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."