The Substitute Bride

"Mom..." Burke started speaking, intending to defend Leila, but he suddenly could not find the words to do so. The shameless girl his mother was talking about now seemed like a complete stranger to him, a far cry from Leila, whom he had known and loved for many years.

With a frown, he fell deep into confusion.

"Look, I was there and I know Leila is not the right girl for you. I've seen right through her character. What she seeks is not happiness but a complete change in her lifestyle. She wants to take advantage of her marriage to raise her social status and move into the upper class. I am telling you very clearly, Burke, your father and I will never allow such a money-worshiping and hypocritical girl to marry into our family," Madeline warned her son firmly. "A man should know the difference between good and bad girls. It doesn't matter even if the girl you want to marry is neither rich nor good-looking, but she must have a good character, I hope you understand," she pointed out earnestly.

Burke was duped by Leila all these years and blinded by her appearance. He could not see her true colors. As his mother, Madeline had the responsibility to bring the reality and truth to light.

"Oh, all right, I understand what you are trying to convey," Burke replied, and made a movement indicating his growing impatience. In fact, he already did realize that Leila and he would never be together as she declined his marriage proposal last night so whatever his mother just said cemented this fact.

"I'm sorry, Mom," he apologized immediately in a low voice as he grew aware of his rude tone. "You may rest assured that I will never be in any form of contact with her from now on," he continued. "But, about Pamela, for the time being I can only treat her like a little sister just as before. It is too soon to jump into something new. Please don't push me into it."

"Good, I won't hurry you into anything you don't want to do, I promise." A relieved and calm smile appeared on Madeline's face. "As long as you stop dating Leila," she added, looking gratefully at her son.

"Okay, you have my word." Burke gave his mother a slight nod as he made the vow. "If that is all then I'm going to work now."

"Wait a minute," Madeline called to her son, who had started to walk towards the door. "Our family business is getting busier and busier by the day. Your father and I are getting a little overwhelmed with the incre

simply wanted us to spend more time together to get to know each other better. I didn't mean anything else by my reaction."

"Oh really?" Burke smirked. "So you mean to say that now you are willing to marry me now, right?"

Leila blushed on purpose, to heighten his senses, but it suddenly occurred to her that she was ill and her face was already red. She then bowed her head and pretended to be shy. "I actually thought about it for a long time when I got back home last night. I thought my answer yesterday was rushed. And in retrospect, I now know that I'd love to marry you, Burke. Do you still have the diamond ring? Will you please put it on me?"

Leila forced herself to look at Burke and nervously waited for his answer, while Burke stared at her, his face expressionless.

As the minutes went by, Leila grew more flustered and anxious and she could almost hear her heart beating fast.

After a good while, Burke finally opened his mouth. "Leila, you changed your mind and accepted my proposal because you found out about my pedigree, didn't you?"

"What? I don't know what you are talking about." Leila pretended like she didn't know what he was referring to. "Your pedigree? You're just a doctor, aren't you? That's all I know as that's all important."

"Stop pretending!"Burke snapped and suddenly realized that Leila was not the girl he thought she was. He became extremely sober and rational as he saw through her poor acting in a second.

His infatuation with her had evaporated in an instant, and he could not understand why he believed and fell in love with her in the face of her clumsy deception.