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Daddy's advice
The next day, Carol woke up feeling slightly better but looking like a hot mess. Her eyes were swollen with shed and unshed tears, and her appetite was non-existent. To her utter surprise, Sebastian was still at home, even though it was almost eight when she woke up.
“I wanted to make sure that you were fine before leaving.” He informed her when she asked him why he was still around, watching her force down the breakfast that he had brought for her despite her steadfast proclamations that she was not hungry. Carol tried to take one more bit of the food, but it just wouldn’t go down.“I can’t eat anymore, Sebastian.” She informed him, her eyes pleading with him to let her be.“You know that you’re just recuperating from an illness. You should eat so that you can get your strength back. It’s okay, though. I did not know that you would even be able to eat this much. What do you want to do today?” He asked, taking away the tray of food and keeping it aside.“I don’t even knoRelated chapters
The Substitute Bride Saga The accusation
The flight to the hospital in Sacramento was a short one, considering that it was not that far from Napa. Throughout the flight and even on the drive to the hospital in which Jessica was admitted, Sebastian’s mind was preoccupied, as it had recently been, with thoughts of Jessica, his uncle, and even Carol. Never in his life had he been so unsure of how he felt, what the future held, or where it was leading.He did not know why, but he found it difficult to stay away from Jessica, especially as she was so vulnerable at the moment. He lived in daily fear of what would happen to her, and each time his phone rang, his mind always started beating, thinking that he was about to get the horrible news that she had died. This irrational fear that somehow, the people who had kidnapped her would get to her refused to leave him, no matter how many times he assured himself that she was well guarded. He had given the police, both here and over there where she was shot the last name she had sa
The Substitute Bride Saga The heart attack
Mr. James did not speak for a long time after Sebastian said this, but remained in the same position. Then he let go of Jessica’s hand gently and walked slowly and stiffly to stand by the window, looking out of it as though there, he would find the answer to all the secrets of the universe.“How did you come by such a theory?” He asked, at last, the pain in his voice too much for Sebastian to bear, but he couldn’t feel sorry for him, or rather, he tried really hard not to feel sorry for him. His uncle had brought this upon himself.“Jessica told me.”“Hmm. Is that why you’ve been acting so strangely?”“Can you listen to yourself? You’re not even showing remorse for what you did.”“That’s because I did not do anything. How do you expect me to show remorse for something I did not do? Why will Jessica tell you that I did such a thing? How can you even stand there and accuse me of such a thing?” Mr. James asked, his voice trembling with barely concealed fury and disappoin
The Substitute Bride Saga A not-so-surprising diagnosis
As soon as Sebastian’s aunt heard the news that her husband had been admitted to the hospital because of a heart attack, she burst into tears and rushed down to the hospital in no time to lay an accusing glance at Sebastian who was still sitting in tense silence with Frank as they waited for the doctors to come and give them an update on his uncle’s condition. Sebastian looked up at her, feeling so guilty for causing so much pain to this woman, who had loved and raised him as dearly as though she had birthed him herself.“You know you did this to him, don’t you?” she accused, sitting beside him heavily. He had been focused only on his uncle in recent times, but now that he looked at her, he could see the huge impact that her husband’s sickness was having on her, and resolved not to add to it. He would do as his uncle had asked and would not inform his wife, although he had not planned to tell her before anyway.“I’m sorry, aunty.” He said, giving her a side hug.“What are the doctors s
The Substitute Bride Saga The funeral and ensuing drama
The funeral was a somber, quiet, and quick affair. In all, there were not more than twenty people present as they stood under the scorching sun that late afternoon at the burial ground to bury Victoria. Carol stood beside her father and Belinda, who had not acknowledged her presence since she arrived at the house this morning. She had also not acknowledged the money that Carol had sent to her, not that Carol cared one bit. She had done her part and that was that. There was a tension between the three of them, Carol, her father, and Belinda that kept mounting until it threatened to burst. Her father was supporting Belinda, who did not look like she needed any support at all. She stood stoically beside Donald, her face impassive, all but looking like a dam about ready to burst. Carol stole glances at her warily, wondering if she was mentally fit to be attending the burial.A few paparazzi were lurking around the graveyard while the ceremony was going on. Carol glanced at them and s
The Substitute Bride Saga Going back home
Later that night, it began to rain very heavily. Donald came into Carol’s room, where she was just laying down, and doing nothing in particular. He sat heavily on the bed, grief lining his weathered features, and shook his head.“I’m so sorry about Belinda, Carol. I’ll like to think that she’s just grieving, but we both know that that is not the case. She’s just an evil person. Don’t let her get to you. I don’t let her get to me anymore.”“It’s okay, dad. I’m already used to it. You’re the only one who would have to cope with her craziness from now on, I’m afraid.” Carol said smiling at him. He did not smile back.“She served me divorce papers this evening.”“What? Wow. Anyway … um, I don’t know what to say. Is that good or bad? For you, I mean.”“I don’t know. It’s good, I guess. We’re practically strangers. She blames me for everything single thing that goes wrong in her life. I’m fed up with the marriage and I guess that she is too.”“Well, that’s good then. Are
The Substitute Bride Saga Visiting Mr James
As soon as Carol got home, dropped off the stuff that she traveled with, and took a shower, she changed her clothes and approached one of the drivers so he could take her to Sacramento to see Mr. James and Jessica. Luckily enough, they were admitted to the same hospital so it would be easy to just drop in and see them.“What did you say, ma’am?” The man asked in surprise after she made her request known to him. Carol looked him up and down, sure that he had heard her very clearly, but was just being difficult for reasons known to him alone.“Is there a problem?” She asked at last.“You want to go on a drive all the way to Sacramento?” The man asked again in surprise.“Yes. I believe that that is what I said. Why does that seem to surprise you so much?”“Because Boss Sebastian would not like to hear that you took the car to travel on such a long journey when you could easily use one of the planes. He’ll have my hide for that, ma’am.” The man said respectfully, while Ca
The Substitute Bride Saga Sleeplessness
That day, Sebastian did not come back home, and neither did he call Carol to inform her that he was not coming back home. When she called him to find out about his whereabouts and if he had any plans of coming back home, he did not take the call, and it went straight to voicemail. At first, she had been so scared that something might have happened to him, considering all that had been happening lately, but then, when she had gone downstairs to ask the drivers and security people if he had said anything about being late, they had given her the number of his new bodyguard so that she could call him. Carol supposed that she was overreacting a little, but then, she had just buried her very lively and vivacious younger sister to murder, which had still not been solved, so she guessed she was entitled to a little overreaction.Once she reached the man on the phone, he assured her that Sebastian was fine and was in a meeting, after which he would visit Jessica before coming back. She ha
The Substitute Bride Saga An outing with the devil incarnate
By the time it was ten in the morning and Sebastian had not called Carol back or even come home, she was seriously pissed and irritated. What was he feeling like anyway and why was he suddenly acting the way he used to when they just newly got married? So all this while, he had been using her as a substitute for his beloved Jessica, after making a song and dance about how he wanted he and Carol to at least be civil to each other? Now, the second Jessica came back into his life, he discarded Carol as though she were a sack of hot potatoes, and it was now so bad that he could not even be bothered to be polite enough to return her calls? Although everything inside Carol urged her to try calling him again, she did her best to resist the urge. She refused to act like a pathetic, attention-starved puppy who would manage whatever scraps of attention that the almighty Lord Sebastian managed to dole out to her. If she was being truthful to herself though, she knew that she missed hearing his v
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