The Substitute Bride

Donna was a bit guilty to see George being so disheartened; after all, he was her own son. No mother in the world would like her child to be unhappy.

She sat by him and tried to make him feel better. "Well, you would need to let go of the past and move on. You should break up with Holley. I mean it. This would be for your own good."

"But Mom, was that true or not?" George asked. He tried to control his shivering hands.

Donna paused and asked, "What was true or not? What were you talking about?"

George said through gritted teeth, "Sula told me about Holley had murdered someone. I need to know if it was true or not." Even though they had been together for quite a long time, George realized that he really didn't know Holley that much.

He could remember that he initially doubted her once, but later dismissed it.

So that was why he now felt betrayed.

Donna looked at her son with gloomy eyes. She remained silent as she went over her thoughts.

She hesitated to tell him the truth.

George confirmed his doubts from the expression on his mother's face.

He took a deep breath and asked her again, "Mom, tell me the truth. I can take it."

She sighed, "Come on, my son. Couldn't you just let it go? Did you know why I never told you about it? That's because I didn't want to you to get hurt. So why wouldn't you just forget it?"

George clenched his fists. "No, Mom, I couldn't. I wouldn't want to be treated like a fool. I need to know what happened. Tell me the truth, please!"

He recalled how touched he was when Holley initially told him about her sad stories. After hearing her, he made up his mind to take good care of her. All this time, he thought that he was the only one that she could rely on.

He never expected that Holley

She looked around to ask someone for help but found nobody. At that time, she already planned to call Charles, but before she could, the the man looked up.

"Good morning, Sheryl," he greeted. She was relieved when she recognized it was George. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

She looked at him questioningly and asked, "What were you doing here, George?

Would there be anything that I can do for you?" She noticed him being downhearted, but decided not to pry.

George said with a hoarse voice, like an old man, "I..."

He leaned against the wall as he felt dizzy and nauseated. "I had something to ask you." He glanced at Sheryl who was intently looking at him.

Since she didn't know what had happened to him, she tried to query carefully. "Okay, what is it?"

However, George was too sick to respond. Sheryl figured that he came to ask her about Holley, so she sighed and asked him, "Did you have your breakfast? There's a restaurant around the corner, would you like to eat something with me?"

The truth was, she already had breakfast but she deliberately said that she hadn't, that way George would not feel awkward.

He nodded. "That sounds good."