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

“Why are you guys looking at me like that? Don't you believe me?” Cherise felt offended when she saw the doubt in her best friends’ eyes.

Paula and Katherine shared a look before Katherine said, “It's not that we don’t believe you, darling”

“It's just that we know how much you loved Hudson for those three years and that deep feeling will not simply disappear”

“And you should also know what I went through for the whole three years,” Cherise glared at her best friends. Why did she feel like the two of them suddenly were pushing her to get back together with that jerk?

“We do.” Katherine nodded. “And we also know if Emely didn’t reappear, you might most probably still be married to him. You will still try your hardest to make him fall for you despite being abused by them.”

Cherise paused and finally sighed in defeat because she knew Katherine might be right. Emely reappearing, them letting her think Emely was his mistress, and how he said she wasn't worthy to have his child while she thought Emely was pregnant with Hudson's baby was the last straw for her.

If Emely weren't here, Cherise would still stupidly try to gain Hudson's love and bear whatever abuse they did to her.

“Yeah, okay, you guys are right,” Cherise sighed. “Maybe if I dissect my feelings, I might still have some remains of love, but I'm not going to allow myself to do it. I just want to move on. Let's just say Emely appearing was a blessing in disguise.”

“If that's what you want, we'll support you, babe,” Paula said. “As long as you are sure.”

“Why does it feel like you guys want me to get back together with him?" Cherise rolled her eyes.

“We don't, darling” Katherine said. “We just want you to be happy.”

“Since Hudson has changed, we thought you might want to have a new start with him,” Paula added. “Furthermore, he knows that you are not alone now. You have us, and we are ready to kick his a*s if he ever mistreats you again.”

“But if you've made up your mind not to remarry him, then we'll also support you. As long as you are happy, no matter what choice you make, we will be right behind you. We'll always have your back,” Katherine said with, although seductive, but still a reassuring smile nonetheless. “Though if you change your mind in the future, don’t make it easy for him,” Paula nudged her with her elbow. “Make him grovel hard."

Cherise rolled her eyes again. “You just want to see an arrogant man grovel and throw me into the fire by making me into a guinea pig”

“Just saying!” Paula giggled as Cherise’s guess was spot on.

“Speaking of ass," Cherise tried to change the subject. “Agatha said Grandpa is a good man and he won't hesitate to kick Julian's if he ever mistreats me."

“Agatha said the word “ass’?" Paula gasped, her reaction was just like Cherise’s when she heard it coming from Agatha’s mouth.

“She did” Cherise nodded, and they burst into laughter.

“God, I love her more now,” Katherine said, her eyes shining with mirth.

Cherise sighed. “I feel bad for concealing my identity as the Alster’s heiress from Agatha. She said that because she thought I'm Julian's lover

“She has your best interest in her heart, babe,” Paula squeezed her hand.

“I know," Cherise sighed again then decided to change the subject. “Did Grandpa really say he hopes for Julian to find a wife at the banquet?”

Paula nodded. “You should see how pale Julian's face was when he heard THAT”

“Wait, I have it on my phone.” Katherine, who loved to take pictures and videos, took her phone and browsed through it before placing it on Cherise’s palms as the three best friends huddled closer together.

Cherise clicked the play button and they laughed when they saw Julian's horrified expression. Once their laughter died down, Cherise looked at Paula and Katherine. “As much as I want to see my brother getting surrounded by desperate women and trying to fend them off, I much prefer one of you to be his shield.”

“Hey, who knows if he will take a fancy to one of the ladies," Paula exclaimed.

“I doubt it," Cherise laughed. “He'll be so busy he won't have time to date for a while. Grandpa is making him the President of the Alster Group and me the CEO."

“Oh my God!” Paula sat up. “You are going to be the CEO?"

“Grandpa wants it,’ Cherise groaned and told them what her Grandpa said.

The three best friends then talked about what would happen once everyone knew she was the heiress of the Alster family and the CEO of the Alster Group as well until late at night.

“I'm going to sleep now,” Paula said once their conversation drifted off, closing her eyes, and yawning. “I'm beat.”

“Remember, no more mermaid dress for me,” Cherise reminded them because the next day Paula would start sketching for their dresses.

“Yeah, yeah,” she mumbled, halfway to dreamland already.

Cherise and Katherine looked at each other and giggled at how fast Paula could fall asleep before they closed their eyes, following their already snoring best friend to their own dreamlands.

The following days leading to the Alster banquet were filled with buzz amongst the upper society and business for the Alsters themselves.

As an Alster, Julian made sure to hire the best party planner, which was only needed to make everything go according to plan because just like during the filming of the “True Love’ campaigns, everyone in the Alster household, including Katherine, Paula, the staff and Charles himself were involved in planning it and decorating the ballroom.

The upper society families who had gotten invited could not believe their luck, and the rest could only gossip with envy, especially the young ladies who had heard Charles’ words of wanting to find a wife for Julian.

They all knew how close Cherise and Julian were, but just like Hudson who thought he still had hopes of getting Cherise back, the young ladies also hoped to snatch the heir to the Alster family because for them, Cherise was just a country bumpkin, and there was no way Julian would end up marrying her.

Meanwhile, Dahlia was fuming and felt like she was going crazy in her own home. True to his words, Hudson fired all the new staff and employed a new batch of staff who were either as old as her or older, and they were all very strict and strong.

The first day they arrived, Dahlia tried the same move she used in Cherise. During dinner, she insulted the chef, told her the dishes were inedible even though they were actually very tasty, and swept everything off the table dramatically.

The chef only shrugged in response and said if she didn't like it, then she could cook for herself. The other maids told her since she made the mess, she should clean it.

Dahlia had yelled at them, threatened to tell Hudson about it, and he'd fire them, but they all said Hudson was the one who had instructed them to do it.

She was in disbelief. Surely her son wouldn't be so cruel to her. So she called him and complained, even exaggerating how they had treated her and Polly poorly.

Hudson answered that he had installed security cameras all around the house and in the common rooms, so he knew she was making it up. The rest of his words were the same as those of the servants-if she created the trouble, she needed to clean it up by herself. It was to teach her how to treat other people as human beings.

Although angry, Dahlia thought the servants surely would still clean the mess up by the next day, but how wrong she was.

She woke up to the house clean, but that mess was still on the floor. She tried not to care, but after a few days, she couldn't stand the stench of rotten food, and realizing the servants would never clean it up, she ordered Polly instead.

Polly was horrified, but after being scolded for an hour, she finally relented and cleaned the food off the floor.

Since then, every time Dahlia made a mess, Polly was getting the punishment, and she was tired of it.

She turned to the one person she trusted at that moment - Emely, and poured out every grievance.

Polly loved spending time with Emely as she seemed to understand her and was very gentle. She didn’t know why Hudson would not marry Emely, but she thought if she had the chance, she would help them to get together.

Two days before the awaited Alster's banquet, Polly was in the car with Emely when Emely suddenly pointed to something outside the window.

“Isn't that Cherise and Logan Jennings?” she asked.

At that time, Cherise, who had been busy with work and preparation for the banquet had not been spending time at Julian's villa, and that day, Logan dropped her off at her penthouse for her to take some things and made sure her penthouse was still in order.

It wasn't that she didn't trust the housekeeper that came with the penthouse, but she just needed to check everything. It was, after all, her living quarter.

Logan would come back in a few hours after his meeting was done to pick her up, and as usual, they hugged and kissed each other's cheeks before parting.

That was the view that Emely and Polly saw - Cherise and Logan wrapped tightly in each other's embrace like a pair of lovers.

“I knew she was a slut!” Polly exclaimed. “She's with Julian and Katherine said they are best friends, but she had been hooking up with her best friend's boyfriend behind her back."

“l wonder if Julian and Katherine knew,” Emely frowned outwardly but inside she was trying to manipulate Polly.

“I doubt it,” Polly harrumphed. “But don't think she'll get away with this. I will tell Katherine about this."

“I don't think it's a good idea, Polly,” Emely frowned again. “Your brother would not like it if you said bad things about Cherise.”

“But I have the evidence right here in my phone” Polly waved her phone in front of Emely’s face.

Emely looked conflicted but inside she was nearly brimming with joy. She couldn't believe Polly was smart enough to capture the two of them locked in an embrace.

“Don’t worry about it, Emely,” Polly said. “As long as we have evidence, she can't do anything even if she tries to deny it"

Meanwhile, Hudson had been trying to see Cherise, but every morning and night he knocked on her door, there was no response.

At first, he thought she was inside and was just ignoring him, but he had never heard any movements inside, making him ask the guards at the entrance if they had noticed Cherise, but they said they hadn't.

He wanted to see her badly but knew he shouldn't push her too fast. He couldn't make another mistake, so he waited impatiently for the day of the Alster banquet to see her again.

On the day of the banquet, as Agatha was not feeling well, Hudson arrived at Julian's villa with his mother, sister, and Emely.

“After last time, I'm sure you know not to cause any trouble,” he warned them. “Charles Alster will not hesitate to throw you out of his banquet.”

Dahlia rolled her eyes while Polly and Emely nodded obediently as they didn’t want to be embarrassed by the old man again.

“Hey!” Finley and Keith appeared by Hudson's side the moment he left his family.

“Can't believe you still have the face to attend,” Keith teased him.

“God, I have told my Grandpa and parents not to invite Charles Alster to any banquet they will hold,” Finley whispered and shuddered. “I do not want to be scolded for flirting with the ladies in front of everyone.”

“Hudson doesn’t seem to mind,” Keith teased again as he handed his friends glasses of champagne.

“It's because he knows he was wrong, so he doesn’t mind it,” Finley defended himself.

“Does it mean you think being a playboy and breaking hearts left and right is not wrong?” Keith asked.

Hudson ignored his best friends’ bantering and looked around, hoping to see the one person he had been longing to see until he saw her dressed in a dazzling evening gown of metallic gold and silver.

Even though she was surrounded by her usual crowd of friends, she still stood out no matter what.

Hudson didn't believe he could feel amazed by one person each time he laid his eyes on them, but Cherise was an exception for him.

Their gazes clashed from across the ballroom, and Hudson felt everything stilled around him.