When the elevator opened, Cherry saw that Jackson had raised his hand to hit Joe.
She quickly ran out of the elevator and pushed him away, and then she tightly held Joe in her arms.
"What were you going to do?" said Cherry, with her eyes glaring on Jackson.
When Joe saw his mommy, he jumped into her arms and suddenly burst into tears.
"Mommy!" cried Joe with tears flowing down his cheeks. He had been frightened earlier by Jackson, but now he was safe and sound in his mommy's warm arms, and couldn't help but let out tears of joy.
"Don't be afraid, Joe, mommy's here now, " said Cherry as she caressed Joe's head and tried to comfort him.
Afterwards, Cherry took a look at Selina, which made her feel embarrassed. After all, she was the one who had called Jackson and started the whole mess in the first place, and now Selina felt guilty for that.
Selina immediately shook her hands and explained, "Cherry, it's not what you think! My brother wasn't going to hit Joe!"
But before Selina had the chance to finish her words, she was interrupted by Cherry.
"Was it you who told him?" Cherry thought that her guess was correct. She had told Jackson to stay at home and wait for her, but she found him nearly hitting their son at her workplace. She was sure that Selina had been the one that betrayed her. Because according to her acquaintance with Selina during this period, she knew that Selina was so close to Jackson, and almost told him everything.
Selina wanted to explain herself but had no chance. "It's not like that, " she said.
All of a sudden, Jackson grabbed Cherry's neck and stared at her from up close, somehow studying her. "You haven't told me who's the boy!" he said.
Cherry wanted to resist Jackson but couldn't, and his hand seemed to be locked on her neck. He had grabbed her with true fury burning inside of him and was nearly suffocating her.
Struggling, Cherry said, "He, he's my son..." Now that Jackson had already found out the truth about him there was no need for her to hide Joe from him any longer. She had intended to tell Jackson about him sooner or later, but it had never occurred to her that he would find out in such a disturbing circumstance.
Jackson was infuriated; he moved his lips but Cherry couldn't understand what he was saying to her.
"Really?" asked Jackson. He continued, "You've kept him hidden from me for five whole years."
Jackson slowly tightened his grip on her neck and said word by word. Cherry let go of Joe and tried to resist Jackson's hand suffocating her.
When he saw how angry Jackson was and his mommy looking so anguished, Joe suddenly became nervous. He used his small hands to slap Jackson, and cried, "Release my mommy! Release my mommy!"
Selina immediately walked closer to Jackson, but she was also too afraid to touch him. "Brother, calm down!" said Selina.
However, Jackson ignored both Joe and Selina, and instead gazed at Cherry ruthlessly while he tried to strangle her with his bare hand. He couldn't believe that the woman in front of him had kept such a secret hidden away from him for five years, and that she had even given their child's surname Shen. 'This damn woman! Is she tired of living on this world?' he thought.
When he saw that Jackson wouldn't release his mother, Joe kept slapping Jackson as hard as he could to turn Jackson's attention onto him instead.
"Cherry Shen, why do you have to lie to me?" yelled Jackson, grimaced. It pained his heart when he looked at Cherry, because he had never spared efforts in loving her, and she instead had chosen to keep hidden away from him their son's existence. Five years had past and now he finally knew the truth. But he hadn't been prepared for accepting it.
Cherry was slowly running out of air, because of Jackson's strong grip on her neck. She could hardly breath, let alone speak.
Joe got even more impatient when he saw Cherry's face turning blue, and he instantly grabbed Jackson's other hand and viciously bit on it.
Jackson only felt a slight pain and turned to look at his other hand. He was so furious when he saw Joe that he ruthlessly shook him off.
No one would have imagined that Jackson's strength would have been so great to throw Joe all away to the other end of the office. Joe lost his balance and crashed with his head into one of Selina's desk corners.
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