Arrogant Man VS Unyielding Woman

"What were you doing at that time? Answer my question!" Zed bellowed. His voice started to become colder, making Toby feel a chill run through his spine. Toby's eyes widened in regret and fright as he glanced at Zed, who looked scarier than moments ago. "I..." Toby started and immediately stopped. He lowered his head immediately after seeing the piercing eyes of Zed and didn't dare to raise his head to look. "I won't explain myself. I wasn't able to do my duty of protecting Mrs. Jean from Joy. I have failed you, Mr. Zed. Please, punish me as I deserve to be punished." Zed lifted one corner of his lips, satisfied by how well-trained his employees were, but not enough to do their duty. He took his belt out immediately and whipped Toby by the back with all the force he could muster. Toby couldn't do anything but kneel in front of Zed, biting his bottom lip. "Do you think I won't punish you if you explain for yourself? Toby, I trusted you so much, but I can't believe that you failed me in the end. If anything happened to Jean, you are going to be responsible as well. Do you hear me?"

After saying that, Zed gave Toby another whip much harder than the first one. This time, Toby winced and did his best to hide his pain that was coursing throughout his whole body. The sound of the whip was so loud that they could now hear the sound of flesh splitting. Everything happened so fast that Jean stood there in shock. Only then when she saw blood seeping through Toby's shirt did Jean come back to her senses.

She quickly grabbed Zed by the arm before he could beat Toby again and shouted in front of him as if he wasn't close enough to hear. "Zed! What the hell are you doing? It's not Toby's fault! Stop beating him to death! Stop it right now!"

Zed pushed Jean aside and made sure he didn't push her too hard. He then turned his attention back to Toby and continued to whip his belt onto Toby's back. "Go away, Jean. Don't stand in my way! Because of his careless actions, you might have lost your life! I'm merciful enough to let him keep his life."

"Zed, if you keep punishing him, I'll protect him by throwing myself in front of your belt. Believe me." Glaring at Zed, Jean didn't have any other choice but to threaten him.

Zed stopped mid-air and turned to glare at Jean back. "What did you just say?" He couldn't believe what Jean had just said. "You need to be reasonable, Jean. Toby works for me, and it was his duty to protect you, but he failed. He knew then that there would be consequences for failure. I'm telling you as well, Jean. If you dare to stop me, I will kill him directly."

"God damn it, Zed! Who do you think you are?" Jean sneered after hearing what Zed had just said. "Kill Toby? Really? You didn't even give Toby a chance to explain for himself, and now you're talking about killing him! Can you even hear yourself, Zed? You are no more than a tyrant! Do you think lives are just easy to throw away? I can't believe you take lives for granted!" Jean raised her hands up in exasperation. "How did I even get to know someone as heartless as you?"

"Mrs. Jean." Toby looked up and barely spoke before their argument gets any worse. His face was so pale, and his breath was breaking as he tried hard to muster up all the energy to still speak. "Please, don't beg for mercy on my behalf. I don't deserve it."

Jean's eyes widened in surprise. Her eyes started to brim with tears as she noticed how Toby was suffering extremely from excruciating pain. While pointing at Toby's injured body, she couldn't help but turn to Zed with a glare and scream at him with tears now rolling down her cheeks. "Look at what you did to Toby! How dare you treat him like an animal in a slaughterhouse? If you dare to hurt him again, I won't ever forgive you, Zed."

"Jean," Zed said, unable to get his words right. He felt anger consume him at once.

Before he could say anything more, he was interrupted by thundering footsteps towards them. Apparently, Gregory and Terry heard the commotion and rushed inside. "Mr. Zed, please have some mercy." They knelt before Zed and explained, "Toby failed because he had a high fever and became unconscious."

"Stop." Toby interrupted Gregory. "Both of you... just stop." He summoned his last bit of energy to look at them and warned them with his eyes not to continue their words and interfere.

Gregory gave Toby a glance of desperation. "Toby, I don't care whether or not you will despise or blame me for doing this, but I will still tell Mr. Zed the truth, or you'll be dead." With a firm look on his face, Gregory turned to Zed and continued to explain, "You have to know, Mr. Zed that Toby still brought Shirley even though he was barely conscious. He forced himself to make Shirley stop Joy from hurting Mrs. Jean at that moment."

"Then, why didn't he just save Jean by himself?" Zed asked angrily. His face still showed his pure frustration. He then furrowed his eyebrows at Toby.

"Toby was out of strength by then. He wasn't sure if he could take down a furious and insane woman, so he decided to threaten Shirley instead. Then again, Toby still regretted his decisions," Terry added in haste.

Jean was stunned upon hearing the truth behind this situation. She immediately moved towards Toby and intended to help him up.

However, Toby removed Jean's grasp and refused her help.

Frowning, Jean stomped at once and turned to Zed. She crossed her arms on her chest before asking Zed angrily. "Aren't you going to let Toby get up? You heard the truth. He saved me. Don't tell me that you are still going to stick with that iron-clad pride of yours! I knew there was something strange about Shirley saving me from Joy's wrath. Well, it turns out that it was Toby who saved me. He may have not protected me by physically stopping Joy, but I believe that he still was able to fulfill his duty. I am not dead, am I? Tell Toby to get up now!"

Jean huffed and exhaled an frustrating sigh. Zed looked at her and felt himself melting and submitting to Jean. He wasn't that heartless, but Toby still deserved that punishment since Jean got hurt. Then again, Zed thought that the pain he induced was already enough. After a short while, Zed turned to the three men kneeling before him on the ground and ordered them to get up right away.

As soon as they heard Zed's order, Gregory and Terry turned to Toby and helped him up.

Jean's eyes looked at Toby with sadness and pity. She couldn't stand the sight of him covered by his own blood, and that he could barely look at them at all. With a croak, Jean demanded with conviction on her voice. "Gregory, Terry, send Toby to the hospital now." As soon as she said those words, Jean's eyes were filled with tears again as she felt guilty seeing Toby that way.

Gregory and Terry didn't move at once. They both turned to Zed and waited until Zed waved his hand at them. As soon as they were permitted to do Jean's order, Gregory and Terry exchanged delighted glances and looked at Jean, bowing at her with sincerity. "Thank you, Mrs. Jean."

Jean shook their head at them and watched them leave. She then turned to Zed with a serious look. "Zed, why are you so cruel? How could you hurt Toby that bad? He has already been working for you for a long time now, and you know him a lot as he does to you, so why did you do that to him? Aren't you afraid that his attitude towards you would change and turn cold?"

"He needs to be punished, since he failed. He knows that. There's nothing to complain about," Zed said, looking at Jean with a calm and straight face at the moment. He then placed his belt down on the coffee table before sitting down on the sofa, feeling the tiredness inside him.

"But after what you did, I suddenly feel as if I don't know you now. You start to seem like a stranger to me. Tell me, Zed, what do you do exactly? Are you really just a businessman? Or is there anything I don't know yet about you?" Not moving from her spot, Jean asked what turned out to be something that she had already buried in her heart for a long time.

For a moment, Zed just stared at Jean, contemplating what to tell her. He then decided against it and remembered Moore, who had been silent in the sidelines. He gave him a weak smile and said,"Moore, I apologize for letting you see that."

Moore slightly shook his head at Zed. There were other thoughts inside Moore's head so he asked, "Your actions just now are just like a soldier - disciplined and full of conviction. Zed, if I'm not mistaken, you served in the military for a while, right?"

Zed's face showed as if he had just realized something and without waiting for a second, he nodded at Moore with a smile. "Well, my grandpa was a soldier. He influenced me and my father to join the military once. Later on, my father wanted me to inherit his company, so that he would take a break and have time to take my mother with him and travel around the world. I was reluctant at first, but I accepted his arrangement in the end."

"Oh, so that's why!" Moore smiled and nodded his head as he turned to Jean and said, "Jean, I'm tired. I think I will call it a night. I'll give you two some time alone and go upstairs first."

Before he could finish his words, Moore was already turning around to retreat upstairs.

Jean watched Moore disappear from the stairs before turning to Zed with an eyebrow raised. Still angry, she questioned, "Is what you just said true?"

"Of course. Why would I lie about that?" Looking into Jean's eyes, Zed nodded his head with a smile.

Jean still didn't believe Zed and continued to interrogate him. "Didn't you tell me that you and your grandpa made a deal that you will go back to Imperial Capital sooner or later?"

"Yes, I did. When things are settled here, I'll take you to Imperial Capital to visit my grandpa, and I will deal with the issues remaining there while we are on the place." Zed nodded his head again as he calmly answered her questions.

Jean only noticed then that her anger had started to slowly fade away, but after hearing what Zed had said, her eyebrows furrowed into a frown. "How come it's so complicated?"

"It's fine. It only takes some time to get used to. It won't take too long. I promise. If you want to stay there, then we will just stay there." Zed stood up and moved towards Jean. He embraced her in his arms tightly but enough to let her breathe. He smiled as he felt Jean hug him back. With a sigh of relief, he said, "Don't be angry with me anymore, alright? I'm sorry, but like you said, I have known Toby for a long while now. If I didn't punish him, he will just succumb to regret for not being able to protect you and still would suffer either way. Only after I punished him will he set himself free from the guilt that was already deep embedded in his heart the very moment Joy laid a hand on you."1000