Convincing her

That was why for the following two weeks, there wasn't a day Jen's body did not ache because of being bedded by Lucas. As slow as those days felt to the rest of the world, to the people close to Lucas, they felt like they were on fast forward. In preparation for leaving, he had met with his family two days before leaving.

He had gone to his parents' house in the afternoon to spend a bit more time there, even though only Hellen was around to accompany him. 

"You didn't have to come so early," Hellen said when she saw him. She had just come down from her afternoon nap.

She had barely gotten any sleep the previous night, and she was lethargic since morning, so she decided to take a break.

Who would have thought that her son would come over so soon? And even though he did not wake her up deliberately, and she managed to rest, she still felt bad for leaving him alone for so long.

"It's okay mom, it's not like I had anything else to do," Lucas said as he went to hug his mother.

"Where is Jen?" she asked as she looked around looking for her daughter-in-law.

"She is in university, she will come over after her classes," Lucas explained as they both walked towards the garden.

"Oh, your father said he would come home earlier today. Haven't you had time to spend alone with him during this period?" she asked curiously. She knew that her son had become quite idle recently since he had been accompanying her more frequently recently.

"Not really, he is still very busy," Lucas said as he shrugged his shoulders. It wasn't like he looked for him, anyway. 

"Mmmh, your right. Have you eaten?" Hellen asked as she sat on one of the garden chairs. Lucas joined her and sat next to her.

"I ate when I came," he answered as he leaned back to enjoy the breeze. As they sat there, the staff brought out the tea and some bites for them to enjoy. Lucas poured two cups of tea before giving one to his mother and taking the other one for himself.

"Have you decided how you are going to manage things with Jen?" Hellen asked him curiously.

"I don't want to plan how to manage things, it feels like we'll be under a lot of pressure because of it," Lucas said thoughtfully. He had not discussed anything with Jen yet and felt like he should, but he wasn't sure what exactly he should to with her about.

"But you need to do it to feel more secure when you are apart. If you don't, you'll drift apart since there is no obligation or promise," Hellen said after thinking about it.

"Tsk, this is why you two should have just gotten married," she mumbled under her breath. Lucas chuckled when he heard her, but he was rethinking it. He was coming to the realisation that they were stepping into unchartered territory so they should work together to make their relationship work.

"We will, eventually. If it was up to me, we would have been six months into our marriage," Lucas said and took his mother's hand in his.

"Hmph," she exclaimed and rolled her eyes at him. He should have at least been as strategic as Ethan. That boy was smart in his pursuit.

She had heard him argue that it was not planned, she would have believed it if it was anyone else. But he was a doctor, a whole doctor. An excellent one to boot, and he accidentally got his girlfriend pregnant? It was too unbelievable, a bit ridiculous and very far-fetched.

"There's no point of saying ifs right now. At the end of the day, aren't you still unmarried?" Hellen asked him with a pout. 

"At this rate, your brother might get married before you," Hellen added for effect, and Lucas felt like he probably shouldn't have come over so early. At least he wouldn't be so severely roasted by his mother.

"I'm not in a hurry, I'm still young," Lucas grumbled. Hellen glanced at him and sighed in exasperation. It would be good for her health if she just drops the topic, otherwise, she will just be frustrated to death.

As the two chatted, the next person to arrive was Jason, as expected. Hellen smiled happily when she saw him this time since he had regained some of his weight and looked much healthier.

"You put me down," Hellen said and smacked his shoulder several times while laughing. Jason who had carried his mother and spinning her around finally put her down. 

"You look so much better now," Hellen said after she carefully studied him. 

"Mmmh, I didn't want to see you in tears again," Jason said, teasing his mother. Lucas had practically become invisible, so he silently watched them as he drank his tea. Hellen always doted on Jason because of how much he looked like their father.

When he was young Hellen had gotten a hold of her husband's childhood photos and seeing that she had a birthed a replica of her husband she had become even more excited about him.

Till today, when she saw Jason, she would be reminded of how her husband looked when he was still young. Even though he too looked like his father, he had a different eye colour from his father so that dulled down the resemblance a bit.

"Let me get you something to eat, you are still thin," Hellen said and disappeared into the house, leaving the two brothers out to entertain themselves.

"You came early," Jason said as he sat next to Lucas.

"Mmmh, I was bored at home and I would be bored if I went to work and everyone is busy… except for you," he added belatedly.

"You should have told me, I would have taken you to places where you can enjoy yourself," Jason said after he snorted in annoyance at Lucas' jab. 

"With your celebrity friends? No thank you," Lucas said as he put up his hand to show his stance on the matter. They were going to realise who he was and because of his resemblance to Jason, the whole point of creating an alias would become moot. His temperament was also not suited for that kind of company. 

If it's Jason, he wears his mask easily and can navigate that kind of circle quite easily. James just had to sit there silently and no one would bother him.

He, on the other hand, still hasn't adjusted his attitude since he was still in the phase of making connections and building his influence.

So he can't behave like his father with strangers… yet. But also, to avoid scandals and complications in his relationship, it would be better if he did not hang around that crowd at all.

"What have my celebrity friends done to you? But I have to agree with you. Maybe once you are back and you are being groomed to take over you can meet a few of them," Jason said.

"Why would I?" Lucas asked, still puzzled.

"Well, there is a lot of potential in that industry, you can look and see if there is something you want to dabble with on the side, with the influence you'll have by then, it'll be a piece of cake," Jason said thoughtfully.

"James is already dabbling. Besides, I already have my hotels…" Lucas started to say but was interrupted by his brother.

"What am I dabbling in?" James asked as he had overheard their conversation.

"Entertainment, when did you arrive?" Lucas asked as he looked up at his brother from where he was sitting with a small frown. James who had ruffled Lucas' hair to his heart's content glanced at Jason and went to sit on another seat.

"My big boss manager brother, how could you not even check on your 'malnourished' artist after forcing a hiatus on them," Jason asked James with a mock frown. James who had suddenly gotten such a long title raised his eyebrows in amusement as he looked at Jason.

"Did something happen?" James asked him as he glanced at the table and picked up a pastry and nibbled on it.

"No," Jason answered.

"Oh, what happened with that girl you were talking about?" Lucas asked suddenly, and both James and Jason looked at him. It was just that James looked on with curiosity while Jason glared at him.

"A girl? Are you dating again?" James asked Jason, and Jason felt an oncoming headache.

"I'm not dating, don't worry about it," Jason answered.

"Oh? So it was a failure?" Lucas asked, pretending that he could not read the mood.

"It wasn't a failure," Jason answered.

"Is it one of those flings you young people like to have?" James asked, and Jason felt like he was about to explode.

"We only have a three-year age gap, don't act like you are from a different generation," Jason said indignantly.

"Besides, I don't have flings," Lucas added, and both brothers looked at him and snorted in disbelief.

"What was her name again? Clara?" Jason asked jokingly.

"Wasn't it Flora or Fauna or something like that?" James asked.

"Oh, that was another one," Jason said with a laugh. They had gotten their names wrong, but Lucas felt weird about correcting them, so he decided to remain quiet. It wasn't like it mattered anymore.

"So you are having another fling," James asked Jason redirecting their focus back to the main topic after they had teased the youngest.

"It's not a fling either," Jason said seriously.

"Oh," James responded thoughtfully. He didn't know what he was up to now, but he had no intentions of interfering unless it would cause damage to his career.

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