Ice and Fire novel Chapter 45

The two of them then did some happy shopping. Cherry was in good mood, and bought some clothes that she liked, and three hours later, both of them held lots of shopping bags in their hands.

Cherry and Emily took a rest on the chairs in the shopping plaza. When Emily saw the shopping bags around them, she asked, "Cherry, how will we carry them home?"

Cherry frowned, and answered, "I have absolutely no idea. Although they're not too heavy, carrying them home might not be that easy."

"I don't have a husband, so nobody is there for me to carry them home. What about you, Cherry? Call him and ask him to help you, " said Emily.

"He works at the army base, not at home, " said Cherry helplessly. She regretted that she had married a soldier, and thought that if she had married an ordinary man and had called him, half an hour later he would have been there to pick her and Emily up.

"He's a commander rather than an ordinary soldier. I guess he isn't that busy, is he? Go on, call him and ask him if he has time. If he isn't busy, he'll come here to pick us up, " said Emily with a wry smile shining on her face.

Cherry looked at Emily, and thought of calling Jackson. She remembered that he had told her that she could call him if necessary, and she thought that if he indeed wasn't busy, he could actually meet them there and help them to carry their clothes home.

Cherry then took her mobile phone and called Jackson.

And a moment later, he answered.

Jackson's attractive voice was heard on the phone, and said, "Hello."

"Uh..." Cherry was nervous, and couldn't find her words.

"What's up?" asked Jackson.

"Are you busy now? If you're not, can you come and pick me up?" Cherry was careful, because Jackson's rage was too much to endure, if it was triggered.

Jackson now knew that Cherry was outside, and asked, "Where are you?"

When she heard Jackson's question, Cherry hastily replied, "I'm shopping at the plaza, but we've already bought lots of things and can't carry them home. Can you come and drive us home?"

Cherry said the last sentence in a tender and soft tone, because she was still afraid that she might somehow anger Jackson.

After a long pause, Jackson still said nothing, and Cherry eventually felt disappointed, and said, "If you're busy, we'll find another way to go home, although my feet are aching..."

Just before Cherry was about to hang up the phone, she heard Jackson's voice again.

He said, "Don't move. I'll come in twenty minutes, " and then immediately hung up.

Dazed, Cherry looked at her phone, and didn't even notice that the call had ended.

But Emily saw it, and asked, "What did he say? Is he coming or not?"

Cherry repeated Jackson's words, "Don't move. He'll come in twenty minutes."

Emily smiled, and said, "I told you that if you ask, he'll come. He can't just leave you unattended like this."

Cherry then came back to her senses, and when she realized that Jackson would actually come for her, a big smile appeared on her face.

She boasted, "Hum, how could he refuse me? If he had said no, I would have asked for help from another man."

Emily teased her, and said, "Haha, just look at yourself! I don't believe you for a second that you would ever dare to do a thing like that." She knew that Cherry had said this only to find for herself a sense of achievement.

"Why not?" arrogantly said Cherry.

Emily shook her head, and thought that as long as Cherry felt happy, she could do whatever she wanted to.

Twenty minutes later, Cherry saw a car park not that far away from them, and then Jackson, dressed in his military uniform, got out of it.

Cherry and Emily regarded Jackson as their saviour for the day. They hastily took their shopping bags and walked up to him.

Jackson also picked up the pace when he saw his wife carrying several large shopping bags. He took the bags from her hands, and while he pretended his resentment, he said, "If you can't carry them home, why did you buy them?"

"Because she misses you and wants you to come here, " said Emily, grinning widely at him.

Cherry hastily approached Emily and gave her a slight slap on the arm, and whispered in her ear, "Shut up. I didn't miss him."

Emily then smiled broadly, and said nothing more.

Jackson then put Cherry's shopping bags in the car trunk, while Emily, with only two bags, got inside the back seat.

After Cherry got in the front passenger seat, Jackson started the car.

While she looked at Jackson, she said, "Drive Emily home first."

Although Jackson said nothing, he actually thought of the same thing Cherry did.

They arrived at their first stop, and Emily joyfully said, "Cherry, whenever you have time, call me. We can go shopping together again." She had been very happy, because she hadn't gone shopping with Cherry in a long time.

"Alright, " agreed Cherry happily. "Some other day I'll come to your bar, and you can make one of your drinks for me."

But before Emily gave her answer, Jackson coldly said, "Don't go to the bar."

Cherry was astonished and met Emily's glance. She then turned to Jackson, and asked, "Why not? I just want to have a drink with Emily..."

"If you want a drink, call me, and I will buy it for you. I'll tell you again, don't go to the bar, " replied Jackson, in his typical, bossy way.

Disappointed and helpless, she looked at Jackson's cold expression. She didn't dare to talk back to him, and instead had to smother her anger and disappointment every time something like this happened.

Emily giggled at their quarrels, and suddenly came closer to Cherry, and whispered in her ear, "I guess that Jackson's afraid that you might somehow come across Mr. Stephen."

Cherry turned around and shot a curious glance at Emily. She gloomily thought, "She might be right, because why else wouldn't Jackson let me grab a drink with her in the bar?"

Jackson heard what they were talking about and continued to drive the car without saying a word.

The car parked at the entrance of Emily's neighborhood; she said her goodbyes, and then went home.

Jackson then drove away.

On the way home, both of them kept silent, which was embarrassing. Cherry looked out of the window, and thought that Jackson was too paranoid as to stop her from grabbing a drink in the bar.

"What's wrong? Why aren't you saying something?" asked Jackson. He suddenly shot an angry glance at Cherry.

"I'm not in the mood, " said Cherry gloomily.

"You know why I won't allow you to go to the bar, " said Jackson.

"Are you afraid that I'll meet Stephen there?" she said. Cherry then turned to Jackson, and continued, "Stephen's just a friend to me. Why are you even worried?"

"Even if you treat him as an ordinary friend, he doesn't, " indifferently Jackson replied. He was clearly aware of why Stephen approached Cherry.

"It doesn't matter what he thinks, he's no more than a friend to me, " said Cherry.

Jackson then suddenly opened his mouth, and ordered, "My wife shouldn't have any male friends."

"What?" Cherry was totally taken aback by Jackson's unreasonable request. "Are you limiting my freedom now?" shouted Cherry.

"What else?" asked Jackson.

"You're being unreasonable!" she said. Cherry was so angry that she lost all of her words, and if she had known that the situation would go this way, she would have never called him in the first place. Her good mood had now evaporated completely.

Outside of their house, Cherry got out of the car, slammed the door shut, went straight into the house, and left the shopping bags inside the car.

Jackson knew that his wife had lost her temper. He said nothing, and instead took the shopping bags out of the car and got inside the house.

Later in the evening, Jackson was reading a book in the study, while Cherry was watching TV inside the living room. At ten o'clock, Jackson felt sleepy, and he walked out of his study to their bedroom, but Cherry wasn't there.

Jackson then came downstairs, and saw that Cherry was sitting on the couch and watching TV.

He came to sit beside her, and said, "It's late, let's go to sleep."

"Leave me alone, " said Cherry coldly.

Looking at the angry expression on the face of his beloved woman, Jackson felt a bit happy.

He put his arm around Cherry's shoulder and embraced her, and tenderly and lovingly said, "Please don't be angry at me, you've been doing this since the afternoon. I'm really sorry."

"Jackson, did you plan to anger me today?" asked Cherry. She had just pretended to be angry, although she still felt that Jackson had started the quarrel on purpose.

"No, I didn't. I just didn't want to see any lecherous men around you, " said Jackson, and tenderly bit Cherry's earlobe.

"Aren't you such a man?" she asked. Cherry enjoyed the moments when Jackson would hold her in his arms.

"You shouldn't have other lecherous men around you, except me." After he said this, Jackson lifted Cherry up from the couch and carried her to the bedroom.

Surprised, Cherry asked, "What are you doing?"

Jackson shot a wry glance at the woman in his arms, and said, "Going to sleep. What else do you think we're going to do at this late hour of the night?"

Before they entered their bedroom, Cherry quickly said, "We can go to sleep, but don't try to do anything else. Be careful, I'm warning you!"

"Do you want me to do anything else?"