The Substitute Bride

Charles fell silent. After they boarded the plane, he suggested Melissa get some rest.

Once she awoke from her slumber, they had reached Malaysia.

Soon, a driver drove them to the hotel. Charles was quite impressed with the interior of the hotel. He had known that David could arrange his trip perfectly.

"President Lu, your guest rooms are on the 15th floor, Room 1505 and Room 1507," the receptionist at the counter very politely said to Charles after he showed her his identity card.

Charles nodded curtly at the receptionist. After he finished checking in, he took Melissa to the elevator.

"Charles, this hotel is the exact same one I used to stay with your father. I can't believe how much it has changed! It was completely different when I came with him. Now I can barely recognize it," Melissa said emotionally as she thought about Charles' late father.

He had no idea his mother had stayed in this hotel before. In fact, if he had any clue about it, he would have avoided it. The last thing he wanted was for her to become emotional.

"Mom, you're not alone. I'm here for you." Seeing the sadness on Melissa's face, Charles pulled his mother into his arms and comforted her.

"I appreciate it, Charles." Melissa tried to smile to make him feel better.

Charles had taken a room next to Melissa so he could ensure she was safe. Now, after helping her unpack her luggage, Charles said to her, "Mom, since we are in Malaysia, you have nothing to worry about. Leave the worries behind so that we can enjoy our vacation. I bet you must be very tired after the long flight. Why don't you take a nap? I need to freshen up too. After that, we shall go shopping."

"Sure, as you like."

Melissa listened to Charles and stayed in the hotel.

Charles tucked Melissa in before he went to the rooftop of the hotel.

One of the best qualities of this hotel was the view it provided. People could stand on the rooftop and get a glimpse of the entire city. It was indeed a breath-taking view. Today, the weather outside was quite windy. In this dozy state, Charles found himself lost in thought. Slowly, his mind began to think about Sheryl. 'What if Sheryl was here with me today! How beautiful that would be! Her presence would be enough to make my day happy, ' he thought gloomily. He realized that without Sheryl, even the beautiful scenery was no longer beautiful. For Charles, nothing could compete with Sheryl in terms of beauty.

In the Shining Company, David wa

ad asked me to draft the final proposal for this project. If not you, who else should I be calling?" David challenged Leila.

Leila knew that David was making trouble for her. However, she couldn't find an answer to retaliate with. David had a point, plus the mention of Charles dissuaded her from arguing any further. Without another option, Leila listened to David.

"Fine, what do you want to know about? I will tell you on the phone," Leila gritted her teeth while she answered David.

David was glad to have gotten on Leila's nerve, but he replied calmly, "I'm afraid that you might have to come to the company. Isn't it better for us to talk face-to-face? After all, this is an important project. I don't think President Lu will be happy if something goes wrong."

What David said made Leila even angrier. There was a part of her that wanted to lash out at him. But she knew better than that. Instead, she hung up and sped to the company, hoping that she could get the work done as soon as possible. Her mind was still fixated on the luggage, which she intended to pack once she had wrapped up her work.

Normally, it took her some time to get there. But today, Leila got to the company quite quickly. This left David surprised.

"Leila, may I know the reason why you wanted to take leave?" David slowly asked Leila.

"That's none of your business, David," Leila snapped impatiently.

"Whoa, calm down, Leila. I was just concerned. I thought there must be some emergency. Anyway, let's not talk about it if you don't want to. Going back to the project, I want to know…" David shrugged and smiled at Leila as he got straight to the point.