Convincing her

After a while, the crowd was ushered into the building and was taken to a different hall where the dinner would happen. After everyone was settled inside, they reentered the hall. The only difference now was that all couples were walking together.

Leanna was being escorted by Ethan instead of her father, and Jen and Lucas went in together rather than separately. With the organizer around, Jen was finally free of any worry for the party, so she mingled with the guests that had arrived.

While she was being a social butterfly, Jen was unaware that there was a dramatic scene unfolding before Lucas. Jason had avoided being in his parents' sight during the wedding ceremony, but it was impossible for him to hide from them for an entire night.

So Hellen eventually saw him. Once she did, she did not even say anything before she had held his arms and turned him around a few times as if she didn't believe what she was seeing.

"What happened to you?" Hellen asked with worry in her eyes.

"It's nothing mom, I just lost some weight for a movie role," Jason said, trying to assure his mother. She turned to look at James as if asking him why did he allow his younger brother to play such a role.

Honestly, he was not expecting Jason to get so into character that he would even lose weight for his role. When he saw the script, he knew that it would definitely be popular that was why he had chosen it for him; it was unfortunate that he was too busy to monitor him, otherwise Jason would not have had the chance to pull such a stunt under his watch.

"How can you lose so much weight for a role?" Hellen asked, clearly distressed. She spent her days worrying about her three boys since none of them was in her sights. Now seeing Jason like this just made her feel guilty for not checking up on him enough. Before they knew it, her hazel eyes were already shining with tears and Noah was already glaring at Jason.

"Mom, you can't cry at such a happy occasion, you'll ruin your makeup," Jason said desperately. He must not let those tears fall. Lucas was a silent observer of the whole ordeal, so he just quietly watched the play.

"Am I not crying because of you?" Hellen asked as she blinked her eyes to try to curb her tears. She also didn't want to ruin her makeup.

"Actually mom I have someone to introduce you to," James said. Hellen was already aware of Laura's existence, so she became distracted when she heard his words. She completely forgot about her tears and looked at him with expectation in her eyes.

"Who is it?" Hellen asked and hooked her arm with James, leaving the other three men behind. Noah looked at Jason's thinner frame and felt the same worry his wife did, but couldn't express it the same way she did.

"Take care of yourself, you're not a child… don't make us worry," Noah added at the end and left Jason standing there with Lucas. Lucas looked at his brother, who had a stunned expression on his face, and wondered what he was thinking about.

"He was worrying about me right?" Jason asked, and Lucas could only helplessly laugh and left to find Jen. Jason followed behind him and continued to ask Lucas the same question repeatedly.

"Yes, he was worried," Lucas answered after feeling frustrated. Jason put his arm over Lucas' shoulders and leaned forward to check on Lucas' expression.

"Why do you have an annoyed expression?" Jason asked when he saw Lucas' eyebrows were really furrowed in annoyance.

"Because you're annoying me," Lucas answered as he walked towards Jen who was standing with Alex.

"Who is the blonde?" Jason asked curiously when he noticed Alex with Jen.

"Her younger sister," Lucas answered plainly.

"Oh? I haven't seen her face yet, but I can already tell they probably don't look alike," Jason said a few seconds before they stopped behind the girls.

"Jen," Lucas called and Jen both Jen and Alex turned to look in his direction.

"I knew they wouldn't look alike," Jason said and smiled at the two sisters.

"Lucas' other brother, I'm assuming," Alex asked, a question to which Jen nodded to with a smile.

"This is Jason, Lucas' brother, and this is Alexandra, my younger sister," Jen said.

"It's nice meeting you," Alex said as she shook Jason's hand.

"It's a pleasure," Jason responded.

"Well, I'm going to leave you alone now, I've left my date alone for too long already," Alex said once she felt that Lucas had come to talk to Jen. She did not want to be a light bulb, so she quickly left.

"Me too," Jason said and left before anyone could say anything.

"Shall we?" Lucas asked, and the two of them went outside to the garden to get some air.

*

Alex didn't know a lot of people, but thanks to her sister, she at least had some acquaintances and has also managed to make new friends. As she roamed around, she was finally able to catch sight of her date.

She walked towards Michael and hooked her arm around his. They had already worked with each other for a few months, so they were very familiar with each other. 

"Did you finish with what you were doing?" Alex asked him as they walked together and Michael nodded while looking straight ahead. He had been unconsciously avoiding making eye contact with her, but Alex did not think it was a big deal. He could do whatever he wanted.

"I want something to drink," she said to herself as she looked for a server that was going around with drinks. Michael picked up a wineglass from a passing server and passed it over to her.

"Thank you," Alex said as she took the glass from him and received a nod in response.

"Am I that scary?" Alex asked him after taking a few sips of wine. She had already forgotten that she had been hungover that morning.

"No, you're not," Michael said as he shook his head, his ears reddening a bit, but Alex did not notice this phenomenon at all.

"Then why are you ignoring me?" Alex asked curiously.

"I'm not ignoring you," Michael said, and for the first time, he felt helpless with someone.

"Oh? Then am I being a nuisance?" Alex asked and even started to remove the hand that was resting on top of his.

"No, that's not it," Michael said and quickly caught the hand that was already slipping away without hesitation.

When he finally realised what he was doing, he quickly released her hand before looking away. Alex couldn't see it since she was shorter than he was and he was facing away from her, but his cheeks had a subtle pink hue to them.

"Then?" Alex asked obliviously.

"I'm just a bit nervous," Michael said, but did not specify on what was making him nervous, giving Alex the freedom to speculate on what was making him nervous.

"Do you not like such social functions? You'll get used to it once you go a few more times, my young brother is just like you, if you don't check on his whereabouts he would find the opportunity to escape, but you seem to be a bit more mature than he is," Alex said and patted his arm as if to comfort him.

Michael had nothing he could say at this point, so he just felt that it would be better if he talked less. When he stayed silent, Alex also didn't continue to say anything and silently accompanied him as she drank her wine. Whenever she finished it, she would find herself holding another glass of wine.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" Alex asked Michael, who was not drinking. When he heard such an accusation, he quickly shook his head in denial.

"No, I'm not, I thought you were enjoying it that's why I'm sorry about that," Michael said and even reached out to take the glass from her. Alex was quite amused by how silly he was but didn't let it show on her face and instead dodged his hand and stared at him for a few seconds before continuing forward. 

Michael felt a bit panicked, but seeing that Alex was not angry, he slowly calmed himself down. He did not give her drinks again until she confirmed that she wanted another drink.

When Michael had met Alex for the first time he could not help but think she was beautiful. In his perception, he felt she was probably the most beautiful woman he has ever met in his life. He felt that she was especially beautiful whenever she showed one of her rare smiles.

They had met frequently while they were at City K, and a few days after he returned he started missing her without even realizing it. He would take initiative to text her about work and try to plan meetings through video calls so he could see her a few more times.

The one who was most excited about her coming to City X was him and even arrived at the airport an hour earlier. Once he had dropped her off at the hotel, he had been hesitant to leave and was also reluctant to attend the wedding since he knew that he would probably be making connections throughout.

That was until Jen asked him to accompany Alex. Now that they were standing there together, he could not engage her in conversation as he was too nervous to think about anything. And the last thing he wanted to do was talk about work.

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