Ice and Fire novel Chapter 351

In the living room, Cherry went back and sat beside Jackson. She held Jackson's arm, as she did before she left the room.

Jackson didn't ask Cherry who called her. He pretended that the phone call didn't matter to him. However, he was very curious as to what Mond had to say to his wife. The phone call lasted only for a few minutes, still, this did not help him from wondering what the two had talked about.

It was early evening when all the family members gathered at the dining hall to have dinner. Lucia trying her best to control and hide her anger, only spoke to Andrew. In the last few hours, Lucia has tried to gather enough courage to start a conversation with Jackson. Unfortunately, her fear of being disregarded and shamed were greater. She thought that it would be very awkward for her if Jackson kept on shutting down her effort to start a topic. Lucia thought it best to stay quiet and focus her attention to Andrew.

"Joe, have some more food." persuaded John as he picked some more food to Joe's plate.

"Thank you." said Joe with an appreciative smile to John.

John favored Joe more and more as he was an obedient child, who was easy to get along with. Besides, Joe was both the son of Cherry and his cousin.

Lucia was a bit jealous when she saw how John and Joe getting along. She looked at Joe, "Joe, have you been used to living in this house?" she asked.

Lucia thought that most kids, like Joe would prefer living in a villa rather than in a residential compound. Here it was much noisier. Should Joe say that he preferred the villa, Lucia could then ask or persuade Andrew to have Cherry and Joe move out of the residential compound. This will save her from seeing Cherry's disgusting face when she visited Andrew. She would have a better time coming to the compound.

Joe looked at Lucia, "A villa is a nice place but I'm used to living here, because this is my home. Why do you ask that?" Joe innocently asked

Lucia didn't anticipate the child's answer. She was lost for words, for she didn't know how to answer the question that was unexpectedly thrown in her direction. She was not expecting such a question from a child.

The dining hall was quiet. Everyone seemed to be waiting for Lucia's response to Joe's question. Jackson knew that Lucia was suddenly placed in a hot spot. Not wanting to prolong her agony Jackson immediately changed the topic to spare Lucia from further embarrassment. "Joe, why don't you try some of this pork and vegetables. I don't think I've seen you eat your share of vegetable today, " he said.

"Okay, " replied Joe as he looked at his Daddy, happily obliging to his father's order.

The family went back to continue eating their dinner. None of them took the conversation between Joe and Lucia seriously, except for Lucia. She could no longer control her anger. Lucia furiously threw her chopsticks away and slammed her hands on the dining table. She angrily shouted, "This family has become so uncultured and it's all because of Cherry. How can I continue to eat my dinner after a show of disrespect? How can you pretend that nothing has happened?"

When Cherry heard Lucia's accusation, she hadn't eaten dinner yet. She then laid down her chopsticks on the table and turned to Lucia, "Did I say anything that offended you?" she asked in a calm tone.

Lucia looked at her with pure hatred and said, "Cherry, you are the one to blame for all of this. Don't play innocent or dumb. This is all your fault. You have planned to shame me right from the time when I stepped in the living room."

Jackson's face started to turn red with anger. He tried to control his temper, he had told himself that he needed to stay level-headed. He did not want to waste a good day or ruin it, for Andrew's sake. He had been very civil with his treatment to Lucia. He made sure to always keep his mouth shut lest he offended her and started a fight. He was hoping that the day would end uneventfully. Everyone then would part ways in good terms for both the Chu and Ye Family. However, such a thing was just a wishful thinking, this Jackson had come to realize. You could always count on Lucia to find a way and reason to pick a fight with Cherry, but it was a husband's obligation to defend his wife, most especially when she was being bullied right in front of him.

John immediately sensed the growing anger of his Uncle, so he said to Lucia, "Mom, what are you doing? Why not just enjoy the meal?"

"How can I eat when Cherry is here!" answered Lucia. She sounded like a child whose candy has been stolen. Lucia insisted on blaming Cherry for the embarrassment that she suffered., "Bitches will always be bitches. They will never change."

"You dare say that again!" furiously said Cherry. She knew that Lucia was implying that she was a bitch. Cherry thought that she had endured enough insult from Lucia. She has been patient with her for so long, yet Lucia kept on calling her more awful names.

"All right, all right, " Andrew said. He saw that for Cherry was now angry, "Calm down, everyone."

Andrew was aware that Jackson would be very displeased if he saw his wife Cherry being unfairly treated and angered. Jackson deeply cared for Cherry, she was his world. Andrew had seen Jackson's reaction when Cherry picked up the phone call before dinner. He saw that Jackson was greatly disturbed by the call, although he tried hard to mask it. "Does Jackson truly love Cherry? Does he really care for her? The answer to these questions could now be clearly seen.

Andrew turned to Lucia, gently saying, "Lucia, you came to visit me today, did you not? If so, then please just eat dinner with me. Kindly rein in on your temper, all right?"

Lucia heard Andrew's gentle words and knew that she should concede to the old man's request, although she still wanted to attack Cherry. She realized that Jackson wouldn't allow her to do as she wanted and the whole Ye Family will suffer for her disobedience.

"All right, Grandpa, " Lucia answered in a submissive voice. She lowered her head, picked up her chopsticks and started eating.

When Joe saw how Lucia continued eating her dinner and pretending that nothing happened. He started to feel extremely angry. He could not accept that the impolite woman, the woman who said bad things to his Mom was still allowed on the table?

Cherry noticed that Joe's facial expression has changed. The boy was unaware that he was openly displaying his anger towards her Aunt Lucia. He was staring at her, his eyes were full of hatred.

So Cherry discretely pulled on Joe's clothes under the table to distract his attention. Cherry needed to calm his son. He was greatly affected by these heated exchange of words of the adults.

Joe knew that it was his Mommy and he turned to Cherry.

Cherry said to him in a low voice, "Joe, let's have dinner."

Joe heard Cherry, coming to realize that she was comforting him and she didn't want him to hate Lucia.

Joe nodded, lowered his head and went on eating.