The Substitute Bride

Clark saw Melissa and greeted her immediately, "Grandma, I missed you so much!"

Melissa was so happy to have Clark back. She stepped forward and held Clark in her arms. "Clark, my sweetheart! You're finally back. Are you okay? My poor boy. You must have suffered a lot."

Melissa checked if Clark had any injuries, scanning the young boy from head to toe. She repeatedly asked if Clark was fine or if anything was feeling off.

Clark couldn't help but laugh at his grandmother's antics. He answered, "Grandma, I'm fine. I pretended to be sick to fool the kidnappers. I escaped once they were distracted."

Despite trying to sound as carefree as possible, Clark had no idea how he had been saved. He didn't know how he got back to his mother. He thought his scheme must have worked out, which made him feel proud.

Upon hearing this, Melissa was taken aback. "My brave boy, don't do it again! It's too risky to fool the bad guys! If they had found out you were fooling them they might have done something bad to you. And your father said you had a fever. Was this a part of your scheme?"

"Grandma, I got wet from the rain on purpose, so I..."

"Don't do that again. I was so worried about you." Melissa held Clark tightly. Overcome with emotions, her eyes brimmed with tears.

Sheryl's eyes welled up with tears as she watched the scene unfold.

"Mom, why did you come here so early? I was planning to tell you about it later," Sheryl said as Melissa tried to control herself.

Melissa's hand caressed Clark's cheeks. "How could I fall asleep? I had nightmares all night. Oh, forget it. What's important is that Clark is back and safe. By the way, how did you find Clark? Charles didn't say anything on the phone.

"It's a long story, Mom. I'll tell you later," Sheryl said.

Placated, Melissa remembered she had brought breakfast with her. She opened the cover of the lunch box, and the smell of chicken porridge filled the room.

Sheryl helped Melissa put all the dishes on the bedside table, filling two bowls with food. One for herself and one for Clark.

Sheryl used a scoop to stir the porridge, cooling it down before handing i

. Not knowing what was happening to her son, clawed through her insides, anxiety eating her up.

"Charles, is Clark..."

Charles gripped Sheryl's hand to comfort her. "I have an idea about what happened. I'll tell you later. Let me just check on the tests they're running on Clark."

Although Sheryl was worried about Clark, she had no choice but to follow Charles. She nodded her head and said gently, "Ask the doctor not to let our boy feel too much pain."

"I will," Charles agreed and followed the medical workers, as they wheeled his son out.

Silence ensued in the ward. As fear mellowed down in her system, Melissa grabbed Sheryl's hand.

"What happened to Clark just now?" Melissa couldn't stop worrying.

As much as she wanted to assure Melissa that everything was fine, Sheryl also didn't know what was happening with Clark. The most urgent thing was to find out the cause of Clark's pain and give him the correct treatment as soon as possible.

She thought Clark had just had a normal fever. But from Charles and the doctor's reaction, it seemed that they already had an idea of what was going wrong with Clark.

'What did they know?' Sheryl asked herself, clueless.

She looked at Melissa but didn't know what to say.

She had a vague feeling that Clark's symptoms must have something to do with the kidnapping. There was a niggling sense in her mind that the kidnapper must have done something to Clark.