Ice and Fire novel Chapter 139

Stephen nodded, and said, "Yes, I'll send people to look for him. Please, don't worry."

"Thank you so much Stephen, " said Cherry with a pleasant smile on her face.

When Stephen saw her beam, he was also delighted and his heart softened. Nothing in the world could have made him happier than having her near him and smiling.

Cherry immediately felt more relaxed. At first it seemed that nothing was bothering her, but all of a sudden she thought of Jackson, and came up with a new question in her mind.

She looked at Stephen, and with seriousness in her voice asked, "Stephen, could I ask you a question?"

"Please go right ahead, " replied Stephen.

"What happened between you and Jackson?" carefully asked Cherry.

Stephen's face became dark and cold in an instant. "Cherry, you already knew it?"

"Yes, " said Cherry, nodding.

When Stephen saw that Cherry was looking at him anxiously, he thought to himself, 'How could I tell her about it? If I tell her, Jackson will never let me go. What's more, I also don't have a plan for what's next to follow. I just have to succeed in keeping the Anshi Group safe; my next move has to be precisely planned.'

"Cherry, do you know why Sally left that year?" asked Stephen all of a sudden.

Cherry shook her head. She didn't know what had happened. She only knew that Sally had been Jackson's true love, that she had left because of some unknown reasons and that then she had come back again, but she didn't knew the details. Nobody had ever told her about it.

Stephen looked away for a moment, and continued, "When you have the time, you'd better ask Jackson about it first."

After she heard Stephen's words Cherry pondered for a while, and then asked, "Did you also have something to do with Sally's disappearance?"

Stephen hadn't expected that Cherry would have thought so far, and it seemed that he had underestimated her intelligence and rational ability.

He glanced at her and asked, "Cherry, how well do you know me?"

Cherry shook her head again, because at that moment she suddenly realized that she actually knew very little about Stephen. She only knew that he was the bar's owner and that he had been Emily's boss. He was very nice to her, and had helped her a lot when she was in need, but she didn't have any knowledge about his private life or his past whatsoever.

When Stephen looked at Cherry, who was totally puzzled, he thought twice, and finally said, "Cherry, I also come from a military family."

The words almost stunned Cherry. She thought in disbelief, 'Military family? Jackson is a soldier, Derek is a soldier, so that means that Stephen was a soldier too?'

Stephen saw Cherry's expression and was afraid that she might have guessed something wrong. He quickly added, "I'm not a soldier, but both of my parents were soldiers."

When Cherry heard him, she quickly asked, "Then why don't you live in the military residential compound? Don't all army men's families live in the residential compound?"

Cherry's question reminded Stephen of something unpleasant, and suddenly he looked gloomy and sad.

"I lived there before, but..." he said. Stephen paused for a while, and then continued, "I have no right to live in the residential compound now."

"Why? That doesn't sound reasonable. Any army men's children can apply for it, " argued Cherry. Because she had lived with Jackson for some time, she had learned some of the military regulations.

Stephen shook his head, and said, "Cherry, there are some things which aren't as simple as you would think they are."

Cherry watched Stephen's expression and gradually calmed down. Maybe it was just as Stephen had said, maybe she was too naive to find out the underlying fact in all of it.

"So you, Jackson, and Derek have known each other ever since childhood?" asked Cherry in a surprised manner.

Stephen nodded to her, and replied, "Yes, and also Sally. We all grew up together."

Cherry then remembered the time when she had first met Stephen and the times when Stephen and Jackson had confronted each other in the bar. They seemed to have known each other, but there was nothing friendly between them. The relationship between them was strange, and was pretty hard to be described in words.

"Then, what about your parents?" As soon as he heard Cherry's question, Stephen's face became dark.

"No more questions, okay?" almost roared Stephen.

Cherry was startled by him, and as she stared at him, she couldn't help but shiver.

Stephen then realized that he had failed to control his own emotions. He quickly calmed down, and said to Cherry, "Cherry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that!"

Everything seemed to be a mess. "It's all right, " said Cherry as she shook her head, but in reality terrified by him.

Puzzled, she thought to herself, 'What the hell is going on? What happened between Jackson, Derek, Sally and Stephen?'

Cherry suddenly felt very scared, because it seemed that she had walked into an endless black hole on the day that she had married Jackson. The deeper she had walked in it, the more people she had seen, and they were Derek, Sally, Stephen and Selina. She didn't know whether they were good persons or bad persons, and she didn't know whom else she would meet on her way, but one thing she knew for sure, and that was she knew nothing. All that she could do now was to keep on walking, unaware of her final destination, and unaware of the final outcome of it.