Ice and Fire novel Chapter 32

Outside the shopping mall, Cherry hurried to a vacant corner. Leaning against the wall, she felt weak all over.

"Cherry, are you okay?" Stephen asked, anxiously, though he had guessed that it was Jackson who had upset her so much.

"I'm okay, " Cherry replied to Stephen, in spite of her true feeling.

"It's about Jackson, right?" Stephen asked.

Cherry realized that Stephen had figured out what she was thinking about. Since she treated Stephen as her friend, Cherry believed it was unnecessary to conceal her true feelings from him.

"That woman is actually the person he cares about most in his heart." Cherry's mind wandered back to Sally He.

Looking at Cherry, Stephen explained, "They grew up together. If that accident hadn't happened, they would have been married."

"You just referred to an accident. So what exactly happened back then?" Cherry turned her gaze to Stephen, looking forward to his answer.

But Stephen appeared to avoid this question. He averted his eyes from Cherry and said, "Cherry, it's our affair. Jackson will tell you if he want you to know."

On one hand, Stephen was a bit afraid of Jackson, since he would not forgive him if Stephen revealed details about that accident. On the other hand, he did not want Cherry to know too much about it, because it was obvious that she had fallen in love with Jackson. She might do something bad and hurt herself if she knew the truth. He wanted to avoid that possibility.

"Why would he tell me?" Cherry said, hopelessly, "I'm nothing in his heart. Maybe it's true that his affair has nothing to do with me."

Stephen knew that Cherry was aching in her heart, but there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't reveal the facts to her, and he couldn't drag her into his nightmare.

After a while, Cherry felt normal again and she said, "Let's go eat something. It will be time for the party when we finish."

"Okay, good idea, " Stephen replied. Everything was okay by him as long as it made Cherry feel better. He did not want to see her in pain.

Night fell. In the doorway of an old five-star villa hotel, Cherry held Stephen's arm demurely, and walked inside with him. As Stephen's female companion, Cherry did not think too much about it. All she wanted to do was ease her mind a bit.

They walked in and Stephen informed Cherry, "This villa hotel has been reserved by my friend. All of the guests are elites from this city. Later, you'd better just stand by my side, Do not run around."

"Okay, I get it. I don't know them at all. So how could I run around?" Cherry said, tenderly.

Stephen just smiled at her, without saying a word.

Cherry went along with Stephen and greeted several of his friends. She felt a bit dizzy after drinking some wine.