The Substitute Bride

"My family background?" Autumn turned pale with confusion as she somehow sensed the trouble Wendy was about to unfurl at this point, "What do you mean? What is the matter?"

"Okay, so the events unfolded in this manner....." Wendy hesitated to narrate the events as she pulled together and said, "Your Dad was from a wealthy family when I was dating him. As his family wasn't enthusiastic about his relationship with me, he decided to elope with me. Unfortunately, we had to part ways later because of our failed relationship."

"Just enough with your hypocrisy and story telling! You are nothing but a selfish and greedy woman by nature. I simply will not trust you again." Autumn interrupted and yelled out to Wendy, "Do not waste any more of our time and get right to the point!"

Wendy was overwhelmed by a growing sense of guilt and embarrassment at Autumn's contempt, "Autumn, I acknowledge my mistake by leaving you in dark all alone and helpless. As a result, your grudge and anger towards me is reasonable. But I..... do have my reasons."

"Really?" Autumn responded with a smirk. Autumn thought Wendy had exhausted all her conniving planning and tricks so now she was down to the last straw, making a fool of herself to beg for forgiveness.

"I can understand why it may be hard to believe me after all these years, but please do spare a minute to ponder about the fact that you are named after me and not your dad, Bowen." Autumn immediately plunged into a mode of retrospection as she was always baffled by her surname.

"What on earth are you trying to convey?" Autumn asked in a sharp tone.

"Autumn, the reason why I treated you the way I did and abandoned you all these years was just my attempt to keep you safe from the danger of Zhao Family, as your Dad had warned me to do so." Wendy forced a warm smile as she continued, "Only our alienation will help ensure that the Zhao Family will be out of your tracks. When I made you a substitute bride for Charles, it was only temporary. I intended to relieve you upon Yvonne

ot need to worry about me." Autumn assured her grandma but was overwhelmed by a sense of strangeness. She did not know what to make of it. Was she to believe Wendy after all these years?

Autumn had a burning desire to inquire from her grandma of what Wendy just told her but she decided to hold it back.

"Be quick to join everyone for dinner." Gary expressed his concern. Because of the lost appetite, Autumn went straight upstairs to confine herself to the infinite darkness of her room. Charles suspected something was wrong with Autumn when he came back home.

Charles turned on the light and to his surprise he found Autumn listless lying on her bed, so he voiced his growing concern: "What happened? Your grandma told me you barely ate dinner. Is it because you lost your appetite?"

"It is nothing serious." Autumn propped herself up, forced a pale smile, and asked Charles, "Why do you come home so early today?"

"I had less work to deal with today so I finished it fast and came back early. What has happened to you? Chris filled me in. She told me Wendy came to pay you a visit. Did she say something wrong to you again?" Charles pressed.

"......" Autumn remained quiet for a while before she finally spoke, "Charles, tell me.... what if you found out that you have no blood relation with your grandpa? No... I don't know how to put it..."