The Substitute Bride

By saying those words, it seemed like Gary was hinting that Sheryl did them a really huge favor that they must pay. To her surprise, even Nacy who was busy cooking in the kitchen came out just to urge them to stay for dinner. "Please stay, Miss Xia. Look, I've made your dinner already and if you insist on leaving now, it'll be a great waste of food!"

Feeling defeated, Sheryl felt it was no use to continue turning down their warmhearted offer. Charlie had already used both hard and soft tactics to stop her from leaving. Even the whole members of the family helped him. Thus, she had to give in and stay for dinner.

After dinner, she wanted to leave Dream Garden right away so she bid goodbye to them. However, it was very dark outside and it was also raining heavily. Raining from time to time was just normal in Y City's summer. No wonder people always say that the weather in summer here is as changeable as a baby's face. Standing in front of the door, Sheryl heaved a deep sigh.

"Listen," Charles suddenly spoke behind her. He cleared his throat before he said again,"Listen..."But this time he was interrupted by Sheryl. "Mr. Lu. If you'd ask us to stay here tonight, please save your efforts and better not say it. I'd rather go home soaked in the rain than stay overnight in other people's place."

Then she stared at him with an alarmed expression on her face, anxiously waiting for his reply. Charles was quiet for a moment. 'You silly woman! This is your own home!' He wanted to say it to her but he opted to keep it in his mind.

Instead, he said,"You are overreacting, Miss Xia." With a smile on his face, he continued,"What I wanted to say is..." He paused for a while. "Er... I can drive you and Shirley home," he almost stuttered to finish his words.

Hearing his words, Sheryl felt her face burning so she turned her eyes away in embarrassment.

Charles didn't say anything for a moment before he continued to explain,"It's not easy to get a cab here even if it were not raining. Besides, the stuff you bought from the supermarket are still in my car now, so I think I don't have any reasons not to drive you home."

Sheryl thought it over for a long while. If she turned him down, she had to stay here longer. Thus, she had to agree with his suggestion if she wanted to go home earlier. Sounding hopeless, she turned to look at him again and said,"I really appreciate that. Thank you for the offer of driving us home, Mr. Lu."

Charles was beaming at her words. However, instead of driving himself, he asked his driver to drive for them. This way, he could get a chance to be closer with Sheryl and her daughter. So, the three of them sat on the back seat, with Shirley in the middle.

Sheryl couldn't feel more embarrassed at this situation.

Because it was a rainy night, the car moved slowly. From time to time, Sheryl wanted to ask the driver to drive faster but she couldn't manage to speak it out.

On second thought, she gave up the idea. She'd better not risk their lives.

To her relief, Charles was sil

With the ingredients of Sue's and Shirley's favorite dishes in her hands, she went back home happily and began cooking.

She spent her entire morning busily cooking in the kitchen. When the lunch was ready, she asked Shirley to knock on Sue's door and bring her over. Sue had been actually drunk again last night so she wasn't up yet until Shirley knocked on her door.

"We're here!" Shirley shouted as she ran into the room holding Sue's hand who was still wearing her nightgown. Sheryl cracked a big smile at them and said to Sue,"Go and wash your face! We'll wait for you so we could have lunch together."

Sue followed her order. After refreshing herself in the bathroom, she went to the dining table and found that Sheryl had already made a cup of honey water for her. "It can make your stomach feel better. Please drink it before eating lunch," Sheryl urged her.

Holding the cup in her hands, Sue felt overwhelmed by Sheryl's sweetness.

Of course she cherished her friendship with Sheryl. However, she felt awkward to show it in front of her after all those words she had said to her before.

This was also the reason why she deliberately didn't come over to visit them these past few days.

"Here they are! Have a taste and tell me whether my cooking skills had regressed!" Sheryl said as she was taking all the dishes one by one to the table. These included sweet and sour ribs, stewed beef brisket with tomatoes, sauteed Chinese greens with mushrooms, shredded pork with salted vegetables, and braised fish in brown sauce. It was more than sufficient for the three of them.

They were having a feast! This was actually the first time that Sheryl prepared a formal meal after she got to Y City, thus, she paid much attention to it.

Firstly, she wanted to celebrate her and Shirley's moving in to this city and for having her own place to live. Secondly, she was trying to patch things up between Sue and her.

"How are the dishes?" she asked Sue anxiously. Both Shirley and Sue had already started eating.