The Substitute Bride

Anne's voice seemed to be coming from a very faraway place, and Sheryl turned quickly to look at her. Her whole body was trembling, and her tears seemed to be falling from her eyes like a waterfall.

She grabbed Anne's arm hard and shook so hard that Anne felt like her own body was quivering too.

Anne had just recently met Sheryl and didn't know her well enough to know much about her. She just knew Sheryl as an elegant and gentlewoman. She wondered what in the world could have happened to reduce Sheryl to such a terrified state.

"It's Cha.. Charles! He fell into the sea... Save him!" Sheryl managed to force out a few words. She was crying so hard it was hard to make out what she was saying.

Luckily, Anne immediately understood what she meant. 'That person who just fell into the sea isn't just someone she knows, but someone she cares about very much.' Anne instantly connected the dots.

"Don't worry. The lifeguards are already searching for him. I'll call the police for help right now!" Anne continued to console the distraught Sheryl until she seemed calmer and trembled less. When she was certain than Sheryl was calmer, she took out her phone to call the police.

When she returned to Sheryl after finishing her call to police, Sheryl seemed as though she had lost her mind. She sat on the ground, rocking herself and murmuring to herself inaudibly.

Heaving a sigh, Anne sat with Sheryl and waited for the police to come.

Not long after, the police arrived.

"Did anyone call the police?" a policeman shouted to the crowd, trying to determine the emergency and who had called it in.

Anne glanced at Sheryl, but found that she didn't seem to notice the police had arrived. She got up and called out, "It was me!"

"What happened?" the policeman asked in a professional tone as he came over to them.

Anne seemed to be at a loss on what to answer. She rubbed her hands together anxiously and told him, "I'm not sure. Sheryl was the one who saw everything."

Following the finger pointed at Sheryl, the policeman squatted down in front of her and asked, "Are you Sheryl?"

"Y.. yes. That's me," Sheryl's lips were quivering so hard. It was hard for her to speak and even harder to understand her words.

The policeman noticed Sheryl's unstable mental state and immediately changed his tactic. He feared that if he spoke too loudly, she would slip back into a state of trauma and be unresponsive. It would greatly hinder the investigation if th

ankly.

Leila, on the other hand, was pulling with all her might. She had mustered all of her strength, and she pulled with vicious intent as if she was trying to dislocate Sheryl's shoulder or break her arm, anything she could do to hurt Sheryl.

"Why are you so cold-hearted? Didn't you say you wanted to divorce Charles? Why is it so hard for you to just let go? Why are you so stubborn?" Leila shrieked.

Seeing Sheryl's pitiful look only made Leila's rage build even higher until she felt like she was going to explode. 'Why did Sheryl always do this? Why does she always wear that pitiful hangdog expression? So people will feel sorry for her and take her side?' Her anger was now mixed with disgust.

'Sheryl already has so much in life! Why can't she just give Charles to me!?' Leila's thoughts were filled with nothing but hatred at the moment. She gritted her teeth as she yelled, "Is it because Charles doesn't love you anymore? Is that why you tried to murder him? If you can't have him, then no one else can. Is that it?"

Leila's words rang loud and clear through the crowd. Her words revealed enough for everyone to deduce the situation, even those who had just arrived.

It didn't take long for murmurs and theories to spread through the crowd. Sheryl heard the voices, but none of the words reached her brain. She just heard white noise crackling like thunder in her ears, and it made her head hurt.

Feeling like her head was going to explode, she grabbed her ears with her hands, trying to block out the noise. She looked like a crazy woman as she rocked to and fro, trying to ignore everything that was happening around her.