Black Pearl in Raging Fire

18. Punishment

"Did he have breakfast this morning?"

Liam ate his food while watching Shari clean the carpet.

Shari replied, “Yes, young master ate a lot today.”

Everything Shari had prepared today was still the usual spicy food. The kind of spicy taste that burned his tongue after a few bites. Liam frowned and said, "He eats a lot of this food?"

Adriel just had a stomach ache. Liam thought Shari would put off the spicy diet for a few days until his stomach recovered, but why was she still making this dish?

Shari knew she was annoyed and explained, "Young master asked for it. He'll be mad if I don't make your favorite dish."

This reason again. Liam snorted.

Does he think Liam won't be able to eat anything other than spicy food?

"Tomorrow and so on, don't make spicy food," he said.

Shari was shocked. "But, sir ... Young master said you were in a bad mood last night and asked me to make your favorite dish."

Hearing this, Liam couldn't help but click his tongue.

It was almost 12 o'clock when he woke up. While massaging his head that was dizzy at that time, he remembered that he got drunk at his own wedding celebration party. He has never been drunk in his life. He didn't remember what happened that night, almost half of his memory was hazy. All he could clearly remember was the time a waiter accidentally bumped into him and was looking for trouble everywhere.

He even forgot about Louis and the others. And how was the party after he got drunk.

When he woke up, his clothes had changed into soft silk pajamas and his body was wrapped in a warm blanket on the soft mattress.

At that time, he was again irritated with the waiter bumping into him, he only had one weight on his mind;

Was it Adriel who changed his clothes?

There was no one else around that he could think of; just 'husband'.

Obviously the man saw him naked!

Thinking of this conjecture made Liam a bit offended and his heart felt sour!

He didn't want to think about it anymore. He convinced himself; what's wrong with a man seeing another man's body, let alone that man is 'your husband'.

After all Adriel was only changing his clothes, nothing more than that.

Too late to go to a cafe. After eating, Liam decided to go to the hospital. Today coincided with his mother's return home.

"You came alone?" Mrs. Halsey looked around him.

Liam put his mother's last clothes in a bag and hummed.

As he looked at his mother, she seemed to want to say something, but hesitated.

"What's wrong?" Liam raised one eyebrow.

"Why didn't you invite him?"

Liam, "..."

Mrs. Halsey was a bit reluctant, but said anyway, "Take him home more often next time. He can talk to your dad about business, right. We can also have dinner together and have barbecues on the weekends."

Liam was surprised to hear this and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He didn't understand why his mother suddenly took the initiative to invite Adriel and ask about that man.

Just a few days ago his mother had been very emotional and thought Adriel had stolen him from her. Now she was suddenly being nice and wanted to invite Adriel over to the house.

What happened?

"... Mom?" Liam has a confused expression.

Mrs. Halsey looked at her son's face and cleared her throat softly. "That ... your dad said the company was doing well recently. Then he said that Adriel wasn't bad, that kid secretly paid for the hospital fees and chose the best therapist for me. Do you know?"

Liam didn't know. "Just because of that?"

It's hard to believe that his mother could be bought for just that reason. Since the beginning Adriel has helped his father's company, but his mother still hates him. It was impossible for her to melt down because Adriel paid for her treatment.

As he thought of another conjecture, Mrs. Halsey took his hand and patted it. "I know you don't like him. Your mom, I, have discussed with your dad the continuation of your relationship ..."

Liam's heart fluttered. Continuation of the relationship?

His mother looked at him and said it word by word slowly, "But your dad told me that there was actually a contract made between him and Adriel secretly. I know that this was purely your dad's request." Glancing at her son briefly, she continued cautiously, "The contract says, you can end the marriage if within two years your relationship doesn't progress. Both parties have agreed and signed the contract. Tell me, isn't that great?"

About this contract, Liam only heard about it now. He didn't know how to feel about this.

Is there really such a contract?

Liam wanted to tell her that it would be too shameless for them to end their marriage two years later after what Adriel did for their family, but seeing his mother's beaming face, he swallowed the sentence.

Instead he said, "Mom, do you think he's a bad guy?"

Mrs. Halsey didn't expect to be asked this kind of question, she couldn't answer for a while.

Liam took her hand gently. "Mom, two years is still a long time. You don't have to think about it and forget about your health."

Mrs. Halsey knew her son was taking the conversation the other way.

"I ... I just don't want you to be unhappy." She lowered her head.

"I know." Liam got up. Reluctant to bring it up again, he picked up his mother's bag in one hand and took it in the other. "Come on, dad must be waiting downstairs."

On the way to the car, his mother didn't say anything, only peeping at him from time to time. Liam was also silent because he knew his mother must be thinking about him again. He didn't want to stimulate her.

His mother was in poor health for a long time. Liam had long been used to obeying her and never contradicted her. Perhaps she felt that today for the first time, he was not what he used to be.

That's only natural.

Liam also didn't know why he answered his mother like that. But indeed, two years were still long and he didn't know what would happen in the future.

He didn't like Adriel, but he didn't think Adriel was bad.

Even though he stripped and changed Liam's clothes, he didn't lay his hands on him. Which is a good thing. Come to think of it, from the start of their marriage, they were even in separate rooms. They never did anything intimate, Adriel never forced him to have s*x. The most intimate thing between them was just a french kiss.

Remembering this Liam's ears suddenly turned red.

How embarrassing! Why did he remember this and think that the kiss wasn't bad?

After dropping off his mother, Liam didn't stay long and contacted Riza. There were many of Adriel's friends at last night's party, but the only one close to him is this guy. Liam wanted to meet him and found out some information that Riza might know.

As a result, before he called, Riza called him first, "You left before the party ended and forgot all the gifts. Come and get them."

He frowned. It's just a matter of gifts, that can be handled with a courier, why should he bring them? How much is it?

But since Riza had invited him, he felt lucky and immediately agreed.

Riza said that he is currently still busy. If Liam wants to wait, he can come to work.

The workplace is in a large park managed by a national company. Complete park facilities; there are jogging tracks, rides for games, swimming pools, sports halls and culinary centers.

Coincidentally, Riza was at a public swimming pool that was rented for shooting purposes. Liam remembered on his business card that Riza is a photographer.

Riza was photographing a female model in a swimsuit. Seeing him coming, Riza waved. "Yo, sit down and wait for me."

Liam obediently sat down.

An hour later, Riza was completely finished. It was quite a long time, but Liam was used to being alone so he didn't get bored. He waited while checking stocks on his phone and there was coffee on his table. When Riza came to him, he was relaxing.

"Sorry make you wait." Riza drank his iced coffee and sat down.

Liam put down his phone. "Are you asking me to meet just to pick up gifts?"

Riza knew this man was very sharp. "Now, now. The gifts will be delivered by delivery, I'll arrange that."

Seeing Riza still not explaining himself, Liam wasn't in a hurry.

"Actually, I want to talk about Finlay," said Riza. "Adriel left without solving things last night. He's still mad at me. So I wanted to ask you, do you want me to get rid of him?"

Riza said the last line in a serious tone.

For a moment Liam forgot who Finlay was, until he vaguely remembered a waiter who looks a lot like him.

"What do you mean get rid of him?"

Riza explained calmly, "Me and Dimitri have discussed it. This guy is no good, he's slick. Dimitri has been telling me what he's been doing these three years and it's all so disgusting. If you don't get rid of him, he'll be looking for trouble for you."

Liam "Why is he looking for trouble for me? I have nothing to do with him."

"How much do you remember tonight?"

"..."

"You must have forgotten about it. You're so wasted."

"What's he doing?" Liam asked curiously.

Riza said, "Yeah, he's trying to get Adriel's attention back. You're practically a stumbling block for him. He's going to get rid of you."

Liam got the point. Then Riza recounted the whole incident last night, about how Finlay deliberately set him up and he seduced Adriel to get his attention.

After being proven guilty, he still tried to make Adriel think that he is innocent and the incident of him spilling the alcohol was accidental because it was Liam who got in his way.

Riza also guessed that Finlay seducing Adriel was his sneaky intention, as he needed a lot of money right now.

Liam shuddered in disgust.

He asked out of context, "Have they ever had s*x?"

Riza who heard this vulgar question burst out laughing. "Jealous?"

Liam, "..."

Ignoring Liam's mute mouth, he said, "They are in a relationship, why not having s*x?"

Liam's mind became complicated.

Riza stirred the ice cubes in his glass. "Well, I've said that in the past. Adriel has changed boyfriends a dozen times just like changing clothes, he's never had feelings for them. Usually it's a one night stand."

However, they were not genuine, because Adriel was dating them because their faces were similar to his first love.

Liam.

Riza smiled bitterly.

He really wanted to spill the beans on Liam. Can he do it now?

As for Liam, he still hadn't pulled the stone out of his heart, even though he heard this.

Adriel can have one night stands with men he meets once. Also having s*x with his boyfriend. But he didn't do it with Liam.

Come to think of it, that means Adriel doesn't like him, right? So he didn't touch him. So it's true that he married Liam only as a guarantee of favor and even signed a two year marriage contract with his father secretly?

Doing this was clearly not working in his favor, why should he marry him then?

If he just wanted bail, he could drag Liam into his house and lock him up.

"How? I offered a kind help. I tell you, this b***h is really sneaky, it's best to get rid of him!" Riza dragged this topic again.

Liam was still quiet.

"Hey, don't think too hard. Even though his face looks like yours, it doesn't mean he can attract Adriel's attention again."

Right. Finlay looks like him!

Liam looked at Riza again this time. "Why are you telling me this? After all he still has nothing to do with me. You can ask Adriel if he wants to get rid of him or not."

"Because Adriel thinks Finlay's arrival was my doing. He's mad at me." Riza chuckled.

"Does he look like me?"

"... Yeah. A bit."

"Are all of his lovers in the past similar to me?"

"Kinda."

"Why?"

"Why what?" Riza asked. He actually knew what it meant, but he was at a loss as to how to explain it.

What is certain is that all of Adriel's past lovers were more or less similar to Liam. Like Adriel has had an obsession with his face and body for a long time.

But Liam may have misunderstood.

And Riza has no right to tell the truth.

In the end Liam didn't want to talk about this anymore, Riza didn't force it either. Liam diverted the topic and brought up Riza's work, Liam asked if he can recommend someone to be a model. He also told a little about Isabel wanting to enter the world of modeling and looking for resources.

Riza remembered this girl and agreed to find her an agency to train her. Then bring a lot of good resources.

They discussed this with enthusiasm. Liam was happy because he could finally help Isabel. He would discuss it with Isabel tomorrow.

The next day, Liam woke up early to find Adriel sitting on the couch with his tablet. Liam didn't know when Adriel came home last night. The man seemed busy again.

When Liam sat down at the dinner table, Adriel followed suit. Adriel frowned at the food on the table.

"Why did you make this food? Where's the spicy food?" Adriel stared coldly at Shari.

“That's …” Shari was afraid to answer and looked to Liam for help.

Liam said, "I'm tired of spicy food every day."

Adriel was stunned and said, "Really?"

The real reason was because he didn't want to make Adriel's stomach ache recur. He wasn't sure Adriel didn't know what he meant.

"You loved spicy food since you were a child. At home you couldn't eat it because of your mother's illness, and you would look for a restaurant that served spicy food almost every day." Adriel said at length. "Why didn't you get bored a long time ago?"

Liam smiled bitterly. "So you know I like spicy food for a long time?"

"What doesn't this husband know about his wife's preferences?" Adriel snorted, eating the savory rib soup reluctantly.

Liam, "..."

"Tomorrow make spicy food as usual." Adriel said to Shari.

"No," Liam said.

"Why?"

"I'm bored."

"This excuse again? Are you causing trouble?"

Liam didn't get the point, he asked, "Am I not allowed to feel bored?"

"No." Adriel's gaze was serious. "I don't want you to make this an issue to talk bad about me behind my back. You could just tell others that I didn't treat you well and deny you the right to eat your favorite food."

Liam growled. "You're being ridiculous!"

Adrian didn't care. "Don't forget that I also like spicy food. I want to eat it now."

"You don't."

"... What?"

Liam couldn't take it anymore and slammed down his spoon. "You don't like spicy food. Riza told me."

Hearing another man's name called, Adriel was angry. "Are you investigating me? If you want to know about me, you can ask me. Why are you asking other people?"

Liam said coldly, "I don't want your stomach ache recur and you pass out again. I'm not that bored taking care of sick people."

Maybe Adriel didn't expect these words to come out and he was stunned for a while.

"I'm full." Liam stood without touching his food.

"I'm not done talking."

Liam ignored him and continued walking.

"Hey!"

Adriel ran out of patience. He pushed his chair hard and gave chase. Shari who heard the fight, could not help, just hoped that Adriel would not explode.

He saw Adriel manage to reach Liam, grab him and slam him in front of the fridge. Liam hissed.

"I was talking to you. How dare you ignore me." Adriel gritted his teeth.

Liam's back hit the fridge handle and it hurts bad. He glared at Adriel as he couldn't shake himself off.

"Do you think I'm fool? You meet another guy behind my back and expect me to go easy on you?" Adriel was angry.

Liam forgot to ask Adriel for permission when he was out yesterday. But he didn't feel guilty.

So was his strange behavior just now actually because of this?

"Let me go."

Adriel tightened his grip on Liam's wrist, while his other hand was on Liam's waist. "Tell me, why did you meet Riza yesterday? Are you familiar with him?"

Liam refused to answer.

"Would you prefer me to keep you in this house?"

"You sick!"

"Liam, don't forget you are my wife. Have I ever treated you badly?" Adriel's hand ran through Liam's waist through his shirt, which made Liam shudder.

"I'm going because I want to go. Don't hold me back!" Liam bit his lip in amusement.

"Hold you?" Adriel's expression was like he was looking at a joke.

His hand went up inside of Liam's pajamas, ripping them right off. Exposing his chest.

The pink things on his chest were so tempting to Adriel. He moved his finger to one of them and twisted it.

Liam squeezed his eyes shut. Tried to go, but couldn't.

Adriel was satisfied with his expression, fingering the two pink beans alternately then biting into them. Liam flinched.

"Ungh."

"Liam, I will punish you for disobeying."

... to be continued ...