The Substitute Bride

Joan was confused. She had thought Sheryl would stay longer in the children's room. However, it hadn't been too long, and Sheryl was already leaving their room.

Sheryl saw the doubtful expression in Joan's eyes and smiled knowingly. "I don't know why the kids have no trouble sleeping at all these past few days."

Joan smiled in response. Then as she sat, she let out a sigh.

"Joan, what happened?" Sheryl asked, worried. She could tell something was wrong with Joan.

Since Sheryl insisted, Joan responded as if lost in thought, "Ms. Xia, since you left Dream Garden, Nancy isn't being treated well there. Leila gets her in trouble a lot. I think she wants to leave soon."

Joan was worried about Nancy.

Sheryl couldn't help but worry too. She averted her eyes under Joan's worried gaze.

She had no doubts that Leila would do that to Nancy, and she couldn't help but feel sorry for Nancy.

"Ms. Xia, I didn't mean anything by that. I just feel bad for Nancy," Joan explained.

Sheryl noticed that Joan was feeling a bit awkward, so she smiled to make her feel more comfortable.

"It's fine, Joan, I feel bad for Nancy too. Does Charles know about this?" Sheryl hesitated for a while before mentioning Charles' name.

Joan looked at Sheryl cautiously and shook her head without saying anything.

But Sheryl understood what Joan meant and smiled awkwardly. Then she continued, "Hmm, it's getting late now. Joan, you should go to bed. I'm going to turn in early too."

Sheryl didn't like talking about Charles, so she always figured out a way to get out of it. She then went back to her room.

Joan sat in the living room for a while before going to bed.

When Sheryl returned to her room, she wasn't able to fall asleep right away.

Nancy had been working for Charles' family for so long. She had been there since Charles' childhood, so how could Charles treat her that way? Was it just because of Leila? Sheryl didn't know what it was really like for Nancy there, but it was obviously bad enough tha

gage.

Melissa had arranged for Leila's room to be right next to Charles', for convenience.

After putting her luggage in her room, Leila went to Charles' room.

Upon hearing the knock on his door, Charles opened it and was immediately irked to find that it was Leila. He didn't let her in and just stood there as he asked, "What's up?"

"Charles, does it bother you that I suddenly came here?" Leila awkwardly asked.

As he watched Leila, he averted his gaze, and he realized that it really wasn't her fault. If Melissa hadn't insisted on asking her to come here, she wouldn't have come in the first place.

"No. It's fine, as long as you take good care of my mother. It's no problem at all," Charles replied casually.

"Leila..." Melissa opened the door, and, all of a sudden, smiled at Leila.

Leila and Charles hadn't expected Melissa to come out. They both looked at her.

"Aunt Melissa, are you okay?" Leila asked in concern as she hurriedly walked over to Melissa.

"I'm fine. I just got out of the hospital, and I want to rest first. You and Charles don't need to stay in your rooms too. You just got here. Maybe you two should go out and see some places. You shouldn't waste your time here. Anyway, the service here is excellent. I can just let them call you if I need you," Melissa said seriously as she held Leila's hand.