The Substitute Bride

After about fifteen minutes, the items that were scattered on the floor had all been arranged back. Shirley was about to say something to Sheryl when a familiar figure appeared in her vision.

"It's dad! It's dad!" Shirley exclaimed excitedly, dashing in the direction where the person had gone.

Before Sheryl realized it, Shirley had already run away. In a hurry, she grabbed Clark's hand and ran after Shirley.

"Shirley, stop!

Shirley!" Sheryl shouted, hoping the little girl would hear her.

Shirley had heard her mother's call, but she wouldn't stop. Just now, she was pretty sure that she had seen her father. The truth was, she was dying to see her father and ask him why he had abandoned them. She wanted to know why he never called them even once, and why he never picked up the calls they made.

Finally, Shirley sped up her pace and caught up with the man.

"Dad! Dad!" the little girl called out as she pulled the man's sleeve.

The tall figure stopped walking. Turning around, he was shocked to find a little girl grabbing his shirt.

"Da..." Seeing the man's face, Shirley couldn't finish her word anymore.

In front of her was a man, whose face might be as handsome as Charles, but it wasn't her father!

He had thick sculpted brows. His eyes were filled with puzzlement as he stared back at her. Shirley was sure that she had never met this man before, but he gave her a sense of security somehow.

"Hello, little girl. Was it you who was calling me earlier?" Snapping back to reality, the man gazed at Shirley. He tried checking through his memory and concluded that he didn't know this little girl. Squatting down, he gently spoke to her.

Shirley didn't seem afraid of the stranger at all. She even giggled a bit initially, but then she thought of her own dad and turned doleful.

"My father...he is... He's gone..."

"Your father is gone?" the man repeated, confused as to what she meant by that. He

pular guy among women, thanks to his handsome face.

On the way back home, Clark talked to his sister seriously, "Shirley, you shouldn't have told that stranger where we live."

"Why not? He seems to be a kind man." Shirley was baffled with what her brother advised.

Clark was a bit angry with his sister's silliness. "Anyway, mom always tells us not to talk with strangers, especially male strangers."

"No, I won't listen to you." Shirley felt angry with how her brother talked to her in such a harsh manner. Turning to her mother, she whined, "Mom, Clark is mad at me. He told me not to talk to Uncle Damian, but I think he is a good person."

"Yes, sweetheart? Why do you think that he is a good person? You don't even know him!" Sheryl asked.

Having thought for a while, Shirley answered in a confident tone, "Because he looks like dad! Since dad is a good person, so is he!"

Sheryl was shocked at the response.

That wasn't the kind of answer she had been expecting to hear from her daughter.

Charles!

She had intentionally chosen to erase this name from her life, but it seemed that she was far from succeeding. For some reason, she felt like her goal was impossible.

Charles!

How could Sheryl forget the name that had been absorbed into her flesh and blood!