"Leila, I am begging you! Please forgive me! I really have no other choice. And I promise I will get you back not too long after."

Melissa looked sincerely and innocently at Leila in hopes of making her believe what she said.

But still, Leila had no faith in such a crafty hag. Even if Melissa promised just now that her departure from Dream Garden was temporary, Leila just dismissed it as Melissa's excuse. She knew that Melissa was full of tricks, unworthy of her trust.

Then again, she really had no other choice. Now, Melissa wasn't in the position to make decisions, and Leila knew that she would be forced out of Dream Garden sooner or later.

Even if Leila struggled and resisted, she had nearly zero chances left, now that she had lost her only chance to approach Charles. Despite that, she wouldn't resign herself to failure just because of the heavy price she had paid in trying to earn Charles' favor.