ENCHANTED LOVE, VOLUME 2 - Season 10 Episode 35

If Sheryl hadn’t been standing right outside Susan’s hospital room, she might have believed her words, since her tone was perfectly natural. But she knew for sure that Susan was lying so she just creased her eyebrows and asked casually, “Where are you?”

“I’m… I’m at home, getting some rest,” Susan replied, trying her best to sound nonchalant. She tried to change the topic. “By the way, Sher, I have packed up all of your stuff. Just let me know when you have some free time so we can meet up and I’ll pass them to you.”

“Susan, be honest with me. Where are you exactly?” Sheryl persisted, ignoring Susan’s attempt at distracting her. Her face was stone cold since she knew Susan was lying.

“I’m at home resting, Sher, I told you earlier. Hey, I have to go, there’s something I need to settle. Talk to you soon, Sher. Bye!” Susan quickly hung up the phone before Sheryl could question her further. She knew how sharp Sheryl was and she would quickly figure out that something was not right. It was better to end the conversation as soon as possible before she gave herself away.

The next thing she knew, the door was flung open and Sheryl stormed in. Her appearance left Susan speechless with fear and shock.

When their eyes met, she grew even more panicked. She swallowed a few times and greeted Sheryl awkwardly, “Err.. Hi! Sher, what are you doing here?” Her heart was beating fast with the fear of someone who had just gotten caught doing something wrong.

“Didn’t you tell me you were at home?” Sheryl asked coldly. “Why did you lie to me?”

“I…” Susan didn’t know how to answer her. She fidgeted nervously and refused to look at Sheryl, whose eyes felt like lasers burning right into her soul. She felt like a little girl who was about to be scolded badly by her mother, so she kept her eyes lowered, staring at her own hands twisting nervously in her lap.

Sheryl walked to her bedside and asked, “What happened to you? You were perfectly fine when you returned a couple of days ago. How did you end up here? Don’t try to lie to me anymore. Tell me the truth. What caused you to end up in the hospital?” She felt a combination of concern, fear and anger.

“It’s nothing. Just an accident,” Susan mumbled. She swallowed nervously and glanced up at Sheryl for a fleeting moment before looking down again. “I was careless. I didn’t look both ways before crossing the road and…”

“You’re still trying to lie to me, even when I’ve found you in this hospital room?”

Sheryl interrupted her and questioned angrily. Sheryl was boiling with rage, but the anger wasn’t directed only at Susan. “Be honest with me. Did Holley do this?”
“No! It’s not…” Susan quickly denied, her voice getting higher. She repeated insistently, “This has nothing to with Miss Myers. It’s my own fault, really!”

“You are not going to tell me the truth, are you?” Sheryl asked grimly. “Very well. Since you refuse to be honest, I’ll go straight to Holley right now. I’m going to ask her face to face if she was the one who caused your injuries. I’m sure she’ll give me an answer!” She turned away and moved towards the door.

“Sher, please…” In her panic, Susan reached out without thinking, planning to grab Sheryl and hold her there. She forgot all about her injuries and her abrupt movement nearly caused her to fall out of her bed since she could not move her injured feet. Luckily, Sheryl reacted quickly and managed to catch her. She scolded Susan, “What the hell are you thinking? You know perfectly well that you are injured. Why did you make such a drastic move? Are you trying to injure yourself further?”

Susan was so scared she didn’t care about her own well-being anymore. She held on to Sheryl and begged, “Sher, please don’t go see her, I’m begging you.”

Of course Susan knew exactly how she had gotten her injuries. She could still remember every traumatic second of it. But it was also clear to her that she could not tell Sheryl the truth. Holley was a mad woman. If she allowed Sheryl to meet her and demand justice on her behalf, then she would only be putting Sheryl in danger as well. It was a risk she did not want Sheryl to take as she cared for her too much. .

She grabbed Sheryl tightly and insisted, “Sher, this is all just an accident. I got injured because of my own carelessness.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me the truth in the first place?” Sheryl probed. “If it was really an accident, why did you hide it from me? Why did you try to tell me that you were at home?”

“Because I didn’t want you to worry about me.” Susan forced a smile. “And I knew you would respond exactly like this. I knew you would start jumping to conclusions. I don’t want any more tensions between you and Holley just because of me. It won’t do any good for you!”

Susan held Sheryl’s hand in hers and squeezed tightly. “Sher, please listen to me. Just forget about this. Let’s pretend that nothing happened,” she pleaded.

Sheryl’s heart softened at the sight of Susan’s nervous, innocent face, not to mention the scared tone in her voice. She decided to put Susan’s heart at ease by feeding her a white lie.

She gently helped Susan lie down and promised her, “Okay, okay. I’ll heed your words. I won’t investigate this matter any further. You just stay here and get plenty of rest. I promise you, I won’t go after Holley.”

“Really?” Susan asked. She was relieved by Sheryl’s words, but at the same time she wasn’t convinced. She knew that Sheryl wasn’t someone who gave up easily. It took Sheryl a few more rounds of convincing before Susan finally believed her.

With her heart finally at ease, Susan suddenly realized something. “Sher, how did you know that I was here the whole time?”

“Coral told me,” Sheryl answered, but did not elaborate further. Before Susan could question her further, Sheryl poured out a glass of water for her and told her to drink. Then she stayed at the hospital for a while longer to chat and make sure Susan was truly feeling better before deciding to take her leave. “It’s getting late. I should get going now. Susan, take care of yourself, okay? Make sure you get lots of rest and try not to stress yourself. Just sleep for as long as you can. I’ll come back to visit you again tomorrow,” she ordered firmly but gently.

“Sher…” Susan grasped Sheryl’s hand again and said urgently, “Do remember my request and please don’t go looking for Holley. She’s a dangerous woman.”

Looking at Susan’s fearful expression, Sheryl was now fully convinced that Holley had been the one who had hurt Susan. Susan’s words kept denying the facts but her own facial expression still gave her away in the end.

To put Susan’s heart at ease, she smiled at her warmly and told her, “Don’t worry about me. I know what to do.”

She winked at Susan and reminded her, “You need to know what to do, too. Your job now is just to stay here, get lots of rest, take your medicine, and listen to the doctor’s advice so you can recover as quickly as possible. When you’re feeling better, I’ll take you out for lunch. There’s someone I want you to meet.”

Susan smiled back, but it was not a sincere smile. She knew Sheryl well enough to know that she was only trying to put her mind at rest with her empty promises. Deep inside, she was very worried about what would happen next. As soon as she left the hospital, Sheryl’s smile disappeared and was replaced with a grim, determined look. She immediately made her way towards Kline Corp. to confront Holley, just as Susan had feared.

She had just terminated her agreement earlier that morning and now she was striding back through the entrance again purposefully with a furious look on her face. Her reappearance and her aggressive body language turned a lot of heads in the lobby.

She headed straight to Holley’s office but was stopped by her secretary at the entrance. The secretary told her rather uncomfortably, “Miss Courtenay, Miss Myers is rather occupied at the moment. I cannot let you in unless you have an appointment. It doesn’t matter how important it is. Miss Myers cannot be interrupted at the moment, unless you have contacted her earlier to set an appointment.”

“This is a very urgent matter. Please tell her I have to talk to her right now.” Sheryl refused to give in. Her hands were clenched into fists, as she fought the urge to just push the secretary out of the way so she could march into Holley’s room.

The secretary looked at Sheryl with displeasure and told her curtly, “Miss Courtenay, you are no longer a part of this company. You can’t just waltz in here and demand to see her. Miss Myers has more pressing matters to attend to. She doesn’t have time to entertain you any time you wish.”

The secretary was getting more and more irritated with Sheryl. She thought that Sheryl was being very rude and inconsiderate. She added, “Did you know that Miss Myers and Mr. Obrien got into arguments because of you? You’ve caused enough trouble here already. You’d better leave now before you make things worse!”

Even though Holley had done a lot of malicious things to Sheryl, it was always behind closed doors and she played the part of a kind, caring leader in front of the other employees. They all looked up to her and admired her greatly.

Since they were not aware of the cruelty Holley could inflict and only saw her positive side, her employees were very loyal to her. They had no idea what had happened between her and Sheryl and so in their eyes, Sheryl was a traitor who had betrayed Holley. Not a single one of them thought kindly of Sheryl.

Even when Sheryl had first joined Kline Corp., she had ruffled a lot of feathers. Most of the employees thought that she had gotten unfair treatment. What they saw was that Sheryl had been accepted into the company into a prominent position and was paid a good salary. The seniors especially, didn’t understand why George and Holley had been so generous to her. To make things worse, Sheryl had ended up ‘betraying’ them after all their kindness. That was why she was no longer welcome at the company.

Sheryl glared back at the secretary and snapped, “Exactly, I am no longer a part of the company. You should be treating me like a proper guest and not trying to chase me away. This matter is between me and Holley and nothing to do with you. You have no right to tell me whether my business with her is urgent or not. Now, get out of my way!”