Ice and Fire novel Chapter 91

In the morning, the alarm clock rang, and Cherry woke up. She wanted to also wake up her son, but after she opened her sleepy eyes, she noticed that Joe Shen was not in bed beside her.

"Joe? Joe Shen!" called Cherry. She scratched her head, and wondered where Joe could have gone to at such an early hour of the morning. She also wondered how she didn't feel him get out of bed.

After she washed and changed her clothes, she went downstairs, and found her son in the dining room.

He was making breakfast with Wilson beside the dinning table.

When he saw her, Joe cheerfully said, "Mommy! Mommy! Come and have breakfast with us! Wilson had taught me to make breakfast. Try it and tell me if you like it!"

When Cherry saw that her son ran to her and pulled her to the dinning room, her heart was filled with happiness.

Wilson also warmly said, "Come and have your breakfast."

Cherry nodded.

She had some food, and said with satisfaction, "Joe, it looks that you have the makings to be an wonderful cook! Excellent!"

When Joe heard that his mommy praised him, he was very happy, and said, "Of course, just think who I am. I'm the smartest boy in the whole wide world!"

When they saw how proud of himself he actually was, Cherry and Wilson looked at each other, shook their heads, and smiled.

After breakfast, Wilson took Joe to school.

Cherry took her resume and intended to go to the JS Group for the interview. She told herself that because the JS Group was a big company, she had to be her best to get the job. If she was accepted, then her life and her son's would be a whole lot more secure.

As she entered the first floor of the splendid JS Building, people passed by her actively. It was indeed the most powerful company in the city.

Cherry walked up to the front desk and told the receptionists that she was there for an interview. After they found her name on the list of appointments, she was guided to the interview.

For the whole morning, Cherry talked with people from the personnel department. She also talked with the business manager, and he told her that if she received a notification for the second part of the interview in the afternoon, then she could meet the company's chairman tomorrow and start work right away.

When she left the building, she was in good mood, because she had done well in the interview. She had briefly introduced her working experience. Five years ago, she had worked as business department leader in the Shen Group, and in the past five years, she had worked abroad in related business. The whole interview went well, and she believed that she would be hired.

Cherry then drove home and waited for the company's notification.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, she received a message from the personnel department stating that she could start work tomorrow. She was very happy, and kept saying over and over, "Thank you!"

After she hung up, she remembered that her son had made breakfast for her in the morning. Thanks to that, she was in a terrific mood and the interview had gone well. So Cherry decided to make dinner for her son, to celebrate both her success, and her son's first day at school.

She drove to the supermarket and bought a lot of food, and then she returned back home to make dinner for her son.

When Wilson and Joe arrived back home, they smelled dinner. They looked at each other and were surprised.

"Mommy!" suddenly shouted Joe.

When Cherry heard her son call out for her, she knew that he was back with Wilson. "Joe, is that you?"

"Yes, we're back!" Joe Shen then walked towards the kitchen, and when he saw the marvellous dinner on the table, he asked with a surprised look in his eyes, "Mommy, did you cook this?"

While she was still busy cooking, Cherry answered, "Of course I cooked it! Who else?"

Joe Shen ignored his mother's words and turned to Wilson, and said, "Uncle Wilson! What's wrong with my mommy today?"

Wilson smiled, and as he looked at the dishes she cooked, he thought that she must be in a good mood. He guessed that her interview had been a success.

"Perhaps your mommy got a job, " said Wilson.

Joe Shen looked at him in surprise. He walked into the kitchen, and as he stood beside his mother, he asked, "Mommy, did you find a job? Which company is it? Are there many wolves there?"

When she heard his questions, Cherry didn't know how to reply to him.

"Joe, do you think it's easy for me to find a job? Why are you asking about wolves?" Cherry was helpless, and she didn't know what her son was thinking.

Joe Shen puckered his mouth, as if he was unsatisfied that his mommy was wrong about him. He said, "I'm afraid that someone might take advantage of you."

Cherry stared at her son and was sorry for him. She gently said, "That's impossible, Joe Shen! Look at me! I'm so strong that no one would ever dare to take advantage of me! Besides, if that ever happens, you and your uncle have to avenge me."

When he heard this, Joe was so excited that he happily replied, "Okay, if I can't do other things, it doesn't matter, but to revenge you, that I can certainly do."

Cherry shook her head, and thought to herself, 'My little son is really an old soul. Sometimes his ideas surprise me; I can't believe that my son is so clever.'

In the evening, they all ate dinner together. Wilson asked her, "Cherry, how was your interview today?"

Cherry happily replied, "Because you and Joe made me breakfast, my interview was a success. I've received a notification this afternoon, and I'll go to work starting from tomorrow." She added, "Besides, the JS Group is really efficient."

"Of course it is! The company has become one of the largest in the city in only a few years, so it is certainly powerful and efficient. I've also heard that the chairman of the JS Group is a woman; have you met her today?"

Cherry shook her head, and replied, "No, but I might tomorrow."

Wilson nodded, and said, "Since you got a job in the JS Group, you should work hard. You can have a bright future there."

"Okay, Wilson, I will, " firmly said Cherry.

Suddenly, she remembered something, and she looked back at her son and asked, "Joe, how was your first day at school?"

Joe Shen was eating, and he indifferently replied, "Just as usual."

"What do you mean by that?" Cherry thought that her son meant something else.

After Joe finished his last mouthful of food, he said, "Nothing special; today I introduced myself in the classroom and then started the lesson. I didn't expect that many girls to give me their lunch before I went to the school cafeteria with my desk mate at noon."

"Why did they give you their lunch?" Cherry didn't figure it out immediately, and thought to herself, 'My son knows nobody at that school, but why did the girls give him lunch?'

Wilson laughed because he had known the reason.

Joe Shen looked at Wilson and then looked at his silly mommy. He thought to himself, 'Is my mommy getting old? Why does she think so slowly?'

He looked at his mother, and said, "Because they like me!"

Cherry immediately got angry, and thought to herself, 'When we were abroad, he had attracted many girls indeed, but I wouldn't have expected him to be so popular on his first day of school.'

"Joe Shen, listen to me! For now, your main task is to study hard, not to fool around!" said Cherry seriously.

On the other hand, Joe impatiently replied, "Mommy, take it easy, because the only girl I love is you, so you don't need to worry. You'll be the only one in my heart!"

As she looked at her son, Cherry, half angry and half amused, didn't know what to do with him anymore.

Wilson laughed hard, and thought that the two of them had always made him happy.

At night, while Cherry was lying in bed, Joe Shen kept trying to snuggle in her arms.

Cherry didn't recline, and held him in her arms and stared at the ceiling. No one knew what she was thinking about.

"Mommy, what are you thinking?" suddenly asked Joe Shen.

"I was thinking where will we move after my job becomes more steady, so we don't need to bother your uncle and grandfather anymore." Cherry felt that she had a heavy burden to carry, and although her son didn't worry her, life still put pressure on her as a woman.

Joe said, "Mommy, I don't want you to give me riches, I just want to live with you. If we'll have a small bed and can cuddle, that's all that I want."

When she heard him, she got emotional, and held him even more tighter in her arms.

After a while, she finally asked, "Joe, do you hate me?"

"Why should I hate you, mommy?" Joe Shen was confused.

Tears started to run down on Cherry's face. She said, "Because I haven't given you a complete family, and because you haven't got your father's love. Joe Shen, I'm really sorry!"

Joe Shen then reached out his hands, wiped off her tears, and said, "Mommy, don't be sorry. Although I long for a father, I feel that everything is already good enough for me with you. I know that you love me best, and I only hope to be with you. Any place that you live is my home."

Cherry looked at her sensible son and smiled happily. She was proud of him, and she also felt content to be with him.

When Joe Shen noticed that his mommy was silent, he asked, "Mommy, do you still love my daddy?"

When Cherry heard his question, she didn't try to avoid it. Instead, she looked again at the room's ceiling, and said, "What was the point of loving him anyway? Your father doesn't love us; he has another woman with him, and in his heart."

When he heard this, Joe Shen finally understood that his mommy must have left his daddy for a particular reason. She had been unhappy with him, so she had to leave him. How could he possibly blame her for not giving him a family? His mommy had also suffered, a lot.