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

Did you find out?" Keith asked as he took a seat, and Finley poured drinks for both of them. They didn't have to ask the whole question. That simple question was enough, as Keith and Finley had also been thinking about Cherise's abuse the entire day. "And?" Finley asked as he handed Keith his drink and settled on one of the leather sofas himself.

"I did," Hudson said grimly.

"Worse," Hudson replied and winced inwardly when he thought of what his mother, sister, and the staff at Moonlight Villa had done to Cherise.

"Care to explain more?" Keith asked calmly.

Hudson looked at his two best friends, and Keith could see the guilt and the self-blame in Hudson's eyes, but he knew he needed to remain calm just in case Hudson exploded again like last night at his penthouse. "The maids at Moonlight Villa abused her, treated her like a dog, and all the while, they laughed proudly while telling me about it."

Hudson replayed the scene in his mind and quickly downed his drink in one large gulp to stop himself from doing something regretful like destroying each of their family.

"The head housekeeper even slapped her a few times,"

Hudson continued before Keith or Finley could say anything.

Finley swallowed and clenched his fists hard, fighting off the anger in his heart.

He had never heard of maids who dared to treat their employees viciously. If they were unhappy, they would mostly insult the employees behind their backs. But to actually treat their Young Madam like a dog... Now, he pitied Cherise. How had Dahlia and Polly treated her in front of the maids to make them feel like they deserved to treat Cherise the same way?

"What about the servants at the Crescent Villa?" Keith asked..

He knew he ought not to ask Hudson painful questions like these, but he also knew Hudson needed someone to talk to; that was why he asked Keith and Finley to come here. Hudson needed to unburden those guilty feelings of his before drowning his sorrow in alcohol.

"They didn't do anything." Hudson shook his head. "They loved her. She was nice to them. They even helped in treating her wounds when my mother and Polly abused her there." "Wounds?" Keith and Finley asked at the same time.

Hudson couldn't repeat what the maids had revealed to him.

He fumbled through his suit pocket to get his phone, opened his photo gallery, and gave the phone to Keith so he could see its contents by himself.

Keith took the phone from Hudson and couldn't help hissing when he saw the first picture. As a doctor, he had an idea of how Cherise must have gotten those wounds.

Judging from the bruises each photo showed, he knew how much force Dahlia or Polly must have put into their kicks.

Finley moved closer to Keith to check the pictures, too, and exclaimed in disbelief, "What the heck? Did Dahlia and Polly kick Cherise?"

He took the phone from Keith and scrolled through the pictures. "Are those heel marks?" he asked when he saw small round bruises on Cherise's back through the pictures.

"Yeah," Hudson said, his voice sounding defeated. "My mother and Polly hurt my wife until she was black and blue,-and I didn't know anything about it. No one told me, and Cherise never showed how much she was hurting."

"But how could you not know?" Finley blurted out. "You had sex with her every night. Surely you must ha-"

Finley realized his mistake and quickly shut his mouth when he saw Keith narrowing his eyes at him and heard Hudson's self-deprecating laugh booming in their private room.

Why did he never notice Cherise's bruises even when they had sex?

"Because I was like them. I was a sadistic bastard," Hudson mocked himself. "I switched off all the lights, not wanting to see her face, and I always took her roughly. Whenever I heard her sobbing during s*x, it gave me pleasure knowing I had hurt her. She didn't deserve to derive pleasure from me because she was a gold digger."

But then some memories came back to him. Memories of Cherise crying out in pleasure, and it made him freeze in his seat.

Did it mean whenever Cherise sobbed, it wasn't because of him but because she was hurt by his mother and sister, and their s*x intensified her pain?

But that didn't mean anything now; Hudson shook his head, still feeling the same self-mockery. He still was a bastard of a husband to her.

If he were nice to her, she would be able to tell him about her injuries instead of hiding them, afraid to let him know, and still letting him have his way with her.

If he were nice to her, he would have seen any tell-tale signs. whenever she was injured and helped tend to it just like any loving husband did to their wives.

But he was never nice to her, and it led everyone to demean and abuse her.

Hudson grabbed a bottle and drank straight from it. "I was an arsehole to her. This was all my fault. It all happened because of me," he mumbled repeatedly in between swallowing the liquor.From NôvelDrama.Org.

Keith looked at his best friend, who took swigs and swigs of hard liquor like he had no care in the world, and let out a heavy sigh.

For once, he didn't know how to reassure Hudson that it wasn't his fault. Yes, he had done it the night before, but only because he knew Dahlia and Polly were bullies. He always thought that even if Hudson were nice to Cherise, the mother-daughter duo would still bully her verbally. But now that he heard about the staff at the Moonlight Villa, saw the extent of Cherise's injuries from Dahlia and Polly's abuse, and how Hudson never knew about it, Keith couldn't tell him it wasn't his fault because, to be honest, he did cause some of it indirectly. Hudson kept gulping the alcohol and started to doubt himself. The hurt and pain Cherise suffered throughout their marriage, whether mentally, emotionally, or physically, should be too much for her. Should he keep pursuing her? What if it happened again?

What if he hurt her again? What if she was better off with someone else? Someone like Julian Alster.

No! Hudson's drunken mind shouted at him. He would apologize, grovel, beg, whatever it took to get her back and protect her from his mother and sister.

Suddenly, Hudson felt his thought was silly, and he laughed.

Cherise was a strong woman. It was a wonder that she didn't break down and become traumatic after divorcing. Instead, she became radiant, more cheerful, and even able to get a high-position job. She wasn't the same timid woman who was once married to him. She had a sharp tongue, she was Miss X, and she knew how to fight.

If they remarried, they would become a power couple. He would never give up until he got her back, Hudson thought with his drunken mind.

Just like Keith, Finley was quiet. He glanced at Hudson and took pity on his best friend. If he felt guilty for mocking Cherise, how much more guilty must Hudson feel for treating his ex-wife like shit?

He couldn't tell Hudson it wasn't his fault, but he couldn't tell Hudson it was his fault either because part of his treatment of Cherise was that Hudson did it first, and somehow, this encouraged him and Hudson's other friends to look down on her. If Hudson loved Cherise, Finley wouldn't treat her badly.

After all, They were best friends and would at least still show some respect even if they didn't like their best friends' spouses.

Of course, Finley could have treated Cherise better, just like Keith had, but being the playboy and spoiled child he was, he stayed true to his character and preferred to mock and insult Cherise like their other friends. Now, he was drowning in guilt. Keith and Finley, each lost in their own thoughts, kept silent and accompanied Hudson to drown his sorrow.

***

Days passed, and laughter could be heard all over the mansion in Country A, specifically at the Alster Mansion.

Everyone had fun decorating the mansion. The rehearsals and shooting for both scenes were successful, and they were done within less than two weeks.

The crew had never had such an enjoyable job. The maids helped in decorating the mansion according to their lookbook.

Katherine helped with the directing and was straightforward, telling them how she wanted the collection to be portrayed.

Paula asked some of her most trusted team members to come and help with the costumes for the extras that Jian had procured from somewhere.

Cherise, Tristan, and Logan were easy to direct; it never took them more than two takes to get what Katherine wanted.

Even the maids were enjoying themselves. Some of them became extras, and they were thrilled, though the head housekeeper wasn't so thrilled to be the evil stepmother because she didn't have the heart to scold their Young Miss. Fortunately, Cherise was able to make light of everything and reassured her that she knew how much the older lady loved her and that she would just be acting evil.

They chose one of the servant cottages to film the part where Cherise lived with her evil stepmother and stepsisters.

A few days after they finished shooting, Katherine and the production crew showed Charles, Cherise, Paula, Julian, Logan, Tristan, and even the maids a snippet from each of their campaigns.

"Oh my God!" Paula exclaimed in joy and turned to Katherine to praise her. "You sure know how to excite customers to want to see the whole campaign."

Cherise laughed, as she was also happy with the result. "You sure do," she smiled at Katherine.

"Oh, it was a team effort, darling-" She winked at both her best friends.

This was how they were never really bragged about their achievements, especially if others were involved. They made sure everyone involved also felt appreciated.

"Great job, everyone." Charles Alster nodded and even looked at the snippets with excitement.

"Do you want to buy something from the 'True Love' collection for us, Grandpa Alster?" Tristan teased him.

Charles looked at Tristan with disdain and sneered. "I might as well just hand the money to Cherise if I buy the 'True Love' collection for you guys. No wonder you are an actor and not a businessman."

"Hey, I make a lot of money too," Tristan complained, but everyone knew by now Charles was joking whenever he showed disgust to the youngsters, so they just laughed at Charles and Tristan's banter.

"What next?" Julian asked. He wasn't really involved in this campaign, and he knew Logan wasn't too ever since Cherise became the CEO of Angelworld Jewelry.

"We'll upload the snippets on Angelworld's official site and social media," Cherise replied. "And also show them the catalog for 'True Love'. To access the complete chapters for free, visit Job nib.com. The businessmen - Charles, Julian, and Logan nodded, agreeing to Cherise's plan.

"Will you also open the pre-order for the collection?" Charles asked his granddaughter.

"No." Cherise shook her head. "I want them to feel excited about the collection first, but we'll also place the instructions on how to order them, the quantity we will produce for each item, and when we will start taking orders."

"That's a good strategy," Julian said. "With that, they will know this collection is a limited edition, and they can choose what they want to order and their measurements."

"Once we upload the full version of both campaigns, there will be order forms for them to fill in on the website, and they will rush to place their orders in case they missed out on it," Cherise added with a grin.

Charles laughed and ruffled Cherise's hair. "Are you trying to sell the collection within an hour?"

"Within ten minutes if the website does not crash," she replied with a confident grin. She knew the website would not crash because, as Q, she had made sure of it.

Tristan, Logan, and the mystery of 'Angel' would be a huge selling point for them.

"Look at how confident she is," Julian teased Cherise.

"With all the effort everyone has put into this collection, it is bound to be successful," Cherise smiled at everyone, thanking them silently.

"Alright, then," Logan spoke. "We'll upload the snippets tomorrow, and the full version will be uploaded in..?" He looked at Katherine and the crew for an answer.

"A week," Katherine replied. "Because Cherise wants to build up the excitement and give them enough time to decide what they want to order."

"Get everything ready as soon as possible, then you'll have time to relax and enjoy Country A," Charles smiled a the crew, which, once again, made the crew feel grateful.

*

In Country B, Hudson buried himself in work because he couldn't find Cherise. He wanted to apologize to her, but she hadn't returned to the penthouse ever since he accidentally blamed her.

When he found out that Cherise had gone overseas with the

CEO of Angelworld Jewelry, he kept wishing for her to return soon so he could apologize and show her how sincere he was.

As he was signing some documents that Miles had placed on his desk, his office door opened abruptly, and he saw Finley rushing in, pulling Keith along with him.

"Hudson, have you seen the snippets of Angelworld Jewelry's newest collection?" Finley asked before Hudson could even ask what they were doing at his office.