When Cherry entered her bedroom, she found that Joe had already gone to bed. Joe noticed that Cherry's eyes were red and knew that she had been crying, but he didn't ask her about it.
After Cherry also got into bed, Joe moved close to her and hugged her tightly.
"Haven't you fallen asleep yet, Joe?" asked Cherry, while still trying to calm herself down. Even though she wanted to be more tender to her son, in that moment she couldn't.
"Mommy, you've cried...Was it because of daddy?" Joe guessed right. He also knew that the reason why his mother hadn't returned back home the previous evening wasn't what she had told him to be. If he guessed it right, his mommy must have been with his daddy.
Cherry knew that her son had already figured it all out, and she decided to be honest with him. After all, he had to meet Jackson, sooner or later.
"Joe, if we would go back to live with daddy, would you be willing to do that?" suddenly asked Cherry.
Joe earnestly answered her, "What about you, mommy? If mommy wants to go back, then so does Joe. Joe wants to be with mommy forever."
Cherry then hugged her son tightly, and said, "Joe, your father isn't an ordinary man. If we go to live with him, there might be dangers and you might get hurt. Would you go even so?"
Joe listened to Cherry's words, and thought that his Daddy, Jackson was indeed a special figure, as he had already assumed he was.
Joe didn't answer Cherry's question, but instead asked back, "Mommy, do you want me to speak my mind?"
Cherry wasn't surprised by her son's smart question, and quietly said, "Go ahead. Mommy's listening."
Joe's voice then hovered in the room, "Actually, mommy, I do know something about daddy. As a kid, I've always longed for daddy's love, and every time when I saw other kids accompanied by their daddies, I envied them. Although Uncle Wilson is kind to us, he can't replace daddy after all, no matter how hard he tries to."
He continued, "I've more or less known about the Chu Clan from the Internet, and I already know that there might be trouble if we go back there. Besides, you've already mentioned that there's another woman at daddy's side, and thus there would be a lot for us to deal with if we want to go back to him. However, he's still my daddy and your husband, and we're tied to him for life."
Cherry was amazed that Joe, who was only a five-year-old kid, was able to speak out of his mouth such reasonable words. Although she had known that her son was clever, she would have never believed that he was able to reason things out so logically if she hadn't heard it with her own ears.
"So, Joe, you mean that you wish to go back to your daddy?" asked Cherry.
"It all depends on you, mommy. If mommy wishes to go back, then we'll go back together. Don't worry, I'll protect mommy well, because I won't let anyone hurt my mommy!" replied Joe.
Cherry felt warm in her heart, and Joe was indeed the best gift God could have given her!
Cherry tightly held her son in her arms. She stared at the ceiling and earnestly said, "Joe, your Uncle Wilson has trouble running his company. After I help him deal with it, we'll go back to the Chu Clan, okay?"
"Okay. It's all up to you, mommy, " Joe said sweetly.
Cherry stood in front of Selina and thought for a while, and after she summoned up all of her courage, she said, "Miss Selina, can you please help me out with favor?"
"Okay, go ahead, I'm listening. I'll try to help you if I can, " replied Selina.
Cherry looked at her, and said, "I... I was hoping that you could help my brother's company. His company is in danger now, and I was wondering if you would support him for a little while with the JS Group."
"But..." Selina was a little hesitant. She had already known from some hearsay that Wilson's company was at risk, but she hadn't expected that Cherry would ask her to help Wilson.
Cherry said with certainty in her voice, "Miss Selina, I know that you have the ability to help him, and the JS Group won't lose anything if it assists my brother's company. I really hope that you could help him, for my sake. Will you? Will you please help me with this?"
Selina looked at Cherry and didn't have the heart to refuse her. She stood up and walked up to Cherry, and as she took Cherry's hands into hers, she said, "Cherry, do you know who the real owner of the JS Group is?"
"Isn't it you?" asked Cherry as she looked at Selina.
Selina shook her head, and told Cherry the truth. She said, "No, Jackson is."
After she heard that, Cherry's eyes became as big as saucers. In fact, Jackson had also once mentioned that to her, but she had thought that he had just been kidding around with her, and thus hadn't taken it so seriously.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Ice and Fire