The Substitute Bride

Donna handed the menu to Sula, smiling. "Sula, here. You order the dishes. You know my tastes better."

Sula hesitated. She looked at Holley and paused for a moment, but then nodded to Donna and took the menu from her.

Holley wasn't very happy about that particular exchange. She thought to herself angrily, 'It's quite obvious that Donna likes her more than me. But I am her future daughter-in-law. What does Sula have that I don't?'

By the time Sula finished ordering the food, George came back with their refreshments. He greeted them with a smile and then placed a cup of watermelon juice in front of Sula, orange juice before Donna and pear juice before Holley. He looked joyously at the ladies and asked, "Have you ordered the food?"

"Yes, we have," Holley smiled and responded. "I've already told the kitchen to prepare our meal. And we have also ordered some extra dishes."

"Wonderful! Mother, the food in this restaurant is very delicious," George turned to Donna and said. "It is so popular that you have to wait in line to book a table here. Holley had come here very early to book this room for us. So you should eat well and make it worth the wait."

"Really?" Donna responded without any emotions. She looked at George and then turned to Holley and said, "Thank you so much, Miss Ye."

Holley smiled and answered with respect, "You are being too polite, Aunt Donna. It's my pleasure."

George was pleased to see that they were having a friendly conversation. 'Everything will be fine as long as Mom gets along with Holley. I couldn't ask for anything more, ' George thought, smiling at them both.

"I'm sure we aren't gathered here just to have a simple meal, right?" Donna asked coldly as she looked at Holley without showing any emotion on her face.

"Of course not," George said with a little embarrassment. "Holley and I have something important to tell you."

George turned to Holley and fixed his gaze on her. He stared at her intently, and the love in his eyes were sincere. Sula, who was sitting beside him, couldn't bear to watch his display of affection anymore, and she looked away. She was bitter and she wanted to leave that place soon.

Holley blushed as she looked back into his loving eyes. She wanted to respond to his romantic gesture, but she saw Donna staring at her with a smirk on her face. Holley hesitated and took a moment to clear her fear. When she finally calmed herself down, she said to George, "We don't have to talk about that right away. We can tell her later. I h

wn actions that money was not a barrier in our relationship at all. And he told me that I deserve a man like him, again and again."

Holley paused for a moment, lost in her own thoughts, thinking about all the touching things George had done for her in the past. She continued, "I know that my family is not as wealthy as yours and we don't have the social status that you do. But George doesn't care about all that. He loves me as I am, and he isn't bothered about my appearance, my family or my past. Nothing else matters more than our love, and I know that now. That's why I have decided to be with him forever. In these past years, no matter how many difficulties we'd been through and no matter what you had done to separate us, we stuck together."

"And that is only because you shamelessly lean on his moneybag and seduce him with your hypocritical face," Donna accused as she stared at Holley angrily. "No one knows George better than I do. If it weren't for your fake beauty and seduction, he would never have hurt his mother after listening to your honey-laced words."

"Mother!" George bellowed and tried to stop her from saying more hurtful words.

However, Holley stayed calm and padded on George's hands, comforting him. She smiled again and said, "One person doesn't have any authority over the other in a romantic relationship. We are equal and we make our own choices. You can be with the person if you like, and if you don't, then you can split up. Yet, here we are. I've been with George for a long time and that's because we love each other. If you still think that we are together simply because I seduced him, I don't have any means to disprove it otherwise."