The Substitute Bride

Josef turned towards Phoebe only to find her to be lost in her thoughts. He tapped on her hand to bring her back from the reverie, and he asked while gesturing towards some of the unknown faces, "Do you know them?"

"Yes, I do. That is Damian. He is the one who is interested in Sheryl. The man beside Damian is..." Phoebe stopped abruptly.

"Is there anything wrong with that man?" Josef frowned as he asked.

"No. He is Duke. He is a new client for our company. One fine morning, Duke just happened to appear out of nowhere and agreed to collaborate with us. At that time, we all, including Sheryl, felt strange about this gesture. Duke seems to be a seasoned businessman with overseas expansions as well. We did not know him till the time he walked into our office. And it was just like that; he visited us one day and gave a few big projects to us."

"As you say..." Josef remained thoughtful for a while and joined the crowd by clapping his hands, saying, "Maybe, Damian asked him to cooperate with you. He might want to help Sheryl."

Phoebe also agreed with him. She nodded in a hurry, saying, "That could be the reason. Damian knows about Duke. He was the one who introduced him to Sheryl. So, it could be possible that Damian could have referred us to Duke. Maybe that is why he gave us such big projects. Moreover, Duke was so kind to Sheryl that sometimes I even speculate that he might be in love with Sheryl…"

Phoebe said with a shy smile.

Josef smiled back and hugged Phoebe, saying, "Sheryl is lucky. Damian really loves her."

"Yes, of course. But I don't know whether Sheryl even wants to move or not. Sheryl is so ambivalent about the whole thing. Otherwise, she won't accept Damian's help." Phoebe sighed deeply as she spoke.

"Does she still love Mr. Lu?" Josef asked, turning towards Phoebe.

Phoebe shook her head. She felt confused, saying, "In fact, I don't know who Sheryl loves. She never talks about love with us. Well, do I need to tell Sheryl about the relationship between Damian and Duke? What would you advise me to do?"

"I suggest you don't tell her, for the time being. After all, Sheryl is angry with Damian. Don't tell her about it at the moment," Josef explained to Phoebe.

Phoebe felt that he was right. She couldn't help leaning closer to Josef, saying, "That's so nice of you. If you were not there for me, I would not know what to do next."

Josef smiled affectionately at Phoebe as he pulled her closer and planted a kiss on her face.

"You... There are so many people." Phoebe became shy and her face turned red.

Joseph

.

"Do you know why the president of the Shining Company called the press conference today?" a reporter asked as he rushed into the conference room. He hurried to the Shining Company directly after he received his boss's call. He didn't get enough time to do a background study.

"He is going to announce something about him and his wife," another reporter casually updated him. He seemed to be quite relaxed.

"As you say, we must concentrate on the press conference. This could be the scoop of the day. It is the hottest topic now. Everyone is talking about Sheryl and her lover now. I'm also curious about it. How could the president explain it?"

"Ha-ha, me, too. I am just looking forward to it."

"We just have to wait and watch."

Charles had no idea what the reporters were talking about. He was sitting in his own office. The dark look on his face made David very nervous.

"Is it all set?" Charles asked.

David replied promptly, "Yes, Mr. Lu. Everyone is already here. We can begin the press conference in five minutes."

"All right."

Charles nodded and then kept silent.

David looked at Charles carefully. Charles' silence and the grim look on his face were killing David. He was apprehensive about all the worst possibilities that he could think of.

But he fought back his negative thoughts. His boss was a wise and rational person. He would not risk the reputation of their company at any cost. He should have faith in his boss.

However, contrary to what David thought, his boss cared the least about himself and the reputation of the company. His mind was occupied with just one thing, and as long as he could do something to help Sheryl, he didn't care about anything in the world.