Chapter 1956 No Other Choice


    "What is the matter, Miss Xia? Are you alright?" Joan rushed to Sheryl. She crouched beside her,


    wanting to console her. However, she could not utter a single word but only watch Sheryl crying her


    heart out.


    Sheryl cried inconsbly and incessantly for at least five minutes before she turned to Joan. While still


    sobbing, Sheryl managed to speak to Joan.


    "I''m alright. You don''t have to worry about me. It is okay. You can leave me and take care of your work,


    Joan," Sheryl forced a smile as she replied to Joan. She did not want Joan to get worried about her.


    Joan understood that it would be better to give Sheryl some space at the moment. So she withdrew


    herself silently and went into the kitchen.


    Sheryl wiped her face and pulled herself together, trying to look stable andposed. Then she took


    her credentials as she went downstairs.


    "Civil Affairs Bureau," Sheryl said coldly to David as she entered the car.


    David frowned and remained silent for a while. Before starting the car, he looked at Charles from the


    rear-view mirror seeking his advice.


    Charles nodded slightly to hint his agreement.


    David heaved a sigh and started the car. He felt so bad about the situation. But what else could he do?


    Charles and Sheryl would get divorced within a couple of hours. There was nothing that could stop the


    inevitable.


    David dropped Sheryl in front of the Cloud Advertising Company. He waited for a while to see her going


    up before driving back to the Shining Company.


    At Charles'' office, Charles told his secretary that no one coulde in except David. After that, he


    locked himself in his office.


    David rushed straight to Charles'' office the moment he reached the Shining Company.


    "President Lu, I have dropped President Xia at her office." David frowned as he looked at Charles. He


    looked confused like he was expecting Charles to exin the situation to him.


    But to his dismay, Charles remained silent and just nodded in reply. Only Charles could feel what was


    going on inside his mind and heart! He felt his head was pounding. Everything was falling apart in front


    of his eyes, and he could not help it. He supported his forehead with his hand.


    "How is she? Has she attempted to harm herself again?" Charles spoke in a calm and stable voice,


    suppressing all the pain and vulnerability at the bottom of his heart. Indeed, what worried Charles the


    most at the moment was the woman in the hospital instead of Sheryl.


    There had been problems in Sheryl and Charles'' marriage. It would still not be the worst oue for


    him to agree to the divorce even though, ofte, things had started to look better in their rtionship.


    But with the woman in the hospital, it was apletely different case. She would not hesitate to give


    up her life anytime if he acted against her wishes.


    Getting divorced from Sheryl did indeed feel like a death bolt to him. However, he could not bear to see


    the woman to take her life because of him.


    "President Lu, she is fine. But I think it doesn''t make any sense for you to divorce President Xia. How


    can you do that to her?" David could not understand the logic behind going to such an extreme extent


    just to amodate to that woman.


    "I don''t want to do this to Sheryl. But I can''t bear to see the woman in hospital harm herself again,"


    David could understand Charles'' dilemma. There was no man so miserable and helpless now, in the


    whole world, as Charles.


    "What shall we do then?" David did not want to make things difficult for Charles. After all, Charles was


    the one involved in these matters. No one knew his situation better than himself.


    "Take me to the hospital." Charles had divorced Sheryl. All he needed to do now was to sort things out


    with the woman in the hospital.


    "Okay."


    David drove Charles to the hospital without any further dy.


    Inside the ward, in room No. 506, of the hospital, a woman could be heard yelling at the top of her


    voice even from a far distance. It was the first thing to hit Charles'' ears the moment he entered the


    hospital. Her shrieks made him nervous and hastened his speed of walking.


    David looked in the direction of the ward with his fists clenched as he cast a nce at Charles.


    Charles rushed towards the ward without uttering a single word.


    Momentster, Charles arrived at the door of the ward, followed closely by David.


    "Charles, you are here! I thought you had abandoned me..." The woman calmed down at seeing


    Charles. She was so excited to see him that she climbed over the bed to approach him.


    Charles looked a little miffed to see the woman. He forced a smiled and said, "I won''t. What is


    happening? How do you feel? What are you yelling for?"


    "I thought you decided to abandon me. I was so scared..." The woman almost distorted her face with


    sorrow as she flung herself forward to hug Charles.


    Charles gently tapped the woman''s back in silence. He just wanted to soothe her to sleep.


    Half an hour went by, and the woman was finally able to fall asleep after a tranquilizer injection was


    administered to her.


    Charles detested this woman, who was now sleeping peacefully in front of him. The way he looked at


    her, distastefully, revealed his real attitude towards her.


    Charles'' recalled what had happened over thest two days to make his world fall apart. It felt like a


    nightmare that had alreadye true.


    He had left his office to meet Sheryl during lunchtime as per their agreement. But just as the driver


    drove the car out of the Shining Company, they hit a woman, right on the side of the road.


    The woman had lost consciousness immediately. At first, the driver had wanted to call the police as he


    thought that the woman was pretending to be injured to ckmail them. However, as Charles noticed


    the pale face of the victim, it seemed that she was heavily hurt. He then asked the driver to take the


    woman to the hospital urgently.


    Charles had thought it was a temporary engagement for him. He had thought he could leave the


    hospital as soon as the diagnosis was confirmed by the doctor. Then, he could ask the driver to contact


    her family since they had brought her to the hospital.


    However, much to his dismay, the woman, who called herself as Vicky, acted like a lunatic to badger


    him as she said, "I willmit suicide if you leave me. I want you to stay with me."


    "Fine, suit yourself!" Charles thought the woman had just wanted to threaten him. He could never have


    imagined that she would attempt to take her own life.


    Vicky consumed an entire bottle of pills. She would have been dead if Charles was not there to stop


    her.


    After that, Charles realized that the woman waspletely insane.


    "President Lu, are you alright?" David had asked as he rushed to Charles when he had seen thetter


    walk out of the ward, exhausted. He could see that Charles was upset.


    The doctor found cerebral congestion in Vicky''s brain after a thorough physical examination. His


    exnation for her behavior was that it was probably due to the temporary amnesia. She might have


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    felt insecure as she lost her memory. And that was why she mistook Charles as her rtive.


    "I''m alright. Let''s go back to the Dream Garden. Find someone to take care of her." Charles was


    The moment Charles came back to the Dream Garden, Melissa rushed to him to inquire about the


    situation. She wanted to know what was going on.


    Charles had no other option than, to tell the truth to his mother.


    "We identally hit a person while driving..." Charles barely managed to say, and then he dropped on


    the sofa like a boneless shell.


    "Your car hit a person?"


    Melissa stared at Charles in disbelief because she thought she must have heard it wrong.


    Charles nodded slightly as confirmation, and he let out a sigh. "Neither could I ever imagine that this


    kind of thing could happen to me. Now, Sher was... Well!" Charles'' voice trailed off partly out of


    exhaustion but mostly because of grief.


    "What happened between you two? Charles, you did not actually..." Melissa held her breath as she


    asked.


    "Mom, we got divorced." Charles forced a smile as he revealed the information. But he failed to hide


    the pain in his voice. Charles looked away while he tried to find the heart to continue.


    After a moment of silence, Charles managed to speak again. He gave a brief ount of how he and


    Sheryl drove to the Civil Affairs Bureau to finalize their divorce.


    "So, that Vicky woman is determined to ckmail you. Have I got it right?" Melissa asked Charles.


    "Yeah Mom, she said she wanted me to be with her. Otherwise, she would kill herself," Charles looked


    at Melissa as he replied with a sour face. Melissa could sense the helplessness in Charles'' eyes, yet


    she felt that there must be some better way to deal with it.


    "And you did not say yes to her, did you?" Melissa reasoned with Charles. Melissa stood up abruptly.


    She could not believe such a cheesy story would have happened to her son.


    "Of course not. But she had already attempted to kill herself once. I was kind of worried that..." Again


    Charles'' voice trailed off before he could finish, revealing his anxiety.


    Melissa nodded even before Charles had finished speaking. She could understand how painful it would


    be for a woman who lost her memory. That meant she had lost all the connections with her family and


    rtives. Under that situation, it was her intuitive reaction to rely on the first person she saw when she


    woke up from thea.


    "What about Sher? What about the kids? What are you going to do with them? And what about


    yourself? How will you be able to live without them?" Melissa could not stop herself from asking.


    "Mom, I will take care of it. Can you trust me?" Charles did not want to say anything else. He


    understood his mother''s concern, but there was nothing he could do at the moment.


    If it were anything else, he might be able to handle it. But this time, Charles found himself to be in a


    bind.


    "But, Charles..." Melissa urged.


    Charles turned to Melissa in a beseeching manner and said, "Mom, please believe me. I''m so tired


    right now. Can I have a moment to rest, please?"


    Melissa could not insist any further when facing Charles'' pleading. She gave him a slight nod, lowered


    her head, and slowly walked towards her room.