Ice and Fire novel Chapter 287

When Jackson came back home, he looked around the living room but found no one in it. He saw only Lily, who was busy in the kitchen.

Noticing that Jackson had returned, Lily immediately greeted him respectfully, "Mr. Jackson, you're back home!"

"Yes. Where is my Grandfather?" asked Jackson.

"He's in the study now, " answered Lily, obedient.

Jackson nodded to her, and then continued to ask her, "Has Cherry come back?"

"Yes, Mrs. Cherry might be in your room now, " answered Lily. She had been too busy, and she wasn't sure whether Cherry had finally gone downstairs or not.

Jackson then didn't say anything else and just walked directly upstairs.

After he opened the door of their room, Jackson saw that Cherry was sitting on one side of the bed. He smiled, and his heart filled with joy when he saw her. He then walked inside the room and walked closer to her.

"When did you come back?" asked Jackson, as he sat beside Cherry, putting his arm around her shoulders.

But Cherry pushed his arm away, and refused to let Jackson touch her. She then said, "I came back at three o'clock."

Jackson was surprised by Cherry's reaction, and wondered in his mind, 'What happened?'

"Baby, what's wrong?" asked Jackson tenderly.

Cherry kept staring in front of her and continued to pay no attention to Jackson at all. She was lost in her thoughts about the receipt she had happened to stumble upon in the study.

When he saw that Cherry didn't answer his question, Jackson started to become puzzled. He couldn't figure out what was wrong with her.

Jackson tried to put his hand on Cherry's shoulders again, and in a soft voice questioned her, "Tell me, what happened?"

To his astonishment, as soon as he touched her body, Cherry shook his hand off again and cried, "Don't!"

After she said this, she immediately stood up and walked away from Jackson.

Jackson also rose to his feet, flabbergasted and speechless, and stared at Cherry who was at a few paces away from him.

Cherry now paid attention to Jackson, but she was the one who was doing the inquiring. "You've known Mond for a long time, haven't you?"

What Cherry said shocked Jackson. He looked at Cherry in surprise, because it had never occurred to his mind that she would know about that.

"How did you find out that?" asked Jackson.

"Jackson, if I don't ask, you'll never tell the truth to me, right?" Cherry had caught the answer from his words. Jackson must have known Mond before in the past, and if she guessed it right, both Jackson and Grandpa Andrew knew Mond.

"No, listen to me, it's not what you think, " said Jackson, as he got closer to her. He wanted to hold her hand and explain things to her better. He wanted to say that he hadn't meant to keep that away from her.

Watching Jackson stepping closer, Cherry immediately took another several steps backwards and shouted, "Don't touch me!"

At that time, Andrew, who was sitting in the study, heard Cherry's cry, and he didn't understand what was happening. He wondered, 'Is Jackson back home and they are quarrelling?'

After he considered it for a while, Andrew believed that it was common for couples to have arguments, but he still decided to go to them and mediate the situation. 'How can Jackson be so irritable?' he thought, because as soon as Jackson had come back home, he heard him arguing with Cherry.

Andrew stood up from his seat and then walked out of the study.

Jackson gazed at Cherry, and hopelessly asked, "What do you actually want to do?"

Jackson felt that he couldn't seize Cherry's heart anymore. She gave him no chance to explain things to her, and his real intention hadn't been to hide the truth from her at all. He was just afraid that she would start to worry about the JS Group, and that her work might also become a harder burden for her to bear. He didn't want to see her be unhappy one day, and he wanted to spare no efforts to let her lead a carefree life.

"Tell me, what's your relationship with Mond? And how does he also know our Grandpa?" asked Cherry, firmly.

In that moment, Andrew got out the study, and the first sentence that he heard happened to be what Cherry said. He instantly stopped walking, standing deathly still, unable to take another step forward. 'Is it true that Mond has returned? Is he in the city now?' he wondered.

Andrew's face turned pale all of a sudden, and his heart was throbbing and beating frantically.

Inside the bedroom, Jackson eventually got fired up. He ferociously stared at Cherry, and questioned her, "How much have you got to know until now?"

A hopeless smile curved Cherry's lips when she heard what Jackson asked her. What would he do if she told him that she knew all of it?

"Hehe, are you so afraid to let me know more?" asked Cherry in reply.

"Tell me now! Who has told you that!" ordered Jackson, with his voice filled with great fury.

But Cherry didn't fear him anymore, and while ignoring his wrath, she directly answered, "No one told me, I found out about all of it by myself!"

Jackson suddenly got closer to Cherry and seized her arm before she had a chance to resist. He roared sternly, "How did you find out?"

Cherry closely gazed at Jackson, and asked him, "Is it so frightening for you to let me know that? Jackson, you claim that you love me, but why do you always slam the door in my face? Why won't you let me access your world? Is there anything there that should stay hidden in any way between the two of us? Tell me!"

Jackson didn't know how to answer Cherry's question. All that he could do was to keep silent.

Cherry felt hopeless when she saw that Jackson still didn't have the intention to answer her question. She said, "Selina and I used every means to find out something about him, but I would have never expected that you would know him, and that our Grandpa would also be acquainted with him! If I'm right, Derek also knows him, correct? Selina and I, the two stupid women, have been kept away from the truth and left in the dark all along."

"If it's possible, I hope that you will never have the chance to know him all your life, " said Jackson in a commanding tone. He really hoped that Cherry would never know anything about Mond, because his appearance would definitely destroy his peaceful life and bring it into a nightmare. He was terrified that one day he would lose Cherry.

"Life is pretty long, and what right do you have to decide who I will meet and know next?" argued Cherry. Actually, she wasn't interested in this at all, because it was meaningless for her to know who Mond was, and she would always pick family first instead of work, if she ever had to choose between one of them. What annoyed her the most was that Jackson had never told the truth to her, and she couldn't help but suspect if Jackson had actually treated her as his wife in his heart or not.

"Cherry, if I tell you that you are not allowed to know him, then you must follow my words and keep away from him, " said Jackson, with a serious and determined look on his face. He wanted to take care of his woman as best as possible, and that implied that he would never let her get too close to any dangerous people.