CHAPTER 11

Hot soup and various foods are served on the table. Jonathan ordered his servant to prepare all of it for Emily, but the woman just stared at him blankly.

Since that night, Emily had decided to keep Jonathan quiet. They are under the same roof and in the same place, but Emily's soul and mind are somewhere else.

Jonathan tried hard to keep himself from getting emotional, but he was starting to get annoyed seeing Emily, who kept ignoring him.

"Eat."

After Jonathan ordered her, Emily just wanted to enjoy her food even though she remained silent.

"Quickly finish it, you have to be examined by Doctor Frederick."

Suddenly, Emily turned like a mad person, devouring her food quickly. Jonathan, who was shocked to see that, immediately withdrew his hand. Now he saw Emily's figure in a mess with food splattered on her face.

"Are you stupid or what?!"

"Aren't you the one who asked me to hurry up?" she asked coldly.

Jonathan is annoyed, but he feels strangely unable to do anything about Emily. "Clean her up and take her to Doctor Frederick's room when she's done," he ordered the servants.

Jonathan walked away, but every now and then he turned back to Emily and found the girl just pensive with a blank stare.

He went to Frederick's room, plopped down on the couch, ignoring the man who was now busy preparing medicine.

"Why else, Jo?" he asked.

"Speak politely, I am your Master."

Frederick chuckled. "There's only the two of us. No problem, right?"

"Up to you."

Frederick kept the medicine he had prepared for Emily, then walked over to Jonathan, who looked annoyed.

"What is the problem?" he repeated.

"That woman is acting strangely now."

"Weird how?"

"It's weird... it just stares blankly, and then it just responds to my commands... like a robot, I guess. It sucks."

"Don't you like that kind of thing? Just obey and keep quiet."

Jonathan admits he does want Emily to be more submissive, but not the way she is now.

"I don't know, you should treat her until she recovers. She's so weird, I'm so annoyed."

Frederick chuckled, he was very happy to see Jonathan, who looked disheveled, eroding a bit of his arrogance so far.

"Okay, Mr. Jo ... then what do you want to do?"

"Stop being so ridiculous when it's just the two of us!"

"Weren't you the one who asked for it?"

"Stop grinning too, it's so ridiculous," he protested.

Frederick's smile widened even more, then he looked at Jonathan, who was confused about his current thoughts. Until he finally stopped doing that when an irritated Jonathan grabbed his collar roughly.

"Okay, sorry. So, what do you want me to do?"

"Give her medicine or whatever it is, the important thing is she gets back to normal. Rather than looking at her like that, I would prefer if she just barked normally."

"You really haven't changed. Fine, give me some time to talk to her alone."

Jonathan glared at Frederick. "Not! Will never."

"I think we need some time alone, as a patient and a doctor."

"You know I'm not going to let that happen, right?"

Frederick sighed, then took a sip of the now almost cold tea. "It's up to you, Jo. If you want me to heal her faster, give us some time to talk."

Jonathan hesitated, even though he had known Frederick for a long time, he still couldn't get rid of his suspicions.

"I'm not going to mess around," he continued.

"How can I believe it?"

"Doesn't every corner of this room have hidden CCTV?"

Jonathan smiled wryly. "Apparently, I can't hide anything from you. But, still–"

"You can put your aide outside, but that's up to you."

"Well. But, just be careful if you dare to mess around," he threatened.

"No, you yourself know who my heart is set on, right?"

Jonathan chuckled. "Don't hope, you know it won't be possible."

"Why not? I've worked hard up until now, you should be able to see for yourself. If it wasn't for love, do you really think I would be able to survive here?"

"Stop talking and do your job properly."

Jonathan got up and smoothed his jacket. "I'm off, report the results later."

"Yes, be careful on the road."

Before Jonathan really left, Frederick teased him again with a wink, making him shudder. Frederick chuckled, seeing Jonathan, who sometimes behaved unusually.

***

The employees lowered their heads as Jonathan walked by, checking each division to make sure everything was going according to his orders.

Although he was known to be meticulous with no room for scrutiny, this was the first time Jonathan had taken the plunge himself, leaving his employees trembling with fear of making a mistake.

Not without reason. In fact, Jonathan is trying to find other activities so as not to keep thinking about Emily, who might now be alone with Frederick in the mansion's infirmary.

On the way to the office he checked the CCTV footage every now and then, but nothing happened and they just seemed to be having a normal conversation. He would try to believe, especially that Frederick was not someone he had just met, but it was difficult for him, who was a paranoiac.

His eyes fixed on a computer screen that was lit, he approached and found something that made him angry.

"Whose table is this?!"

All of his employees bowed their heads in fear, but one of them finally ventured closer. "My desk, sir."

"Do you think this office is your playground, huh?!"

"Sorry—"

"Our office is busy but you still have time to play social media. Rion, get the finance department to cut his salary."

"Sorry, sir... don't cut my salary."

The girl begged while sobbing, but an annoyed Jonathan refused to respond and walked away to another room.

In his heart, he wanted to quickly check the CCTV footage of his house, but the more he did it, the more anxious Jonathan was and wanted to go home.

"Shit," he cursed.

Jonathan stopped in his tracks, trying to reorganize his thoughts to remain calm. How could Jonathan Oliver be influenced by a woman? He cursed himself.

Rion had just got a call from Jonathan's room, and a guest came to visit Jonathan.

"Sir, a guest is coming."

"Is it the Richmond family?"

"No, sir, but Hans Wilson."

Hans Wilson wasn't exactly the guest he'd been expecting to see, but he couldn't help but be curious about his nemesis' intentions and purpose.

"Let him wait."

"Yes sir."

Jonathan returned to his room. But before that, he tried to calm himself at first. The old wolf must have a plan—he thought.

The man who was more than half a century old grinned when he saw Jonathan coming. He was not alone, but with a young woman holding him tightly.

"Hi, Jo... gosh, you're really handsome," he greeted, holding out his hand, but Jonathan ignored him and sat down. "You're still the same as before, haughty," he continued as he sat back down.

"You are the same as before, you don't know yourself, Old Man," Jonathan replied.

Hans chuckled, the lines on his face became clearer because there were so many wrinkles everywhere. "How are you?"

"Don't mince words. What have you come here for?"

"I just wanted to invite you to the engagement the day after tomorrow."

Jonathan smiled wryly. "Do you think you can still do it, Old Man?"

"Don't be cocky, Jo. Even though I'm old, young women always surround me. Ah ... look at this woman of mine, her name is Reni. Beautiful, isn't it?"

Jonathan stared cynically at the woman who had been staring at him in amazement. He smiled wryly, returning the look women were supposed to give him.

"I'm curious about one thing, Old Man. How many drugs do you take every time you want to do it?" Jonathan teased.

Hans stuttered. Of course, he knew that apart from teasing him, Jonathan deliberately brought this up again because he had given him the drug before to set him up.

"A-ah… never mind. It's not me who's getting engaged, but my daughter—Fransiska. You must have met her some time ago."

"Ah, that woman."

"Come and forget about our competition for a moment. Even though I hoped to make you my son-in-law, my daughter instead fell in love with the second son of the Richmond family."

Jonathan chuckled. "Don't bother, your daughter isn't even worthy of me," he retorted.

Hans rolled his eyes. He tried to suppress his emotions. At this time he had to be careful because the young man in front of him still held power.

"Okay, then we'll excuse you. Come, consider it as a request from your mother's friend."

Hans got up from his place, took his woman back to go. Without speaking again, the two of them strolled away, leaving Jonathan behind.

However, before that, he did not realize that his woman was reluctant to take her eyes and thoughts from a handsome and dashing man like Jonathan.

"Come on, we have to get ready," he said to Reni.

"Y-yes, dear."