The Secret Obsession of the CEO
Chapter 125: Jealous

Chapter 125: Jealous

Derick watched as Lennon spoke words of comfort to Liam, hiding his pain. He always considered Liam highly even when others get annoyed with him. And he knew how to talk to Liam without annoying him.

Derick found it funny how he suddenly feels different about Lennon. He’s known him for ages and he never liked him. Even Rory could not convince him. But once he saw his vulnerable side, just at a moment’s notice, his heart changed.

He’s not too bad!

Liam walked away. Derick leaned on the wall and Lennon joined him. Lennon was following Liam with his eyes and Derick did the same.

Then he saw it. The very short but well-communicated interaction between Liam and Rory.

Liam looked down. He appeared to be tired and just wanted time alone. But he did not leave his room yet. He looked for Rory. She was standing with her back to him.

Derick thought he would call her or walk to her and tell her that he will be in his room.

But no such thing happened.

Liam looked at her and she turned in his direction as if she heard him call. Derick was stunned for he knew Liam did not call her. But how could she have looked at him at the right moment? She even knew where he was.

Derick got curious and observed more keenly.

Just for a second, their eyes met. There was nothing more to that meeting of eyes. Their lips didn’t move, they didn’t gesture anything. But he could see that they said something to each other.

Liam walked up the stairs. Rory followed him after giving excuses to the others.

He had never observed them this keenly. But he did not think that this was the first time this happened. They used to disappear at the same time a lot of times.

What sorcery is that?

Derick got curious. He has seen his parents do this talking through minds bullshit. They understood each other without having to explain much.

He... he never tried that. Because in his past relationship, even when he was open with his wishes and feelings, he was ignored.

He wanted to take a chance. He had this urge in his heart to feel what it would be like to have a partner who would have that deep understanding of the other.

Well, he knows understanding is a two-way street. He was pretty sure he knows Julia well. He searched for her.

She was in the kitchen so enthusiastically looking around at an old whiskey bottle. He didn’t know what he should do. Should he just stare, or...

’Julia... Jules...’

He called for her in his heart. He honestly did not have much hope but he had some hope and a lot of desire that Julia would look at him.

And she did!

With a whip of her head, she turned and her eyes ended up looking at him. There was no wavering. It was as if she heard him call for her and she answered him.

Derick was astonished.

It worked!

His brain informed him and his heart jumped in glee.

So this is the feeling, huh?

Derick smiled.

It was so f*cking amazing!

Julia waved the bottle at him. And then she turned. And his heart skipped once more in glee.

He understood her!

She was saying that she loved that whiskey and she told him that she is going to get him some of that drink that she enjoyed much.

Wow! So you can communicate like this too!

"I can now understand why you were jealous of Liam," Lennon’s deep voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

Focusing on controlling his expression of happiness, Derick looked at Lennon. He was about to tell Lennon that he never was jealous of Liam. Liam had nothing that he lacked and Liam was in no way better than him.

Why would he be jealous of Liam? He was the one who was jealous of him and doubted him!

But Lennon continued. "Look at them..." Lennon pointed at the stairs. Liam was waiting for Rory at the top of the stairs. And the moment she reached the top of the stairs, he carried her and walked to the hallway and disappeared from their view.

"I always found them very interesting... But..." Lennon scoffed and looked down. "Maybe I was jealous too... Rory...she married him when he had nothing. When he was nothing..."

"Well, it’s not like she had a chance. She had to listen to her~"

"Really, now, Derick?" Lennon smiled. "Do you think that she would have agreed to marry anyone? What if her grandmother asked her to marry you? Do you think she would have agreed to it?"

"Hmm..." Derick shrugged. That was a good point.

No one can force Rory to do anything. She must have had some feelings toward Liam. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have let him marry her.

"I love Liam. But he was in no way emotionally ready for the marriage. And he caused many troubles that could have made anyone lose patience, but..." Lennon exhaled a deep breath. "Here he is, getting charged with horrendous crimes, and she still is by his side. Once again, he is on the verge of losing everything, and she..."

Derick heard Lennon. And he examined the feelings in his heart. Back then, he thought he was protecting Rory from Liam. But was he really?

"You are right..." Derick said. "maybe I was jealous..."

"I am glad he found her," Lennon added.

Julia walked to Derick with a glass of whiskey. Derick got it and kissed her cheek. When he looked to the side, Lennon was not there. He was walking at the front door.

"I didn’t know your family had this beauty," Julia savored the drink.

Derick smiled from his heart. "Didn’t know you loved whiskey... Thought you were more of a wine girl."

"Well, I love anything with alcohol content. Except for beer..." Julia shrugged. "I tried to keep it from you. I didn’t want you to think of me as an alcoholic... I hide all my good stash in my closet."

"What a conniving woman!" Derick wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "You’re showing your true colors once I’ve knelt before you..." he whispered in her ear. "Wait for your punishment, witch!" he bit her earlobe.

"Aww!" Julia hissed. "Please, don’t punish me, master..." she whispered and kissed his cheek.

-----

"Let me down, Fizzy," Rory playfully hit Liam’s chest.

"Mmm..." he sat on the bed and placed her on his lap.

"Everyone’s acting as if I am some hero returning after winning a quest, Cherry," he rested his forehead on her shoulder. "While I am getting charged for~"

"You are not going to spend time, Fizzy. I don’t care how much the bail money is. I will pay for it and get you out."

"No, don’t." Liam shook his head. "Because this arrest is just a precursor to the arrest for murders, they will set a high bail amount. And they probably will interrogate me freely because I cannot leave for home..."

"Fizzy, don’t sign the confession. Don’t ever give them what they want. Just stay silent. They will try their best to force you to confess. But don’t waver~"

"Cherry, we’ve been over this. The lawyer will be with me and I am not going to be talking without him. All I worry is for you and..." His eyes ended up at the crib.

"We’ll be fine. Don’t worry about us," Rory hugged him.

"I know." Liam hugged her.

Rory could hear him scrolling through his phone.

"Don’t watch it..." she tried to get his phone. She knew he was going to listen to the press meet.

"I should know, Cherry..." he said.

Rory turned to look at the window to see a lot of flashes. They saw a series of headlights of cars moving through the road in front of their house.

"What’s going on?" Liam took a peek. "That’s a lot of trucks... They are going inside the forest," he added.

"Oh, it must be from the lumber company. Grandma said that the government recently granted permission to cut trees from the forest behind us," Rory said as she recalled her conversation with Dorothy some days earlier.

"To cut trees? I thought the land was protected or something..." Liam raised his brows. "When was the last time someone cut trees from our forest?"

"Who knows? And who cares?" Rory shrugged. But Liam looked like he cared and he restlessly stared at the posse of trucks and heavy engine vehicles making their way inside the forest.

"They probably paid someone to have the permit, you know..." Rory walked to the window to his side. "Why do you care? It’s not like it is your land!"

"But it is! Those trees are our trees! They cannot cut them!" Liam appeared to be a bit disturbed.

"Our trees?" Rory laughed.

"Yes! We have our memories intertwined in that forest, just like the roots of those trees there... The trees that they are going to kill!"

Liam was upset.

"Speaking of memories... Guess what I found!" Rory smiled and walked to the table.

She opened the drawer and pulled out a little shiny disc. "The Queen of all Argyll" she read the title of the DVD written with a marker.

"Where did you get it!" Liam got defensive and jumped at her. "Give it back!"