The Substitute Bride

"Yes, you are right. It is about Autumn." Anthony answered as a frown descended upon his face. With Autumn's due date drawing closer, Anthony began looking for a drug that would completely cure her disease. He had tested countless Chinese and western medicine, referred to many medical books and finally found two kinds of medicine which would prove helpful.

One was Chinese medicine while the other was western medicine, but...

"What has happened? Why don't you speak out your trouble openly?" Arthur added as he got more nervous by the second,"Is there any problem in the medicine for Autumn's treatment?"

"Yes," Anthony said with embarrassment,"I have referred to all the Chinese medical books and found a kind of medicine to cure Autumn's disease, but it works very slowly and Autumn will take three years to completely recover."

Arthur let out a sigh and said,"Well, Autumn looks normal now and is much better than her earlier state. Now she won't lose her control as long as she isn't irritated, but her character has been changed. She has two pole opposite moods; either she gets too indecisive or too kind. That is totally different from who she was, I fear with each passing day she is changing into someone different from our dear lovely Autumn."

"Yes. This medicine is known to change one's nature and behavior." Anthony sighed and added,"I have written to my teacher from abroad and he knows about another western medicine which can cure Autumn's disease with just one pill."

Then he gave a bitter smile and said to Arthur,"The reason why I came here today is to discuss with you whether we should share this piece of information with Autumn and let her choose the medicine she wants to go with or not."

"Is there even a need to have a discussion about this? I mean the choice seems obvious. Of course it's better to use the western medicine." Arthur added,"Now that we have found a kind of medicine that can cure her disease in one go, so why should we think about the Chinese medicine which would take so many years and alter her character?"

Anthony was speechless while Arthur realized that it seemed too good to be true and hesitantly asked,"Does this western medicine have some counter effect?"

"Yes, it does." In fact, Anthony wouldn't have come here to discuss matters with Arthur if the medicine was safe and clear cut the right option. Anthony took a heavy breath

d Lisa back together during the dinner. "Anthony, I understand that you have known Lisa for a long time. So why don't you two catch up?" Autumn urged on purpose.

Anthony gave a reluctant smile and answered,"Well, we are just colleagues so the only topic between us would revolve around work. And that's too boring for dinner. And more so it's not proper to talk about work here."

Autumn was blindsided by his perfect excuse while Lisa felt of tug of embarrassment. 'Anthony doesn't care about my feelings at all. He'd rather make excuses than talk to me, ' Lisa thought to herself.

"Fine, as you please." Lisa patted Autumn on her shoulder and indicated her to stop making any further effort. She felt rejected.

She had already gotten used to his cold behavior towards her, so she wouldn't feel disappointed. But sometimes, she felt so tired to actually make an effort.

The atmosphere at the table got a bit awkward and dull owing to Lisa. When they finished dinner, Autumn took Lisa to a corner, where nobody could see them and said,"Lisa, I'm sorry. I screwed it up. I didn't mean to embarrass you like that"

"It's okay Autumn." Lisa smiled and added,"I know you did all of that out of kindness and just good intentions. It's getting late now and I should head home."

She felt so awkward to be here so she chose to leave abruptly.

"Hold on." Autumn took her back to the living room and said to Anthony,"Hey, you are heading home, right? I know you live in the same community as Lisa, so I want you to escort her home. It's dangerous for a girl to go home alone so late at night."