Chapter 1600 A Hit-and-run

Name:The Substitute Bride Author:Mi Lu
The next day, Sheryl drove to work as usual.

As she pulled into the parking lot, she found Charles standing there. Initially, she was a little taken aback at finding him there so unexpectedly. Then she heaved a deep sigh, thinking that at the moment she had no way back. Hence she had no other option than to confront him.

Charles approached her car immediately and got into it before she could even park it properly. Startled, Sheryl stared back at Charles trying to read his face. However, Charles just gazed at her without uttering a single word.

"What's this all about, Charles?" Sheryl broke the ice first and turned to him.

Charles remained quiet, pretending as if he didn't hear Sheryl. Inwardly, Charles found that he felt rather calmer than he had thought he could as he confronted Sheryl. But all of the buildup in his mind made him feel rather bitter inwardly.

Sheryl could not take this suffocating silence anymore. She heaved a deep sigh as she turned her head away and looked out through the window. Silence prevailed between the two of them until Sheryl decided to step out of the car.

However, as soon as Sheryl reached out to open the door, Charles grabbed her arm. Sheryl was unable to decipher his strange behavior. She stared back at him with amazement and struggled to get her arm free from his grip, but failed. She glared at Charles furiously, but still he maintained the stern look. Then he looked back into her eyes. Slowly, Sheryl stopped struggling.

"Why didn't you answer my calls?" Charles hissed from between his clenched teeth.

"I don't want to speak to you, Charles. You know the reason. I would like to see you though, in person, at the Bureau of Civil Affairs," Sheryl countered as she managed to gather her thoughts. Suddenly she was terrified of him. Somehow, at that moment Charles seemed to have become a completely different man from the one that she knew.

"Do you have anything to say about these photos?" Charles threw a stack of photos directly in Sheryl's face, while his lips stitched into a straight line and his eyes coldly looked at her face.

It happened too fast for Sheryl to respond. Besides, there was no room for her to dodge. Sheryl could just close her eyes hurriedly, but she felt the sting on her face as the sharp edges of the photographs grazed her skin. But she didn't care. She opened her eyes quickly, and then she collected the photos that were scattered on and around her body. She was even slightly inquisitive to see whose photos they were and why they had angered Charles to this extent.

With the very first look at the photographs, Sheryl's hands trembled. She opened her eyes wide as she spotted herself in those photographs. It felt as if all of her strength was taken away from her in an instant.

Slowly, Sheryl felt a chill running down along her spine. Whoever took these photos must have followed her everywhere she went. The photos featured Lewis and her. Actually, Lewis and Sheryl hadn't spent much time together, except for a couple of times when he dropped her at home or picked her up for work. However, all of their meetings were recorded in these photos.

On one hand, having been followed so closely incurred profound fear, and Sheryl remained dumbfounded, and lost in her own thoughts. On the other hand, Charles took it for granted that all of his fancies were true because of Sheryl's silence. It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to remain calm. He took a few deep breaths to calm down.

"Say something, Sheryl. Tell me that I am wrong. Tell me that you have nothing to do with this man. How am I supposed to read your silence?" Charles snapped. But Sheryl just gazed at the photos with a blank expression on her face without uttering a single word. It was as if Charles' words were not even reaching her ears. Charles clutched his hands into fists, until blue veins stood out on the back

rgency services number with her trembling hands as her eyes blurred with tears.

Her mind was totally blank and she acted completely on instinct.

When the call was answered, she told them where they were in a disjointed manner. Her eyes remained fixed on Charles' face, which still bore traces of smile which he had given her before losing consciousness.

After the emergency services had figured out her location and hung up, Sheryl still kept staring at Charles, who looked like a pulse-less doll lying in a pool of blood.

Sheryl couldn't hear anything. She sat there, numb, with silent tears rolling down over her cheeks. She dared not touch Charles, and was afraid that she would hurt him. Time seemed to have stopped, and every passing moment felt like a century to her.

The only thing on Sheryl's mind was that she would rather go with him if he died, than carry on alone. He had come here solely because of her. And if she hadn't pissed him off deliberately, he would have seen the car. It was all her fault!

Nothing gives greater cause for sorrow than despair. She couldn't feel her legs and arms, and only the beating of her heart told her that she still existed.

"Charles, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! It's entirely my fault. Please wake up! Please…Charles..." Sheryl kept saying this over and over again, she didn't even know how many times she repeated the same words.

Sheryl had never imagined that Charles would leave her one day. Even though she was the one who had demanded a divorce, she had known that she would see him from time to time because of the kids. She was in such a state of panic and she had never felt so desperate until that moment. In this moment she realized that she loved him so deeply that she couldn't imagine her life without him.

She hated herself for saying those hurtful words to him. Everything was trivial when compared to death.

She wished this was only a bad dream for her. She hoped Charles would open his eyes just once so that she could tell him everything. Together, they would make it through.

Sheryl kept talking, hoping that Charles could hear her and stay with her. She wouldn't waste her time on worrying about her own image getting tarnished. It now turned out that Charles was the one that she should cherish the most, despite him being the one that she had naively believed was an iron man who could never be defeated.

She had been wrong about everything. But she had always felt that she was the weak one in their relationship. However, now she knew that she had been wrong. Was there still any chance for her to correct it?