The Substitute Bride

Sheryl hesitated, thought for a while, and then responded with a nod and a bright smile. "Don't worry, the company is doing just fine!"

"How are things between you and Charles?" Isla asked in a more tender tone.

Isla was actually dying to ask about Leila, but with a great deal of self-restraint, she decided not to. Instead, she asked a less direct question.

Hearing Charles' name made Sheryl turn into ice. Her chest suddenly felt tight, and it seemed hard to breathe. She quickly controlled her emotions and gave a non-committal shrug. "Nothing has changed on that front too. He still refuses to divorce me, and there's nothing I can do. The only option left is to wait and go to court. Hopefully, they'll help to settle things."

"But you're still in love with him, aren't you?" Isla looked at Sheryl with a hint of disappointment.

Sheryl avoided meeting Isla's eyes, her action speaking louder than her silence. Isla knew she had hit the nail on the head.

Knowing full well that Isla had seen right through her, Sheryl was temporarily stumped and didn't know how to react. She remained silent for a while before attempting to change the topic, "You just arrived. You must be so tired, aren't you?"

"You can try to change the subject as many times as you like and try to act like everything's fine, but I'd like to see how long you can last. You know you have to deal with this, eventually,"

Isla told her with a combination of concern and annoyance. But seeing the look on Sheryl's face, she knew she wasn't going to get any further and was forced to drop the subject for the time being.

But she knew now that her gut feeling was correct. Sheryl was still deeply in love with Charles and didn't want to let go.

Isla was suddenly glad that she made the right decision. It was definitely not a good idea to tell Sheryl that Charles had gone travelling with Leila.

They walked out of the airport in silence. Aron went straight home, while Isla went to the office with Sheryl. Since Sheryl had planned to hold a welcome-back dinner for Isla, everyone in Cloud Advertising Company got off work earlier than usual and made their way to the restaurant where Sheryl had made a reservation.

"Miss Zhao, you have no idea what has happened while you were gone! Miss Xia was so busy running here and there. She barely had time to rest!" Phoebe exclaimed dramatically, looking at Isla with widened eyes.

Isla immediately saw through Phoebe. She knew there was a deeper motive behind Phoebe's playful complaining.

She couldn't help laughing at Phoebe's words. She raised her glass and said, "Oh, Phoebe dear, you really n

a good rest, okay!" Aron couldn't bear to see Sheryl feeling so guilty and comforted her instantly.

Sheryl didn't leave until she saw that Aron and Isla had gone upstairs safely.

A while later, Sheryl arrived at her own house. Her children were still awake, so she decided to tell them a bedtime story.

"Mom, can you tell us this story tonight?" As soon as she had washed her face and brushed her teeth, Shirley eagerly pounced on the bed and held out a book to Sheryl.

"Which story is it?" Sheryl took Shirley into her arms and took a look at the storybook.

She read the title and saw that it was about dinosaurs. Since when had her children gotten so interested in dinosaurs? She couldn't remember.

"Okay, dear. I'll read you this story."

Although she found it odd that her children had suddenly switched to a heavier topic than their usual fairy tales, she wasn't going to deprive them of their fun. After all, it wasn't such a bad thing to be interested in dinosaurs.

Lately, the children seemed to fall asleep easily. These days, before she could even finish telling a story, they had already fallen asleep. Hearing their slow, steady breathing gave her an instant sense of gratification.

She touched their sleeping faces tenderly and suddenly felt a lump in her throat, and her eyes turned watery. She fought the urge to cry and willed herself not to let any more tears fall.

Before leaving the children's room, she double-checked for the last time that her children were sound asleep.

As soon as she walked out of the room, she heard Joan crying.

Sheryl was so alarmed, her own urge to cry immediately disappeared. She quickly made her way to Joan's room and called out, "Joan, are you okay? Did anything happen at home?"