Convincing her

Noah had noticed Jen's quick escape but he could have cared less, and if he had said anything, he would have gotten lectured by his wife, so he maintained his at the moment.

What he had not expected was that Jen would avoid making eye contact with both of them through dinner, which caused his wife some concern.

Lucas kept reassuring his mother that nothing was wrong, and she was just tired as he whispered to Jen to act normal. Jen would have been able to do so if she saw the couple after a couple of days, but she had to see them before she had calmed herself so her feelings of embarrassment were reignited.

Both Jason and James acted like they did not know what happened and calmly ate their dinner. At least James looked calm, Jason was watching the show with a very amused expression on his face.

Hellen was confused, and Noah maintained a serious expression on his face as if he did not know what was happening. It was truly funny.

Jen realised that she might cause a misunderstanding, so she did her best to control her expression and try to reassure Hellen that she was really okay and was just preoccupied with an assignment that they had received in school. 

Hellen looked at her with narrowed eyes but accepted her explanation with reluctance. Lucas had a small smile on his face, but he was laughing internally. He found the situation quite funny.

The family had a peaceful dinner and had some dessert afterwards. Just as they were going out to have some tea, Noah called Lucas to talk privately.

"Are you prepared to leave?" Noah asked Lucas once they were alone. They were walking in the opposite direction of the expansive garden while the others had gone back to sit where they had been having tea before.

"Not really, I would rather not go," Lucas said honestly. 

"Hehe," Noah chuckled and there were a few seconds of silence before he opened his mouth again.

"You know it's a family tradition," Noah said.

"I know, that's why I'm going anyway," Lucas answered with a sigh.

"You also know why I pushed for you to go now," Noah said as he stopped walking to look at him.

"Mmmh, I know," Lucas answered as he too stopped.

"I know you would probably want to be able to come back once in a while, but only do so when you have time to come back. You are definitely going to be drowned in work once you go there," Noah said seriously.

"I know," Lucas said indignantly. Whose fault is it that he was going to be busy?

"I'm serious Lucas, if you can't come over then don't force it. I want you to have this experience so that you know just how tough it is to run a company," Noah said with knitted eyebrows. Lucas only nodded in response.

"What you are going to experience over the next year or so, is just being in charge of the branch office. When you take my place, the workload is going to be much much bigger, so learn how to manage your time, how to work with people and know how to create time for your life apart from work. You have a year to do this. If you learn nothing, you are going to be treating her unfairly once you take on heavier responsibilities," Noah said as he made eye-contact with Lucas.

Lucas digested the words his father had said and suddenly realised just how important this coming year was going to be to the rest of his life.

"I don't want to lecture you, but if you have a problem or when you are stressed out…" Noah started to say, but Lucas finished off the sentence for him.

"Don't worry, I'll call you," Lucas said with a smile.

"Don't look for me, look for your girlfriend. She'll do a better job at comforting you," Noah said as he patted his son's shoulder with a chuckle. Lucas was a bit dumbfounded, but he ended up laughing with his father.

"But you can call any of us, know you will get endless support here," Noah continued seriously. Lucas nodded, and for some reason, he felt his eyes sting. Noah noticed it, especially when the garden lights were reflected in his suddenly bright eyes.

"You come here," he said and hugged Lucas while laughing.

"All your brothers had the same reaction, just don't do this in front of your mother or she'll pester me not to let you go," Noah said with a laugh. It was a rare moment of softness he showed his son, and it rarely happened, so Lucas was unprepared.

"At least you didn't actually cry," Noah said after he pulled away from Lucas. He remembered how Jason actually shed a few tears and he had become flustered and asked him to compose himself before going back, but that boy couldn't compose himself fast enough and Hellen found him.

It was chaos from then on. For the entire night, she had tried to persuade him to let Jason stay since he was an artist, anyway. He was given the silent treatment for a week after Jason left; it was truly difficult.

When Lucas heard his father say this, he couldn't help but laugh as he remembered the episode with Jason too. He was still living with his parents then, so he had witnessed it when his mother snubbed his father. It was quite entertaining to watch.

"Compose yourself first, then we'll go back," Noah said and continued to walk forward. He would not make the same mistake twice. If he went back without Lucas, then Hellen would definitely come searching for him. Lucas laughed after he heard his father's order, and soon all the complex feelings that he had been experiencing went away.

The two men walked back to where everyone was, and Noah made a beeline for Hellen while Lucas went to sit with Jen.

"Did you have a nice talk?" Hellen asked Noah in a low voice and he nodded in response.

"You didn't make him cry, did you?" she asked and carefully looked at Lucas, who had just grabbed Jen's hand and was holding it.

"I'm not the one who can make him cry," Noah said as he put an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close to him. She mock glared at him before looking at the happy couple with a smile.

Jen had only looked at Lucas with questions in her eyes when he held her hand but, she did not voice any of them and let him do whatever he wanted.

"Why didn't you come with Laura?" Jason asked James and received a glare in response. When Hellen heard of Laura, her ears perked up in interest.

"She travelled two days ago, she's coming back tonight. Unlike you, she is busy," James said and crossed a leg over his other one as he elegantly took a sip of his tea. 

"Aren't you going to pick her up?" Hellen asked James, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I sent someone to pick her up from the airport. She knows I'm having dinner with my family," James said after a pause.

"How can you let someone else pick her up? What time is she arriving? You should go pick her up yourself," Hellen lectured her son. James only had a slightly dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Do I also have to help you manage your relationships? Shouldn't you pay more attention to her? Are you going to be like your brother?" Hellen continued and glared at Jason, who had been an "innocent" bystander until now.

"Her plane will arrive in three hours. I planned to go if dinner finished on time. I didn't want to keep her waiting in case I was late," James calmly explained, and Hellen became calmer after hearing his words.

James sighed and continued to drink his tea as his glare pierced into Jason. If it could cut, Jason would have been diced into fine pieces by now. Jason smiled innocently and pretended like he did not intend for any of it to happen.

"And you until when will you play around?" Hellen asked as she looked at Jason. James smiled and wanted to expose him, but noticed Jason's gestures and kept quiet.

"Mom, I'm not playing around," Jason said as he felt cold sweat run down his back. He knew the price of James' silence. Hellen scoffed at him when she heard this.

"I would rather you did, the tabloids have been too quiet for the past few months, are you secretly dating?" Hellen asked and a subtle smile appeared on James' face again, but he said nothing.

"I'm not," Jason answered. He was thinking about it, but he still needed to get a girl.

"Hmm, I don't believe you, but I won't push you to say anything," Hellen said and comfortably leaned back against Noah and dropped the topic.

The six of them continued to chat for another hour or so before James said that he needed to go and get ready to pick up his girlfriend. As the other two were hesitating on whether or not they should leave, but Noah's expression pretty much decided for them.

"We'll also go now," Lucas said as he stood up and Jason also automatically stood up. The six of them went to the front of the house and one by one their cars were brought over. Lucas did not bother too much with goodbyes with his brothers since he was going to see them again the following day with the rest of their friends. So after the two brothers left, Hellen hugged Lucas tightly.

"You haven't gone so far away for so long before, you have to call home often, okay?" Hellen said as she rubbed his back.

"I will, mom," Lucas complied. Hellen pulled back and looked at her smiling son, and her eyes watered.

"How could you all grow up so fast?" she asked and hugged him again. Lucas rarely saw his mother like this, so when she behaved this way he was very cooperative.

"It's enough now, you'll make him cry," Noah said as he pulled his wife back after seeing how reluctant she was to let him go.

Lucas:…

Jen:…

"You should come to visit often, don't disappear just because he is gone, okay?" Hellen said to Jen, and she nodded in agreement.

"Goodnight mom, dad," Lucas said to his parents and Jen did the same before the two of them got into the car and left the house.

After the two left, Hellen received a message from Jason. She pulled out her phone to read it when Noah wasn't looking and Noah suddenly felt her small fist hit hand arm.

"What is it?" Noah asked in confusion as he held her fist so she didn't hurt herself.

"I've told you several times to show some restraint, why are you like this? She saw us earlier," Hellen complained. Noah knew immediately what she was talking about.

"Who saw what?" Noah asked as he feigned confusion.

"Your daughter-in-law…" Hellen said, but resorted to glaring at him when she realised that she would have to talk about what Jen saw.

"Oh, when we were at the lounge? I saw her run out," Noah said as he led Hellen inside.

"You saw her?" Hellen asked with wide eyes.

"Mmmh," Noah responded.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Hellen asked again.

"I knew you would react like this. And by the way, I won't show any restraint, in my own house. They are all adults, aren't they?" Noah asked her, and Hellen became speechless. For some reason, she was trapped against the railing of the staircase. She did not even know when that happened. 

"Aren't they?" Noah asked her, and Hellen nodded. She would concede this time.

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