Ice and Fire novel Chapter 103

The next morning, Cherry bolted through her breakfast and rushed to work.

When she arrived at the office, she immediately started to work at her desk, like every other day.

Just a few minutes later, the manager came over and asked her to send over a document to JS Group's subsidiary.

She nodded and took the task dutifully.

After the manager left, she searched for the route on her computer and then set off for her destination.

Inside the office building of the JS group, when the elevator reached the first floor, she rushed out of it and in the process, knocked straight into someone who was coming her way.

She felt a sudden pain on her temple. It seemed that she had hit it against strong chest. The touch of the clothes felt like that of a military uniform.

"I'm sorry, " said Cherry as she looked up.

In the next second, both Cherry and Derek were shocked.

Derek could not believe his eyes. The woman standing in front of him was Cherry, Jackson's wife. What was she doing at JS? Why was she here?

"Ch-cherry?" Derek called out in utter astonishment.

Cherry also realised only then that it was Derek she had bumped into. She had thought he would have been a random stranger.

"Derek..." she called softly and then dropped her head.

"What are you doing here? More importantly, when did you come back?" asked Derek, who felt his head rushing with a surprise mingled with delight. He could not help thinking of Jackson who would finally cheer up to know about the reunion.

Cherry involuntarily touched her hair, not knowing what to say.

Finally she blurted out, "Derek, I'm in kind of a hurry and I really have to go now. Bye!"

Then she turned around and walked away before Derek could even come up with any response.

As Derek watched Cherry disappear, he felt exhilarated. What a wonderful thing it had been to see her back!

All of a sudden, Selina came up from nowhere, flung her arms around Derek's neck and said in a fiendish voice, "Brother, are you staring at hot girls?"

"Yes." Derek nodded with a smile. His eyes still lingered on where Cherry's figure was leaving.

"You are looking at hot girls? Really?" Selina had not thought that her chiding would actually be a true guess.

It suddenly occurred to Derek that Cherry had been holding some documents. Would she possibly work here?

He instantly jerked his head around to her sister and asked, "Sister, do you know Cherry?"

"Of course, " answered Selina with certainty. Cherry was an excellent employee who worked under her. How could she not know her?

"How do you know her?" asked Derek in surprise.

"She works for me, " answered Selina ignorantly, not making too much out of the situation.

Derek's eyes widened. Cherry was working at the JS Group? Did she know that Selina was his sister? Did she know that JS Group's owner was Jackson?

Seeing his brother's expressions drown in shock, Selina wondered, "Hey, are you alright? Why have you made such a face?"

Derek, in a state of shock, ignored Selina's words and pulled away her arms from his neck.

"I have to go now, " he said abruptly and then left in a hurry.

Selina shouted, "Where are you going? We haven't finished talking. Why are you in such a hurry?"

But Derek did not care to respond at all.

He raced all the way to the military residential compound and went straight to the Chu's.

When he entered the house, he found Andrew and the butler sitting in the living room. He politely greeted, "Hello, Sir."

Then he nodded at the butler as a polite gesture.

The butler nodded back to Derek, always being acknowledged by him and feeling that Derek was really a well-bred young man.

"Hello, Derek." Andrew greeted in response, smiling.

"Sir, I have some work with Jackson", said Derek.

"He is in the study upstairs. Go along", said Andrew. He did not sense anything possibly wrong, since Derek and Jackson were good friends and met at the residence often.

"Thank you, Sir. I'll go and see him, " said Derek.

"Okay, see you later." Andrew waved his hand.

Derek went upstairs and knocked on the door before he walked in.

Jackson was sitting at the desk blankly, without really reading anything. He looked like lost somewhere in his thoughts. Derek could hardly wait to tell Jackson the good news.

"Jackson. I have some good news!" said Derek as he walked closer. Then he added, "She is back... I mean Cherry is back, and she is working at JS!"

Jackson looked at Derek without revealing any response.

Jackson's calmness was contrary to Derek's expectation. Suddenly he realised that Jackson might already know about it.

"You knew she's back?" demanded Derek.

"Yes", Jackson responded blankly and then looked away.

Derek thought for a while and then asked, "So, have you met her?"

"Yes." Jackson gave Derek the same simple answer.

Derek was beginning to get anxious. He wondered to himself, 'What is Jackson thinking about? Why did he not tell me that he had met Cherry? I have raced all the way here to tell him the news and even left Selina alone at the office. She must've been furious! I had even promised her that I would meet an American client with her today.'

Derek nudged Jackson's shoulder and said, "Why haven't you brought her home? Where does she live now? Did you ask her about why she left five years ago?"

Jackson looked into Derek's eyes and finally decided to be frank with him.

"Bring her home? Why? She disappeared all of a sudden five years ago and suddenly appeared again. Does that mean I have to forgive her and take her home as if nothing happened? Who do you think she is?" Jackson said with a hint of anger in his tone.

Derek did not expect that Jack still felt so much hatred for Cherry after so many years.

"But she is still your wife and you two haven't gotten a divorce yet, " said Derek.

"A divorce?" Jackson repeated and then snarled, "Never!"

Derek knew that deep inside, Jackson actually cared about Cherry and had been missing her terribly in all these years. As far as he could tell, Jackson still loved Cherry.

Derek patted on Jackson's shoulder comfortingly and said, "Jackson. Don't be mad with her. Talk to her and ask her why she left five years ago. Then bring her home."

Jackson refused to listen and responded instead, "I'll make her pay for what she did to me. I'll let her know what it felt like to be tortured this way."

Derek felt a bit worried. He could tell that although Jackson did not intend to take Cherry home, he had suffered a lot from Cherry's sudden departure during the past five years and he still loved her to bits.

However, seeing Jackson's reaction, he decided not to say anything more.

After a long time of silence, a thought suddenly struck Derek and he looked at Jackson, asking, "Are we going to tell your grandpa about this?"

"No, " answered Jackson crisply. "Don't tell him about this. I'll take care of it on my own."

Derek nodded. He would always be on Jackson's side, for he believed that Jackson had his own code of conduct.

Later, when Derek returned to his house, he found Selina there, sitting on the couch.

He walked straight to her, wondering why she was at home when she should have been working.

"What are you doing here?" asked Derek.

Selina glared at him furiously and asked, "Derek, do you want to die? How dare you stand me up?"

Derek knew that he had been wrong in leaving her alone at JS, even after he had promised her to meet the clients.

He sat down near Selina and held her shoulder in his arm, trying to comfort her, "I'm sorry, Selina. Something came up and I had to go. Please forgive me."

"What's going on? Is it more important than my promise? Brother, what am I to you?" shouted Selina, her annoyance rising. She had thought that her brother would always love her, but it turned out he could abandon her just like that when something came up.

"I love you the most, always, " Derek said assuringly. He was afraid of riling her because if she got mad, he would have to face the painful consequences.

"Then tell me why you left? Why did you ask about Cherry?" Selina poured out all of her questions in a go and then added, "I saw your car in the yard. Where have you been?"

"Sister, take it easy. Let me just catch my breath." Derek felt a little exhausted having to face his sister.

"Okay, Go ahead. Tell me, " commanded Selina like a proud woman.

Seeing Selina calm down, Derek slowly began, "For the first question, I left for Jackson's business. For the second, I also asked about Cherry for Jackson. For the last, I was at Jackson's."

"Jackson?" repeated Selina in surprise. Then she asked, "What's going on between Jackson and Cherry? One is a soldier, and the other just returned from abroad. Do they know each other?"

Derek glanced at Selina and decided to tell her the truth. He said, "They are more than acquaintances."

This took Selina by surprise. She suddenly realised that Jackson and Cherry must have known each other for a long time.

She grabbed Derek's arm, snuggled up against him, and pleaded with urgency, "Brother, tell me more. What's going on between them?"

Derek looked at Selina and asked seriously, "Do you remember Jackson's wife, who left him five years ago?"

"Of course. The entire house knows about it. I reckon that almost the entire city has heard of it. At that time, Andrew was furious, and Jackson had been looking for her all over the place." Selina recalled that it had become really big news, around the same time when she herself was preparing to travel back home from aboard. People had continued to gossip about it even days after Selina had come back, thinking that the woman must have been abused.

"His wife was Cherry, " said Derek, enunciating every word slowly, staring at Selina.

Selina was dumbstruck and slowly arose.

"What? What do you mean by that? Cherry is that woman? Jackson's wife?" Selina kept on shaking her head in disbelief.