The Substitute Bride

It was becoming clear to Sheryl that Gary was very smart. He had experienced so much that nothing could be hidden from him. But even if he knew what Melissa had done, what would he do?

Should he side with Sheryl or Melissa? Would he attempt to guide Charles to make a choice between the two women?

Deciding not to involve himself in this dilemma, Gary felt that it would be better to pretend to know nothing.

After all, everyone had to live his own life, and be responsible for his own decision.

"Charles is working overtime at the company and has to attend an unscheduled meeting," Sheryl told Gary.

"Charles is a workaholic. When he is working, he seldom pays attention to other things. Having worked so hard for many years, he never has any spare time. Thanks to him, my life is quite relaxing now." Gary nodded in appreciation. Sheryl could easily sense the love and pride he felt towards his grandson.

"Okay, that's all. I just wanted to tell you about my trip. It's late, so I should head off to bed. Tomorrow morning I have to get up early and catch my flight," Gary said as he smiled. Although Charles wasn't here, Gary was sure that Sheryl or Melissa would tell him about his trip.

Feeling tired and eager to go to bed, he stood up from the sofa and walked upstairs to his room.

After Gary left, only Melissa and Sheryl remained in the living room. An awkward silence fell over the room. Not wanting to be alone with Melissa, Sheryl decided she would follow Gary's lead and go to bed as well. But as she started to walk away, Melissa stopped her.

"Sheryl!" Melissa said anxiously.

Sheryl stopped, but didn't turn around. After pausing she said, "Yes, Mom?"

"Have you quarreled with Charles again?"

Hearing Melissa's words, Sheryl immediately turned round. "What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously.

"I mean nothing. I just want to say, if you've realized that you're

h Technology might not be able to start their business on time.

"The founders of the company had been in conflict before even starting the business. So imagine how much worse the conflict could get after starting business!" Isla signed as she read the news again.

Sheryl, however, was confused about the authenticity of this news. From her perspective, those young people seemed unlikely to fight with each other over something so trivial.

"Could they have been faced with

some unexpected problems that they don't want to reveal?" Sheryl tentatively asked Isla.

"I don't think they've been faced with any problem! Otherwise, they would have answered the phone. Yesterday, I called them more than ten times but no one answered the phone."

Isla's first impressions of the company founders were not very good.

"Is this the only reason you believe they haven't had any problems? Maybe they didn't hear the telephone ring." Sheryl immediately discovered the reason why Isla was so angry.

"I don't know whether they heard the telephone ring or not, but that's unimportant now. Since they've been having difficulties starting their business, we naturally must stop our cooperation with them. I think we should directly eliminate this company from our list."