The Substitute Bride

Holley froze like a statue. She hadn't expected Charles to show up at this point. It also hadn't occurred to her that she had wasted a large sum of money for nothing. What was worse, her behavior had put her into an even more embarrassing situation.

"What are you looking at? Go mind your own business," Holley shouted at the onlookers with an exasperated expression. She couldn't stand other's chiding and reproachful glances especially with Sheryl and Charles around.

"What a mean woman! She took advantage of our sympathy to bully innocent people!"

"She's such a shameless woman. How could she continue to stay here? Isn't she ashamed of herself?

"

"Go away!" Holley bellowed as she glared at the crowd with a threatening look. She was done with the harsh remarks. Most importantly, she didn't want Charles to see her in such an awkward position.

"Don't mess with her. She's such a bad person. What if she takes revenge on us?"

"You're right. It's pointless to continue to stay here. We should go grab something to eat. There's no need to waste our time here. Let's get going."

As the onlookers started to walk away, a woman in her late forties made her way over to Sheryl and stopped in front of her. "Young lady, you better be careful. It's difficult to handle those who will stab you in the back," she reminded earnestly.

Sheryl smiled at her and nodded. She knew the woman's comments were coming from a good place.

But she couldn't forget that this same woman had scolded her in the front when she had been misunderstood.

'Why are there so many self-righteous people in this world? They think they know everything and they only believe their own judgement. What a world!'

As Sheryl was absorbed in her thoughts, Rachel and Holley were about to run away. She planned to stop them and teach them a hard lesson, but she let them leav

es he think that I owe him an explanation?' she thought indignantly.

"Are you sure? Then tell me, who is that young man you visited at the hospital?" Charles queried hysterically as his face turned dark with fury.

"Young man? Charles, you followed me? You're not in a position to grill me like this. Did you forget what you did?" Sheryl spat furiously, as she turned around and glared at Charles.

'I wan't going to bring up the affair, but now he's accusing me of cheating.

This is so ridiculous, ' she thought, seething with anger.

"I didn't follow you. Besides, even if I did, what's the problem with that? You're my woman," Charles replied in a bossy manner.

"Your woman? You still think of me as your woman?" Sheryl grilled, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"What do you mean by that? You'll always be my woman," Charles responded with a confused look.

"If that was really true, then why would you sneak around with Rachel behind my back? Why?" Sheryl finally blurted out the insecurities she had kept buried for days.

The moment the words were out, she instantly felt relieved.

The burden of the affair had been suffocating and it had finally been lifted. All she wanted was for Charles to admit to his mistake.