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 Ye. 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.
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