The Substitute Bride

Sheryl was tired of Anthony's attitude of passing the buck on others for their failed relationship. "Anthony, please stop it, now." Sheryl glared at him as she spoke. Now she was really getting impatient. "Do you really think this would work? You are just wasting your time," she continued as she reasoned with him. "You know clearly that our problem does not lie on others. You should first look into yourself before pointing a finger at others. Even you know it very well that putting blame on others will not mend our broken relationship."

"Not on others?" Anthony looked at Sheryl with a confused look and asked, "Then who do you blame for what has happened between us? Do you mean to say that the problem lies with me?" Anthony's words made it clear that he was far removed from facing the reality. He was not even ready to believe that he could be at fault.

"Don't you think so?" Sheryl questioned back. At the same time she was amazed to see how stubborn he could be. Sheryl glanced at Anthony and said, "Haven't you kept me in the dark about your mother? Before coming to Y City, you had told me that you had convinced your parents and that they were ready to meet me. Can you deny that?" She kept staring at Anthony as she saw him rolling his eyes and continued, "I had believed whatever you told me before I met your mother. But come to think of it, after getting to know her, did I feel any happiness or joy even for one day?"

"I already said that, if you wish..." Anthony tried to explain.

"Let me finish my sentence first." Sheryl raised her palm to stop Anthony from interrupting her. Then she continued coldly, "I did not care about what your mother said or did. What I really cared about was you. The most important thing to me at that point of time was your love for me. Think back carefully. When your mom picked on me, did you stand by my side for even once? Or did you fight against your mom for me even once?"

"Sher, please understand. She is my mom," Anthony stressed again to Sheryl. "Plus I had told you several times before you met her. I told you to not care about her words. And you agreed. Didn't you?"

"Yes, I did. I agree," Sheryl jeered at his excuse. "Does that mean I have to give in no matter what happens? Even if she is wrong and she treats me badly, I still have to be nice to her? I am also a mother myself. When she cursed my little Shirley, can you feel how much agony and pain I felt as a mother?"

"I know. I know all these. I know how you felt," Anthony sounded remorseful as he spoke. But no matter what, he could not let Sheryl go. He knew, he would be devastated. He could not think of his life without her. Not willing to give up at any cost, Anthony kept convincing Sheryl, "Sher, I know that you were wronged by my mother and also wronged by me. I promise you, we can leave this place forever. Let us forget about all these unpleasant things and leave this place. Let's go somewhere else and start everything afresh. Okay?"

"Anthony, how is that possible? How can we live happily together again with all these painful memories?" Sheryl forced a bitter

he turned back to Sue. He was worried about whether she heard his words or not, but he could not make anything out from her face.

Just a moment ago, he sounded so confident when he said he had no feeling towards her. But now, having her in front of him just after uttering those words, he felt so guilty, although the words were his true feelings.

"You... you are here?" Anthony swallowed his saliva several times as he asked Sue. Sued looked at him with a faint smile on her face.

It was hard to gauge her state of mind from her facial expression. She did not reply to Anthony. And this intrigued him more. He tried hard to read her face but did not succeed.

Thinking that Sue might want to talk to Anthony, Sheryl said, "I will leave the space for you to chat. I have to go now."

"Sher..." Sue called Sheryl. In fact she had overheard everything. She was right there from the very moment their conversation started. Thinking of what she said to Sheryl in the past, she found herself so funny and ridiculous.

It was Anthony who was unwilling to give up. Sheryl didn't want to continue at all. What was the use of her talking to Sheryl about it?

How was she different from Laura, then?

She could hardly describe her feelings after hearing what Anthony said about her. She did so much for Anthony, but in return, she was rewarded with his mere indifference. How ridiculous that was!

"Is there anything?" Sheryl turned back and asked Sue.

"Nothing. I just want to say thank you." 'And sorry', she said secretly in her heart.

She did not expect that the person to speak on her behalf in the end would be Sheryl, whom she had long treated with hostility. It was then that she realized how difficult it was to judge people. How wrong she was about Sheryl? And how terribly wrong she was about Anthony?

"For what? I just did what I should have done," Sheryl replied. Hearing Sue's gratitude, she realized that Sue had overheard the entire conversation. She stared at Sue for quite a while, but was unable to think of anything else to say in the end.