Sorry Sir I Don’t Want You Back by Little Angelic Devil

Then Cherise remembered everything that had happened. When he saw Keith in the room and an IV drip connected to the back of her hand, she had an idea of what might have happened to her.

"I am," she replied softly after siping the water to soothe her dry throat.

"You will be healthy in no time." Keith smiled reassuringly at her.

"Thank you." She gave him a weak smile.

"Try not to overdo yourself for the next few days," Keith said. "Better to rest and stay at home until you are fully healed and eat healthy meals. That's a doctor's order."

Cherise still managed to let out a soft laugh. Unlike Finley, she had nothing against Keith, so she felt comfortable around him now.

"Yes, doctor," she teased him.

Hudson was jealous of how easy it was for Keith to talk to Cherise without being glared or sneered at.

Keith stood up from the bed to let Julian take his place and rechecked Cherise's IV drip again. It was still half-full, and he was sure Julian, Logan, or Hudson would know how to properly remove the needle from Cherise's back of hand. "Cherise hasn't eaten anything yet, right?" he asked Hudson, although he already knew the answer.

Hudson shook his head. "I'll cook some porridge," Keith said as he pulled Hudson from the bedroom.

"Why did I have to come along?" Hudson hissed. "I know nothing about cooking."

Keith rolled his eyes. "We need to give her time with her brothers." However, that was only partly his reason. He also needed to get away from Logan, whose presence apparently suddenly affected him.

"And you can learn for future reference," Keith told Hudson, which made Hudson finally interested in learning.

"Cherise, as your brother, I have to tell you that you have to stop overworking yourself on the project with Theo, especially now that we got the tender for Country F's project," Julian told her with only the two brothers in the bedroom with her. Cherise had already expected this, so she just sighed and agreed with him. She knew she couldn't lead the project with Theo anymore as Country F's project was more important.

Julian reassured her, "I'll find someone to replace you as the head project, and you can interview them."

"But I want to still be involved," she said stubbornly.

"Of course, you will, maybe just as a supervisor," Julian said.

"Or advisor," Logan added.

"Alright." Cherise nodded. "But I'll need to tell Theo about it."

"He'll understand," Logan assured her. He didn't really like Theo as he thought him too weak to protect Cherise, but if Cherise liked him, then he would support her.

The doorbell rang, and Cherise frowned. She wasn't feeling well, and there were already too many people in her penthouse. Who else would visit her?

"Please don't tell me it's Neil bringing paperwork," she groaned. She usually loved to work, but right now, she wanted to rest.

"It's not," Julian said as Logan went to get the door. "I asked Paula to stay here with you for a while."

"Oh, thank you." Cherise hugged her brother and then heard a seductive voice instead of Paula's usually sarcastic tone.

"Darlin, we are here to take care of you-," Katherine's sing-songy voice was heard at the same time she appeared in the bedroom's doorway with Paula. "Oh, you are also here, Julian." She went to Julian and placed a kiss on each of his cheeks, leaving imprints of her red lipstick.

Julian shuddered and moved away from her.

"Oh, darlin-" Katherine placed her hand on Julian's heart. "When are you going to stop yourself from resisting me?"

Julian frowned and said sternly, "Behave like a proper lady, please."

Katherine laughed. "But where is the fun in that?"

Julian had never had difficulties getting rid of ladies around him, but Katherine was unlike any of them and didn't deter from his many rejections.

"Cherise, I need to get going." Julian placed a kiss on her forehead. "Paula is here, and I'm sure she can take care of you; that's why I called her."

"Oh, but what about me, Julian?" Katherine moved closer to him again, but he rushed out of Cherise's bedroom after reminding Paula to call him if they needed him.

Logan hugged and kissed Cherise's forehead before hugging Paula.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

"Don't tease him too much," he chuckled and whispered to Katherine as he hugged her, in which Katherine laughed and winked in response.

Logan quickly joined Julian, laughed, and patted his shoulder. "You are doomed, bro."

Julian groaned, and Logan laughed.

"Katherine, you've been teasing my brother too much," Cherise laughed. "Be careful; it might backfire," she teased.

"Oh, no one could get Katherine Sterling to fall in love, and you know it." She winked.

"I think this time it will be a different case," Paula joined their conversation, her eyes shining with her usual mischievousness.

"I don't mind you being my sister-in-law," Cherise teased Katherine.

"I see all the ladies are present here." Suddenly, Paula and Katherine heard a man's voice and were surprised to see Keith and Hudson as they turned around.

"Paula, Katherine," Keith greeted them while Hudson only nodded at them as he was carefully balancing the bowl of porridge on a charger plate so as not to spill the content.

Hudson placed the bowl of porridge on the bedside table and wanted to feed Cherise but thought better of it. He would rather not risk Cherise getting angry at him since she was unwell.

Keith checked the IV drip and found it empty, so he took out the needle from Chrise's back of hand and reminded Paula and Katherine to make sure Cherise got plenty of rest. Then he turned to leave with Hudson, who didn't know what to do but heard Cherise calling his

name.

"Hudson," she called out softly. "Thank you for last night and looking after me today. You too, Keith."

"You are welcome, Cherise," Hudson replied as his heart soared.

The moment the two gentlemen left, Paula and Katherine grilled her about what happened the night before.

Cherise told them while eating the porridge, which surprisingly tasted delicious.

"But aren't you with Theo now, babe?" Paula asked, making Cherise frown.

"We are just business partners, and I helped his sister a few times," Cherise replied. "You both know I'm not interested in being in a relationship right now."

Paula and Katherine shared a look that Cherise didn't miss.

"What's that look for?" she asked.

"Well, babe," Paula said. "Everyone can see that Theo is kinda in love with you."

"I've told him I'm not ready yet, and he understands," Cherise replied. "Oh, I haven't told you guys about my past with him." She then went on to tell her best friends about how she and Theo first met, and of course, Paula and Katherine believed that they were destined to be together.

Cherise just rolled her eyes and placed the bowl on the bedside table. Katherine gave her her meds from Keith, and they let her rest some more.

***

After a few days of total rest at home and only supervising her project with Theo over video calls, Cherise was finally ready to go to work again.

Julian had barred Neil from giving her any work, and she was bored even though Paula or Katherine was with her. One could only spend some time with one's best friends before they bored one to death, especially if they liked to pass the time with different activities.

She hated staying at home with nothing to do; even going to the dark web to research any child trafficker organizations with Ace didn't pull up any results, and it only frustrated her more.

The only thing giving her a little comfort was sending expensive gifts from Hudson. Oh yes, he kept sending her gifts, and she kept rejecting them.

Did he think their relationship had become better after he took care of her? She only thanked him because it was a polite thing to do.

Two days before she was scheduled to go back to work, Cherise received a call from Theo.

She picked it up and heard his gentle voice. "Cherise, how are you?"

Sometimes, she was annoyed by how polite and gentle Theo was. He had called her every day, sometimes more than once, and always asked how she was. But she knew she was being ungrateful for feeling that way, so she always replied politely that she was fine. "Did you receive an invitation for the charity auction by the City Hall held tomorrow night?" he asked her.

Cherise remembered Julian telling her he got invited as he was the president of the Alster Group.

"Julian got it but asked me to go on his behalf," Cherise replied.

"Would you mind going with me?" Theo asked her gently.

Cherise nearly groaned out loud because of the 'would you mind'. He really was too soft and polite for her taste.

"Of course, I don't mind," still, she replied with the sane gentle tone as his.

"Alright, I'll pick you up tomorrow," he said, and they hung up the call.

***

The next night, Cherise arrived with Theo wearing a long, simple black body-hugging dress while Theo looked dapper in his black suit and bowtie.

As usual, Theo offered her his arm, and Cherise hooked her hand in the crook of his arm and smiled when many reporters took pictures of them.

When they were entering the City Hall, they met none other than Hudson who was staring unblinkingly at them with Emely having her hand around Hudson's straight arm and Dahlia and Polly posing for the reporters behind them.