Chapter 6 A Tough Woman

"Humph!" Jacob snorted before relenting and striding off towards the door.

Donna seldom saw her son so obedient.

'Oh damn! I should probably stop smiling from ear to ear!'

"There's staff who'll help you change your clothes. I've arranged two outfits and some jewelry for you to choose from. Just see which you like best. Jonny bought them all so you can take them home with you afterwards."

Donna felt a sudden urge to tell this lovely girl that she loved her to death! But she decided against it in the end.

Two beautiful purple dresses were laid out for Donna to have her pick.

"Thank you very much. Please, be my guest tonight and allow me to treat you to a meal," she said sincerely.

Cherry hesitated and stuttered for a second, "I... I'm sorry, Auntie. I am working here tonight and must make sure everything goes smoothly. I can't leave or relax until all the guests have left and had a good time."

"That's good," Donna blurted out unconsciously.

"Good?" Cherry asked with a curious frown.

"I only mean that with you here, I have no fear of there being any problems.

Now I can rest easy knowing there won't be any." "Don't worry. Everything will be okay."

And sure enough, everything went according to plan.

From the guests entering the venue, to holding her husband's hand so affectionately and full of love. From the dishes on the plates to the music and pictures that played on the LED screen, everything was flawless. The evening was absolutely perfect.

Donna was filled with pure joy and her heart melted from the warmth she felt. No matter how she protested, she would get Cherry to sit beside her.

"No, no, no," Cherry refused immediately.

This was the place for family members. Besides, there would be a handsomely cold man seated next to her. She had no intention of forcing herself to "enjoy" the cold and uncomfortable company he would give her.

"I still have things to do. I'll only be a disturbance if I were to sit next to you. I'll just go sit at the staff table."

Jacob glanced at her indifferently.

He was surprised, though he did not show it.

If she was capable of arranging this whole banquet in such amazing fashion, why did she then have to be a prostitute?

He lowered his eyes, not wanting her to see how impressed he was. She worked in the entertainment business and perhaps she was happy with that.

"Ah, who knows when all this will be done. Cherry, why don't you let my son drive you home later?" Donna said rolling her eyes. She had conjured up another good idea.

"No, thanks," Cherry said refusing her again. "I can drive myself."

Donna quickly picked up a glass of white wine and emptied it into Jacob's mouth in front of everyone.

"Mom... What are you doing?"

"Oh my God! I forgot that you would be driving later and now look, I've made you drunk. The police will lock you up for drunk driving if you were to get in a car now. What do we do? Who could possibly take you back home?"

She looked around the table for a volunteer but no one dared speak up.

"Well, Miss Cherry, would you mind taking my son back home?" Donna felt pretty satisfied with herself, staring at Cherry and batting her eyes at her.

"Uh..." Before Cherry could answer, Jacob jumped in coldly,

"No thanks. There's a taxi outside, I'll just take that home." He pulled out a tissue and slowly wiped the wine that had spilled all over his face.

Cherry rolled her eyes and said reluctantly, "Actually, I don't mind. It's on the way for me. Besides, Mr. Jacob and I have met before. He knows I am a good driver."

Jacob narrowed his eyes with displeasure.

Donna was over the moon. "Thank you, Cherry. Forgive my son, he's not very talkative."

"Yes, but he does like to argue." Cherry smiled playfully, bowed her head and said goodbye before turning and taking her leave.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Everyone was doing their best not to laugh out loud while Jacob stood there a little embarrassed. "People are going to get the wrong idea now!"

"My son," Donna said, her eyes welling up with tears, "are you trying to tell me you're only interested in men?"

"No..." Jacob stopped and took a deep breath to compose himself.

What was his mother thinking?

"That's good. It's not going to kill you to let someone drive you, is it?" Donna clapped her hands joyously, picked up the glass and held the old man's hand. "Come on, York, let's make a toast together!"

The moment their parents had walked off, the girls and boys around the table all burst into raucous laughter.

Richard, Jacob's younger brother who had just entered university, especially enjoyed it. He was a standard, stressed-out freshman, but now he was laughing happily.

"Shut up!" Jacob snapped, shooting icy glances around the table.

They all fell silent, holding in their chuckles and trying to hide their faces from him.

He then turned to glare at Jonny, "Don't think I don't know that this is all your doing!"

"Think what you want. Mom's always wanted to set you up with a woman. This would never have happened if you already had a girlfriend." Jonny had no reason to be afraid of him. He stuffed his mouth with food and smiled with squinted eyes.

"Humph!" Jacob snorted.

If his mother knew that this woman was selling her body, would she still be so enthusiastic to get them together?

Despite how much he didn't want to, Jacob got into Cherry's car, being watched by the eager and expectant eyes of his mother.

Cherry glanced over at him and started the car slowly. "Oh, dammit! We might get into an accident... Since that last collision in the middle of the night, my car seems to have been quite badly damaged..."

"Fine. You can drive my car," he said, not even glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

"Oh, yours? Perhaps it's destined to be rear ended..."

"Enough!" Jacob snarled. He turned and stared at her intensely. "I'll pay you for tonight. How much do you want? Just name your price."

"I wouldn't have taken this job if you hadn't paid me upfront." Did he know how many long nights she had stayed up to pull this off? "If it weren't for Jonny, none of this would be happening! God knows how much I don't even want to see you!"

Every time she looked at him, bad things happened.

She was usually a sociable, pleasant person, but every now and then, she would come across someone she felt utterly uncompelled to please. Jacob was one of those people!

"Well we're in the same boat there!" He scoffed and retorted, "If you continue on with your nonsense in front of my mother, I'll tell her about your prostitution!"

"Prostitution? What are you talking about?" He had said it before and now again! What was he going on about? She hadn't even had a boyfriend once in her life yet, she was still a virgin! She began trembling with anger. "Jacob Nalan, expect a letter from my lawyer tomorrow!"

"Humph. Whatever." He shrugged it off and continued, "You're the one who was lifting your dress up in front of me, weren't you?"

"You tore my dress, didn't you?" Cherry barked back.

This woman! How could she be so unreasonable?

"I tore your dress so I could treat your wound!" He gritted his teeth, trying not to completely lose his temper.

"Then I lifted my dress so you would see the wound and remember me!" They had both turned red in the face with rage. Almost every car that passed could not help but look in on them to see why this couple argued so fiercely.

They both snorted at the same time and turned their heads away to ignore each other the rest of the way.

The car came to a slow stop.

Jacob looked out the window and then back at Cherry.

She picked up her bag and got off the car. "Arguing with you has made me hungry. Humph, I'm going to get myself a little midnight snack."

Jacob narrowed his eyes as he watched her walk away.

She had shuffled around the entire venue the whole time, like a busy bee. Even the fireworks to cap off the evening were undeniably wonderful.

She was so busy, she might not have gotten the chance to eat anything all night.

It was no wonder she was hungry.

Jacob sat silently in wait, in the car by himself.

Cherry moved fast, rushing.

She bought a bowl of dumplings and walked out of the restaurant.

She was making her way to the car and before she was even close, a man in a bucket hat suddenly charged towards her from a nearby lane, pulled at the bag in her hand with all his strength and tried to make quick escape.

He was very strong and she held on tight without thinking about it, and was dragged a few steps forward by the thief trying to wrestle her bag free.

She fell to the ground and was dragged a few more steps. The dumplings had fallen from her other hand, searing her thigh now.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed in a low voice. Her arm was being dragged across the ground and burned horrendously.

The thief noticed her still holding on, lifted his foot and kicked her in the head.

A man swung his car door open wildly.

"Bastard!" Cherry bit down hard, thinking, 'The money Jonny paid me is in my bag. All the staff's hard work is in there, I can't just let him get away with it!' She held on tighter, not knowing what else to do.

Still holding the bag firm in her grasp, she tried pushing herself up off the ground with the other hand, avoiding the man's swinging leg.

Jacob came and kicked the man square in the face.

It seemed he had not expected such a tall man to be in her car. The impact shocked and frightened him and he loosened his grip on the bag.

The tough woman on the ground quickly got to her feet and pulled her bag back, holding it securely in both hands and close to her chest.

Jacob had already grabbed the man by the neck, thrown him to the ground and was now standing on his chest.

"Why didn't you just let go?" Cherry shouted. She then kicked him too.

"Stop!" the cowardly man on the floor wailed. Jacob's expression was as cold as ice. He was too agile for him, the thief never stood a chance.

"Let me go, I will never..." The man began begging.

"How could I possibly let you go?" Cherry pulled out her phone and quickly called the police. She didn't hesitate for even a moment.

"Call the police. I'll be out in a few days and then things are going to get real hard for you," the man threatened shamelessly.

"Good. Thank you," Jacob said coldly. "I just recorded what you said and I'm a witness. Let's just see what the police think of your threats."

Cherry curled her lips and said, "I don't mind taking dictation."

'Son of a bitch! My hands are numb now.'

She raised her elbow and found that her head was numb as well.

She had several gruesome cuts and scrapes on her elbow, the blood dripping and the grit and mud from the ground stuck to the wounds too. It was not that it wasn't painful, she was just numb to it.

As for her legs, they were probably covered in blisters.