The Substitute Wife My Poor Husband is a Billionaire
Chapter 685 Hallucination
Charis kept delaying the date of being discharged from the hospital. She just couldn’t accept the fact that she was now disfigured and cried into her pillow all day long for days on end.
She was once a cool, confident woman, but now her ego was in a rut and she gradually became depressed and gloomy.
Sometimes it only took one pivotal moment to destroy a person’s pride and joy. When Charis saw her reflection in the mirror, all the pride and confidence she had accumulated in the past twenty some years was destroyed.
On the day Charis went back to work in the Larson Group, Catherine was very anxious. She personally accompanied her daughter to the gate of the Larson Group’s building, just like how she accompanied her to school on her first day.
“Don’t f0rce yourself, my dear. You don’t have to work right now. I’ve been talking with your father, and we want to go on a trip with you. You can take some time off and relax for a while…”
“I’m fine, Mom. I have to face reality sooner or later, right?” Charis stood outside the gate of Larson Group, trembling slightly. It took her every ounce of courage she could muster to go back to the office. @
Charis straightened her black long-sleeve shirt and trousers and wrapped her scarf around herself tightly. She had put on a mask to cover half of her face. When she was sure that she was completely covered, she took a deep breath and started walking towards the building with difficulty.
It was November now, but the weather wasn’t too cold. Charis covered herself from head to toe, exposing only her eyes and nostrils. Naturally, her conspicuous look drew a lot of attention to herself.
As the employees of the Larson Group walked past her, they couldn’t help but look at her strangely.
These curious gazes made Charis, who had become very sensitive lately, feel very uncomfortable. She felt as if those people could see her scarred skin from underneath the cloth.
Hugging herself tightly, Charis lowered her head and briskly walked to her office.
When Brandon learned that Charis was back, he went to see her during lunch break.
“Thank you for coming back to work so soon. But you were just discharged from the hospital. You should stay at home and take more rest.” Brandon was a little surprised when he heard that Charis was coming back so soon. M
His words also surprised her.
“Thank you. As long as you don’t blame me for delaying the work of the company, I’m fine.” Charis lowered her head and adjusted her mask subconsciously to cover her face more, i
Seeing her little uncomfortable mannerisms, Brandon asked, “Doesn’t it feel stuffy to wear a mask and a scarf indoors? There’s no one else here. Don’t worry.”
His att*itude toward Charis was as cold as before. He hadn’t changed even though she was disfigured.
Charis smiled bitterly. She couldn’t tell how she felt.
She knew clearly that it was because Brandon only viewed her as a business partner, nothing more. As long as her capacity to work hadn’t changed, she was no different from her previous self in his eyes.
Charis’s heart wrenched in bitterness. She turned away and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. If the others see the way I look now, it’ll cause a stir. I don’t want to disturb the other employees.”
Hearing this, Brandon didn’t say anything more.
******
Charis tried to work the same way her old self would’ve worked. That way, she could at least maintain her relationship with Brandon.
But she soon realized that her working capacity wasn’t as good as before.
She had been on leave for about a month. There was a lot of work that piled up in her absence. Truth be told, this wasn’t the problem for her. The real problem now was her inner demons.
Charis used to be a calm and rational woman, but now that her confidence was destroyed along with her beautiful face, she couldn’t keep calm.
The senior executives of the Larson Group held four or five meetings every week. Every time she attended a meeting, she felt that the people around her were staring at her. Whenever they whispered to each other, she felt as if they were laughing at her.
One day, in a routine meeting, Charis couldn’t control herself anymore and exploded on the spot. She lost her temper at the executives who were talking offstage. She even overturned a table and yelled at them.
Later, she found out that the senior executives were just discussing the business plan she proposed at the time. No one ever laughed at her.
She was just imagining things.
After that day, the same thing happened more frequently. Charis had changed into a completely different person.
She always felt that she looked so horrible now, so she was too ashamed to attend meetings with other business partners. And she refused invitations to banquets and parties again and again. Given her disfigurement, how could she wear a gown and socialize gracefully?
Gradually, the invitations stopped coming. Then Charis began to think that those people deliberately stopped inviting her because they felt her ugliness revolting.