The Substitute Bride

If Sheryl hadn't been standing right outside Susan's hospital room, she might have believed her words, since her tone was perfectly natural. But she knew for sure that Susan was lying so she just creased her eyebrows and asked casually, "Where are you?"

"I'm... I'm at home, getting some rest," Susan replied, trying her best to sound nonchalant. She tried to change the topic. "By the way, Sher, I have packed up all of your stuff. Just let me know when you have some free time so we can meet up and I'll pass them to you."

"Susan, be honest with me. Where are you exactly?" Sheryl persisted, ignoring Susan's attempt at distracting her. Her face was stone cold since she knew Susan was lying.

"I'm at home resting, Sher, I told you earlier. Hey, I have to go, there's something I need to settle. Talk to you soon, Sher. Bye!" Susan quickly hung up the phone before Sheryl could question her further. She knew how sharp Sheryl was and she would quickly figure out that something was not right. It was better to end the conversation as soon as possible before she gave herself away.

The next thing she knew, the door was flung open and Sheryl stormed in. Her appearance left Susan speechless with fear and shock.

When their eyes met, she grew even more panicked. She swallowed a few times and greeted Sheryl awkwardly, "Err.. Hi! Sher, what are you doing here?" Her heart was beating fast with the fear of someone who had just gotten caught doing something wrong.

"Didn't you tell me you were at home?" Sheryl asked coldly. "Why did you lie to me?"

"I..." Susan didn't know how to answer her. She fidgeted nervously and refused to look at Sheryl, whose eyes felt like lasers burning right into her soul. She felt like a little girl who was about to be scolded badly by her mother, so she kept her eyes lowered, staring at her own hands twisting nervously in her lap.

Sheryl walked to her bedside and asked, "What happened to you? You were perfectly fine when you returned a couple of days ago. How did you end up here? Don't try to lie to me anymore. Tell me the truth. What caused you to end up in the hospital?" She felt a combination of concern, fear and anger.

"It's nothing. Just an accident," Susan mumbled. She swallowed nervously and glanced up at Sheryl for a fleeting moment before looking down again. "I was careless. I didn't look both ways before crossing the road and..."

"You're still trying to lie to me, even when I've found you in this hospital room?" Sheryl interrupted her and questioned angrily. Sheryl was boiling with rage, but the anger wasn't directed only at Susan. "Be honest with me. Did Holley do this?"

"No! It's not..." Susan quickly denied, her voice getting higher. She repeated insistently, "This has nothing to with Miss Ye. It's my own fault, really!"

"You are not going to tell me the truth, are you?" Sheryl asked grimly. "Very well. Since you refuse to be honest, I'll go straight to Holley right now. I'm going to ask her face to face if she was the one who caused your injuries. I'm sure she'll give me an answer!" She turned away and moved towards the d

the urge to just push the secretary out of the way so she could march into Holley's room.

The secretary looked at Sheryl with displeasure and told her curtly, "Miss Xia, you are no longer a part of this company. You can't just waltz in here and demand to see her. Miss Ye has more pressing matters to attend to. She doesn't have time to entertain you any time you wish."

The secretary was getting more and more irritated with Sheryl. She thought that Sheryl was being very rude and inconsiderate. She added, "Did you know that Miss Ye and Mr. Han got into arguments because of you? You've caused enough trouble here already. You'd better leave now before you make things worse!"

Even though Holley had done a lot of malicious things to Sheryl, it was always behind closed doors and she played the part of a kind, caring leader in front of the other employees. They all looked up to her and admired her greatly.

Since they were not aware of the cruelty Holley could inflict and only saw her positive side, her employees were very loyal to her. They had no idea what had happened between her and Sheryl and so in their eyes, Sheryl was a traitor who had betrayed Holley. Not a single one of them thought kindly of Sheryl.

Even when Sheryl had first joined BM Corporation, she had ruffled a lot of feathers. Most of the employees thought that she had gotten unfair treatment. What they saw was that Sheryl had been accepted into the company into a prominent position and was paid a good salary. The seniors especially, didn't understand why George and Holley had been so generous to her. To make things worse, Sheryl had ended up 'betraying' them after all their kindness. That was why she was no longer welcome at the company.

Sheryl glared back at the secretary and snapped, "Exactly, I am no longer a part of the company. You should be treating me like a proper guest and not trying to chase me away. This matter is between me and Holley and nothing to do with you. You have no right to tell me whether my business with her is urgent or not. Now, get out of my way!"