Ice and Fire novel Chapter 126

When Cherry got back home, she found Wilson sitting in the living room. She thought that Wilson must have been waiting for her and so he had not gone to sleep.

Cherry walked into the living room and calmly asked, "Wilson, it's really late. Why haven't you gone to bed yet?"

Wilson, however, did not immediately answer her question. Instead, he stood up, walked up to her and asked patiently, "Did he drive you here?"

Wilson found himself behaving very naively. He had seen that Jackson drove her home. Why bother to ask her about it?

Cherry did not intend to hide it from Wilson anyway. She said, "You have seen?"

Wilson once again ignored Cherry's question and asked her instead, "Were you and Jackson the only two for the dinner tonight?"

"No, Selina and Derek were also there. We had dinner together and then..." Cherry paused for a second and continued, "Jackson drove me home."

"Ha ha…" Wilson suddenly laughed out helplessly. He looked away and said, "I should have known. Your staying around Selina means that you can stay around Jackson. Why do you keep insisting on moving out of my villa? Do you want to go back to Jackson's house?"

"Wilson, I have never thought of that!" said Cherry in a hurry. She had not expected Wilson to think that way.

"Then, what is it that you have thought? Both dad and aunt have urged you not to move out and I have begged you to stay too. But you still did not change your mind. Do you plan to be with Jackson again? Didn't you say that you could never forget what Jackson had done to you?" Wilson had summoned up the courage to speak his mind.

Cherry looked at Wilson and felt a rush of sadness. She had thought that even if the rest of the world couldn't understand her, at least he would. However, what he had said had disappointed her.

Cherry tried to calm herself down and said to him, "Wilson, I'm tired and I'm going to get some rest first."

With these words, she turned and was about to leave, but Wilson walked up to her and stood in her way. He persisted to ask, "Tell me! Do you want to be with Jackson again?"

Cherry, finally unable to control her emotions, shouted at Wilson, "So what if I do? After all he's my husband; we are not divorced. The fact that he is Joe's father can never be changed."

Cherry's words stunned Wilson. At that moment, he realized that their fate was predetermined and no matter how hard he tried, it would not be changed.

Cherry was stunned too. She regretted that she had not succeeded in controlling herself well and ended up shouting at Wilson.

Cherry tried to calm herself down and said, "Sorry, Wilson. I'm not quite myself today. Please don't push me anymore right now. Okay?"

Having uttered these words, Cherry pushed Wilson away and rushed straight upstairs.

Wilson stood quietly in the living room and stared into the space.

Cherry went back to her bedroom, closed the door and leaned against it quietly. Her mind was in a total mess. Both Jackson's and Wilson's words kept on echoing in her mind. The two important persons in her life were both pushing her into a corner. She really did not know what to do. What should she do now?

After a while, Cherry gradually opened her eyes and found her beloved son standing in front of her, looking at her seriously.

Cherry suddenly remembered what had happened in the morning. Her face darkened immediately. She went to sit on the sofa next to her and commanded her son, "Come here, Joe Shen!"

Joe immediately realized that his mother was going to ask him about what had happened at school today.

Joe obediently walked up to Cherry, pouted and looked at her without saying a word.

"Don't you think you have something to say to me?" Cherry asked him straight away, harshly.

Joe lowered his head, kept fiddling with his own fingers and murmured, "Mommy, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit my classmate."

Cherry was distressed to hear her son's apology. She knew her son very well. He would never hit his classmate unless he had been offended. She had failed to give her son an intact family, which made his classmates laugh at him.

Cherry stretched out her arms and said softly, "Joe, come here."

Cherry's tenderness led Joe to burst into tears.

He embraced her and wailed in her arms.

"Mommy, I really didn't mean to hit him. He laughed at me and said that I didn't have a daddy, " sobbed Joe. In his little heart, he felt that there was something missing. It was a father's love. He got upset when he saw other children's father pick them up from school or play with them in a park. He only had his mother and Uncle Wilson around him. Although Uncle Wilson loved him, he still longed for a father's love.

Cherry also felt his sadness, holding his son in her arms.

After a long time, Cherry asked, "Joe, do you hate mommy?"

Joe shook his head right away in dismissal of that question. He loved his mother most in the world. How could he hate her?

Cherry continued, "Joe, I'm sorry. Mommy failed to give you an intact family."

Joe comforted his mother and said, "Mommy, please don't apologize to me. I have never blamed you. You're my mommy and that is enough for me, as long as you are here with me."

Cherry was very touched to hear her little son's words. In this world, her son was the most important person for her.

Joe saw that Cherry kept silent, so he continued, "Mommy, I know that you have lived a hard life. I have never seen my daddy since I was born. Once, when I asked grandma about it, she only told me that daddy treated you badly and that was why you left him, " Joe paused and went on, "Mommy, if daddy treated you badly, then I'd rather live without him. I only want you and I just want to spend my life with you."

With these words, Joe tightly nestled into Cherry's bosom.

Cherry felt very happy and calm with her son comfortably in her arms.

"Joe, do you want to listen to mommy and daddy's story?" Cherry looked ahead with a forlorn look.

Joe nodded hard. He was eager to know all about it. Even though he could not live with his father, he still wanted to know who he was. He had heard his mother talk about his father with his classmate's mother. So he believed that his father must have once been around them or been very close to them.

Cherry did not intend to hide it from her son and said gently, "Joe, we've been back in this city for some time now. Have you ever heard about the Chu family?"

"Is it the same Chu family as that one which is in charge of the army and has great authority over the whole city?" asked Joe. Ever since they had come back, Joe had immediately started learning about the city on the Internet. In order to protect his mother and adapt to this domestic life, he had to make preparation beforehand.

Cherry nodded slightly and said, "Your father is Jackson Chu."

"Jackson Chu?" repeated Joe in wonder. Joe quickly scanned through his brain on any information he might recollect. He remembered such a person. It seemed that he had a great influence in the city, and his nephew was the governor of the city. It was said that he was the one who helped his nephew get to that position.

Cherry started to tell her son about Jackson and their past.

"That year, I had been betrayed and abandoned by the man I loved. My sister and my boyfriend had gotten together behind my back. At that time, I used to live in the Shen house, but they didn't want me there any longer. They wanted your mommy to marry someone and move out. In this way, they also wanted to get a good bride price. It was then arranged for me to go on several blind dates one after another. On one instance, your mommy met your father. When I got to know that he was the uncle of my ex-boyfriend, I decided to marry him just to humiliate the man who had betrayed me and my sister who had always bullied me." The room was still with silence, with only Cherry's voice echoing.

"Mommy, is your ex-boyfriend the current governor and Jackson's nephew?" Joe had quickly calculated their relationship in his mind and believed that he was right.

Cherry nodded and continued, "That was when I married your father. Our marriage was not based on love. Your father had been bored with all the blind dates arranged by his grandfather while I only wanted to escape from the Shen house which had been a nightmare for me since my childhood."

Joe listened carefully. Cherry had never spoken about it with him before.

Cherry continued, "When I married into the Chu family, your father treated me well at first. We didn't love each other, but we got along together very well. Occasionally, your dad was very good to me. And then, you know what happened? Mommy was moved and fell in love with him. At that time mommy was a person who missed any form of love. I had never gotten my parents' love. My father, my stepmother and their daughter, all bullied me, and your grandma was abroad then. There was nobody around who loved me. When your father treated me well, I got lost in that feeling."

Joe listened to Cherry's words and wanted to cry. He had never anticipated that his mother would have had to live such a hard life before.

Cherry said calmly, "But later, when a woman called Sally appeared in our lives, our marriage completely broke down. She had grown up together with your daddy and he had forever loved her and maybe still loves her. Your daddy had done a lot of crazy things for her ever since she appeared. Once on a freezing cold night, he left me alone and went to meet her. In that period, I spent many a sleepless nights in tears."

Cherry could not help but burst into tears. Joe, seeing his mother crying, helped her wipe away her tears with his little hands.

Cherry tried to hold back her emotions, not wanting to reveal too much in the presence of her son.

"In short, after a lot of things happened, mommy left your father. Even though sometimes he was good to me, I still knew that he loved that woman. I was afraid of being alone in that cold house, " said Cherry. She tried her best to hold back her tears.

Cherry had told Joe the whole story and now, he knew everything. While helping Cherry wipe her tears, Joe said, "Mommy, everything will stay the same in the future. In my heart, there is only mommy. I will always live with mommy and I don't want anyone else to enter into our life."

Cherry looked at her son, suddenly smiled and said, "Silly boy, you still have to get married when you grow up, and I'm sure you'll marry a beautiful girl."