"Here she is. My dear future daughter-in-law..." Lucian's father said as he welcomed them into his house his arms wide open as he sat on a wheelchair looking more energetic than when he came into the company a few days earlier."Thank you for having me," She said with a smile as she let Lucian help her with her coat and handed the wine she brought to one of the servants standing there."Thank you for coming," he said with a smile," Please excuse my state for I'm afraid that my visit to the company was a bit too much for my health. So the doctor ordered absolute rest for me, including being confined to this wheelchair,""Although I've never seen him use it..." Lucian said and his father gave them an unpenetrable smile."Now, why don't we head inside and chat in my study? Bella will be taking a while to join us," He declared reminding Thea of one of the reasons why she was there.Thea settled in the study with Lucian by her side silent and brooding. His father, either oblivious or choos
"I'm sure that you're going to like that house. It's perfect for the two of you," James said for the third time that day as they all sat having dinner. "I'm looking forward to seeing it now," Thea said with a smile trying to ignore the piercing gaze Bella was throwing her way. She had been staring at them since earlier making Thea quite uncomfortable. She had properly apologized to Thea when she came into the office calming some excuse about not taking her medicine and not feeling well that day. Lucian simply snorted at that excuse taking Thea's hand and standing up heading toward the dining room. "You'll need to find a better excuse than that. This one is getting a bit old don't you think, Mother?" He'd comented leaving both his parents behind as he made his way out of the office. His father simply sighed and made a sign for the butler to push him back to the dining room. Strangely enough, conversation flowed back as they began to have their meal and Bella was acting like nothing
“It’s perfect isn’t it?” Lucian said as he came to sit beside Thea on the couch. “It is damn perfection,” She said with a sigh as she looked at the spacious open-concept living room. The house that James had shown them was perfect, whether it was the walking distance to the store, the car drive to university or the company, and the space they needed to divide between them. With enough sunlight, a reading room with a view, two offices one huge library, and enough bedrooms for them to live separately. It was basically made for them. James had defied every impossible request they had prepared for the house and even managed to exceed their expectations. It was simply perfection. Thea looked back at Lucian and he turned to her. Their eyes met for a moment but they only managed to look at each other for a few moments before they burst out laughing. “Can you believe this, the house even has a walkway to a small greenhouse in the back?” She said as she laughed, “I knew Dad was good but
“You know I can’t be in the same place at the same time right?” Thea told Pen and she sighed through the phone.“But I was really hoping that you could get some exposure for the outreach program today, it had been your work for years and you deserve the credit for it,” She complained.“I know but Peter did as much work as I did. I don’t mind letting him take the fall- I mean the exposure,” She shuttered with a laugh.“I heard that. And I know that you’re making excuses but I will let this one slime since you will be dealing with much more media with the project anyway. Make sure to stop by for Lunch when the time comes,” Pen instructed.“Alright…” Thea sighed “Oh, and Lucian and Haden are going to be here too. I have a meeting with them right before lunch,”“Alright…” Pen answered before hanging up.Thea looked back at the huge crowd of applications before her and sighed. She was going to be sorting through these for the rest of the week if she doesn’t find someone to help her. But sh
Lucian looked down at his watch as he leaned against the wall listening to Pen and Peter argue about their Lunch destination. “How can you even suggest eating something like that, it’s disgusting,” Peter said as he scrolled through his phone.More concerned about Thea’s tardiness he only half listened to them as he looked at them. Peter smiled at one of the students who passed by them only for her eyes to widen when she realized that he was standing with one of her professors. He looked like one of the university students with a light shirt and skinny jeans. Lucian never noticed but Peter was one of those people easily mistaken for younger than their age. According to what he told him he was already in his late thirties and was already been married once.He always thought this but there was some unique quality to Thea’s friends. From Pen and her contrast from femme fatale to lab rat, to Peter who could have passed on for a university student while he was one of the youngest and most
Lucian stood there as he watched the ambulance speed away. The Dean’s shell-shocked stare was still etched in his memory, along with Thea’s pale ghostly face as she smiled at him with a painful expression. Her eyes had slowly closed as if she was slowly letting go of everything around her, then as if blowing him away with a punch to the guts, her hand which had been squeezing his moments earlier fell to the ground with a lifeless thud.The paramedics had said that she was in critical condition rushing her to the university hospital. Which was luckily closer from within campus than anywhere else. But still, the medics had looked worried.“I did nothing! She was the one who attacked me!” Lucian turned to the sound of cursing and screaming to see Robert struggling against the police officer who was holding him and leading him into the patrol car. He was somehow out of it as if detached from his body. Even though he was burning with rage at the sigh of that vermin, he couldn’t force or u
“Lucian, you can’t keep going like this, how about you take some time to rest?” Lucian turned around to find Haden standing in front of him looking as haggard as Lucian felt holding an already cold paper cup still filled with the black substance they called coffee.“How about Professor Keaton?” He asked.“Pen and James managed to make him rest and they took him to his residence to rest for now. Why don’t you take some time to rest too? I will have a room for you at the hotel in front of the hospital,” Lucian sighed knowing that this is what he should be doing. It was already 4 AM it had been hours since they brought Thea in and she was still in the ICU not waking up. The doctors had said that she would need to wake up for them to know whether there were any bad effects from the effects.Even though Lucian knew that there was nothing he could do for her now, he had remained there by her grandfather’s side counting the seconds and hoping for a miracle.Haden had insisted on remaining
Thea slowly opened her eyes immediately blinded by the lights around her, she closed them again. She tried to move but her body ached so much that it was painful even to be away from it. A croaked groan slipped through her dry throat and she opened her eyes again landing on her grandfather’s sleeping figure as he sat on a chair beside her bed.He looked haggard and exhausted, as if he barely slept in days. She wanted to reach out to him, wake him up, and scold him about not taking care of his health properly but she didn’t find the strength to do so. Something moved on the other side of her bed and she shifted her gaze slowly to meet the bright gaze of Lucian in a similar state as her grandfather. He looked down at her his eyes shining bright with a smile and almost unshed tears and she felt his hand on hers holding and lightly squeezing it.“You’re finally awake,” He said softly.“Lu-Cian,” She whispered her voice barely coming out as a croak and his smile widened as a suspicious sh