The Substitute Bride

That morning, Charles woke up in his bed in his villa in Dream Garden.

Although he had barely slept a wink last night, his head felt fine.

Downstairs, Charles noticed that Nancy had already prepared quite a spread for breakfast. At the end of the table sat his mother. Melissa had already been up and waiting for her son.

"Charles, you're awake! Come and join me for breakfast." Melissa beamed at Charles. She was obviously in a good mood this morning.

Charles looked at Melissa speculatively. He nodded to acknowledge his mother's exuberant greeting before taking the seat opposite her.

As they started to dig into their breakfast feast, neither said a word to one another. An awkward silence filled the table. After a moment, Charles broke the silence. "Mother, about me and Sheryl," he began. "Can you please stop meddling and just leave it to us?"

Melissa's gut instinct was to say no to Charles. As his mother, she would always want to help his son. But as she saw how serious he was being, Melissa reluctantly agreed. She would have to stop pushing before her meddling backfired on her and her relationship with her son.

"Fine. I promise to stop meddling between you two from now on." Melissa then directed her attention to her breakfast to distract herself. She may not like agreeing with Charles, but he didn't have to see how reluctant she was in doing so.

After their uncomfortable breakfast, Charles hurried to leave for work at the Shining Company. Melissa could swear there were skid marks at how fast Charles escaped the awkwardness that was their breakfast. As soon as his son left, the gears in Melissa's head started turning. She may have promised to back away, but that didn't mean she would stop thinking about how to patch things up between her son and Sheryl.

Meanwhile, Sheryl and Isla were on a shopping spree. Bags and bags of retail therapy were shared between them, but even that couldn't help improve Sheryl's mood.

After satisfying their little shopaholic hearts, they went back to their company. As they entered their office, Isla immediately hit the couch and moaned at Sheryl, "You're doing this on purpose. You knew I'd be dead tired from my business trip for the past two days, and you still dragged me to go shopping today. You're killing me, Sheryl!"

Sheryl chuckled at Isla's prone figure. Sitting beside her friend, Sheryl mocked while massaging Isla's arms, "Aw, come on! Stop playing around, Isla. We both know you're a shopaholic. There's no shopping spree you'd ever turn down."

"Fine, guilty as charged! But this time, it was you who tempted me into going shopping. This is on you!" Isla continued whining on the couch.

Sheryl shook her head, a look of amusement on her face. "Fine! What about this: The clothes you bought today are on me. Happy?"

"Awesome! No take-backs, okay." Isla jumped out of the couch, obviously energized by Sheryl's suggestion. She widened her eyes as she peered at her friend, looking for signs that Sheryl was playing her.

Sheryl nodded at Isla's adorable peering eyes, promising to keep her word.

"Ha-ha! Now you're talking!" Isla felt both excited and relieved. Sheryl was indeed being serious about her promise.

"Sure," Sheryl shrugged. "A promise is a promise, so I'll pay for them. Take your stuff and g

e about your own life?" Lilian looked at Vicky calmly.

She stood her ground, her principles strengthening her resolve. She would not apologize. She had nothing to apologize for, anyway. As much as she could, she would try to reason out with Vicky and let her see the error of her thinking.

"What are you saying? Do you still not realize you're at fault here?" Vicky had been on a phone call, and she did not want anyone to overhear. If anyone heard what she was discussing on the phone, her reputation would be badly hurt. And she couldn't have that. Lilian's mere presence in her room already posed a threat to her, and she never responded to threats or enemies kindly.

"Please enlighten me, oh, wise one, what I did wrong exactly? This is not a fancy hotel; this is a hospital. If you don't feel comfortable here, you may as well request a transfer to another hospital. And, also, you have already been healed a long time ago. There are no more reasons for you to stay here." Vicky's attitude and rude behavior had always been a problem for Lilian. And now, with her unreasonable argument, Lilian had run out of patience. She could no longer hold back all the things she had been keeping inside her.

"Say that again! I dare you!" Vicky glared at Lilian. If looks could kill, Lilian would have been cold and bleeding out on the hospital floor now.

Lilian faltered at Vicky's glare. She could barely speak from her fear.

Vicky, not about to let her off the hook, called the hospital management to file a complaint. Shortly after, her physician arrived.

"I am filing an official complaint against this nurse," Vicky pointed at Lilian. "Not only did she disrespect my privacy, but she also humiliated me right to my face!" Vicky held nothing back. The nurse would get what was coming for her. How dare she disrespect Vicky like that?

"Why are you being so cocky? Do you think, just because you are a friend of the CEO of the Shining Company, you can get anything you want?"

"Bullshit! I am not his friend; I am his wife! I am the wife of the CEO of the Shining Company. If you dare cross me, you are going to answer to him!" Vicky said viciously, expecting a sincere apology from the doctor.