Chapter 122
"Keith, come to the penthouse now," Hudson ordered his best friend.
The seriousness in Hudson's voice pricked Keith's skin. "Did something happen? Hudson, are you injured?"
"No," came Hudson's reply. "Cherise was drunk and now is feverish. I need you to take a look at her."
Keith paused for a long moment. Did he hear it correctly? He let out a helpless sigh. It seemed that when a cold and aloof man fell in love, a part of his brain cells died.
Keith closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Why don't you bring her here, Hudson?" he asked, trying to be patient with his unreasonable best friend. "Why would I when I have you?" Keith could hear the sneer in Hudson's voice and sighed helplessly again.
"How high is her fever?" Finally, he asked in defeat. There was no use going against someone in love.
"High," Hudson replied with one word, and Keith rubbed his temples. He knew even if Cherise only had a mild fever. Hudson would still say it was high.
"Alright, I'm going now," Keith said and stood up, taking his doctor's bag with his first-aid kit and other things for house visits. Just in case, he also brought two bags of IV drips for fever. "Come to Cherise's penthouse instead of mine," Hudson said. Keith arched an eyebrow but didn't reply.
Going up to the penthouse was easy for him, as Hudson had made him one of his guests who could visit him anytime.
Hudson opened the door when Keith rang the doorbell, leading him to Cherise's bedroom. He found Cherise tucked in a heavy duvet like a sweating human sushi.
He wanted to take the duvet off, but Hudson growled behind him. "She's wearing a sexy nightgown."
Keith chuckled and responded, "You know I've seen many naked female patients, right?"
But Hudson glared at him and advised, "At least find a lighter blanket, or she'll have a heat stroke."
Hudson thought about it and nodded, going to Cherise's linen closet.
Keith took the opportunity to untuck Cherise and check her pulse, eye movements, and temperature. As he had expected, Cherise had only a mild fever that would subside if she rested enough for a few days and took medicines. "How is she?" Hudson asked as he returned to the room.
"She'll be fine," Keith assured him while injecting the needle on her wrist for the IV drip.
"Then why are you putting her on an IV drip?" Hudson asked dubiously.
"So she heals faster, and I suspect she hasn't taken food yet?"
"Only a tiny bit at 10 am," Hudson replied. "She doesn't want to have lunch.
"This will help, then," Keith said as he finished his task. "She only needs one bag, but I bought another just in case."
Hudson nodded at the same time Keith and he heard Cherise's penthouse door being opened. Julian and Logan appeared in the bedroom before they could check who the visitor was.Many paragraphs are missing. Read the complete book on Jo:b:nib.c:om "Amery, Richardson," Julian greeted them with a curt nod while Logan just glared at them.
Hudson and Keith were about to greet them back when they heard Logan growling as if ready to attack them.
"What the hell did you guys do to her?"
Julian quickly spread one arm in front of Logan, stopping him from pouncing against the two gentlemen. He had already concluded that they were helping Cherise because of how much she was sweating.
"Richardson?" Julian asked Keith since he was the doctor.
"She's having a mild fever," Keith explained. "Nothing a few days of rest, healthy meals, and a bag of IV drip can't cure.
Julian nodded, turned to sit on the edge of the bed, and wiped the sweat on her forehead with his handkerchief before checking her temperature.
As Keith had said, Cherise's temperature was not very high, but he needed to set things right. She was too invested in her project with Theo and neglected her health. After dinner, they would mostly return to their base to keep working. "Amery, I need to speak to you alone." Julian gestured with his chin for Hudson to follow him to the living room. Hudson frowned but still followed him.
Once seated on the couch, Julian looked at Hudson and said without further ado, "Neil told me about what happened last night, and I am grateful to you for looking after Cherise. I also heard about the tender from Country F and how our groups would work on it together, with the tourism minister asking for the two of you to oversee the project personally."
Hudson stayed quiet, waiting for Julian to speak more because he knew Julian hadn't told him the point of their conversation.Exclusive © material by Nô(/v)elDrama.Org.
"Cherise has been busy being the CEO of the Alster group. The project with the Kingston Group might be too much for her to handle with other projects she's handling already, and I'm afraid this might not be the last time she might fall sick from exhaustion." "And now, with how she needs to work with you, she is bound to get even more exhausted," Julian continued. "As much as I want her to get closer to Theo, the project with Country F is more important, and I will ask her to concentrate more on it." "Julian, I know I've hurt her before, but I'm trying-"
Julian held up his hand, cutting off Hudson mid-sentence. "There is something I must tell you, Amery. Honestly, you would be the perfect man for Cherise if you had only treated her right during your marriage. Cherise is ambitious, spoiled, stubborn, and arrogant. She needs someone in the same league as her and you fit the criteria to a T.
"Meanwhile, Theodore is too..." Julian searched for the right words and finally ended up with "gentle. At first, I didn't think she and Theo would work, but seeing how tender Theo is with her, maybe she needs someone like Theo who could pamper her with that tenderness instead of someone similar to her."
Hudson's hands became clammy, and he felt suffocated because this was Cherise's brother who was speaking, and he had just told him he preferred Theo to him.
"But, in the end, it would still be Cherise's choice," Julian said. "There is a thin line between love and hate. If you could redeem yourself, love her properly, and make her happy, and she chooses you in the end, no one could change her mind about it. She had done it before, and knowing her, she would do it again."
Hudson's despair suddenly changed into hopefulness. He still had a chance with Cherise. He would make sure everyone in her family, including her close friends, would accept their reunion in the future.
"But it does not mean we might welcome you into the family even if you remarry her," Julian made it clear. "For now, it's best to concentrate on the project you will be working on together."
Inside Cherise's bedroom, Keith was staring at Logan unabashedly. He knew Logan was like him - gentle on the outside with a ruthlessness ready to be unleashed whenever needed.
Logan was handsome, he thought. Not in the tall, dark, and handsome way like Hudson, but still handsome nonetheless.
Keith was quite impressed by his declaration of his brotherly for Cherise. He wondered what it would be like to be one on the receiving end of Logan's protective, aggressive gentleness. Someone ruthless yet would gaze at him as if he were his world. Cherise stirred awake and asked in a soft voice, "Logan?"
And that broke Keith's chain of thoughts. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and wondered what was wrong with him to think of Logan Jennings in that way.
It must be because it had been too long since he let himself see a man in a...romantic way, and Logan's two-sided personality caught him unaware.
Keith went into his doctor mode and helped Logan fluff Cherise's pillow so she could sit up comfortably before handing Logan a cup of water to give to Cherise. He sat on the bed near Logan, could smell his expensive after-shave, and to his horror, he thought of burying his face in Logan's neck and being held by him. "How are you feeling, Cherry?" Logan's voice sounded, saving Keith from thinking of more indecent thoughts about him.
"I don't feel too good," Cherise whined.
"That's because you have a mild fever," Keith chuckled and concentrated on checking Cherise's condition so he could ignore the strong presence beside him. And thankfully, Julian and Hudson entered the bedroom, saving him even further.
"You are awake," Hudson said tenderly, and Cherise frowned as she looked at him.