Chapter 1984 Deceitful Appearances

Joan watched Sheryl with wary eyes. Melissa had left, and Shirley was sitting down, her face a blank mask that stared impassively outside the window. Joan kept watching her for a few more seconds before her own face was relieved of worry. Sheryl was brooding, but she was not dispirited–rather, it was the opposite. She had a determined air about her, one that Joan failed to notice from her earlier anxiousness. 'I could almost hear her thinking, ' Joan thought inwardly. With her worries quelled, she returned to her room to leave Sheryl in the company of her own thoughts.

Taking a long, slow breath, Sheryl gathered her resolve. 'The past is in the past. It could do nothing but weigh me down. For now, I have to look ahead and focus on the future, ' she said to herself.

Sleep was a fickle visitor, and Sheryl caught it in short, broken snatches in the night. Restlessness followed her throughout the day, and whatever energy she had left was drained empty with the demands of the day. Come night-time, the weight of exhaustion bore deep into her bones as she succumbed to the pull of sleep.

At the hospital, Charles felt the same weariness bear down on his shoulders. Every second was a pinprick crawling on his skin. Never had he felt defeated like this, and much less so by a woman.

He had spent the whole day in Shining Company buried in documents. During lunch hour, David called him to report that Vicky's discharge had been approved by the doctor.

Charles had never liked hospitals. It was nothing but cold, unfeeling walls where the stench of antiseptic assailed one's nostrils. Had it not been for Vicky's threats, he never would have stepped inside that despised building.

"David, you go ahead and take care of the formalities for Vicky," he instructed. Without another word, he went back to his paper work.

Work did not prove to be as much of a distraction as he would have liked. Even as he focused on the letters and figures, anxiety gnawed at the back of his mind. The hours stretched into agonized waiting, and yet, the darkness fell with no news from David.

Charles could not bear it any longer. He rushed to the hospital and arrived to the sight of a very distressed David. "What is it?" he asked immediately, his voice edged with bewilderment. He had never seen David lose his composure. "Did anything happen to her? Did her illness get worse?"

He was fully aware of the fact that he could never free himself of Vicky in this lifetime. If anything happened to her, he would still be unable to go back to Sheryl.

"If only that were the case," David muttered, unable to stop himself.

"Tell me whatever is going on,"

Charles ordered as he surveyed David from head to foot. The other man's mumbling made no sense to him. 'Vicky is certainly no ordinary woman if she was able to reduce David to this state!' Charles thought to himself.

David let out a sigh before ans

ht to herself.

Charles didn't miss a beat as Vicky's face reflected shock and dissatisfaction.

"Why, why do you treat me like this? What have I ever done to you?" Vicky yelled hysterically.

"I've had enough from you. If you want to rid yourself of me, then go ahead and leave now!"

One moment, she was as docile and meek as a lamb, then she becomes a snake in the next, ready to strike with venom. Vicky returned Charles' anger with her own. Indeed, appearances were deceitful. Just earlier, she had been pleading, but now, she was serving him her own fury without hesitation.

Charles remained unfazed at her words. He knew exactly the sort of women that Vicky belonged to. She would stop at nothing to have what she desired. He would not simply stand by with folded arms and let her have her way.

"What are you waiting for?" Vicky kept on screaming. "Go! My life or death has nothing to do with you. I don't want to see you ever again!" She was clutching at her sheets and pounding them as she shouted. Charles simply stood and watched, his face unmoving as a stone.

If he were a stranger, he wouldn't even be here in the first place. But Charles was no stranger–he couldn't be even if he wanted to. His life and safety were closely tied to Vicky's own.

He listened to her, trying to decipher what lay under Vicky's cryptic screams. His head snapped up as a dangerous realization hit him. This woman was threatening to kill herself!

"What happened?" a nurse asked aloud suddenly. All the yelling inside the ward had alarmed her, and she rushed to the door, pushing it open.

She saw Charles standing beside the sickbed. Vicky's eyes were red, and her hands were wound tightly around the disarrayed sheets. "What is with all this screaming? This is a hospital. Please be considerate of other patients," the nurse said sternly. Then, turning to Charles, she said, "Sir, the visiting hours are over. You may leave now."