章節 32: Catching the Actors

Lucas woke up after a sleepless night.

The memory of seeing his parents as they were shaking his hand as if they did not know him lingered. Had he changed so much that even his mother couldn't recognize her own son?

Groaning, he sat up from his bed and glanced out of the thick, dark curtains shielding his cozy room. He could see the sun slightly peeking through the dark curtain.

"What time is it?"

He rubbed his eyes and tried to reach for his phone when he felt something soft beside him as his hand brushed.

Curious, he turned to find another body lying beside him, naked and asleep—Rex.

Lucas blinked his eyes out, struggling to process what he was seeing.

After moments of contemplation, about whether he was dreaming or Rex was actually beside him, Lucas yelped and tumbled out of bed.

The scream startled Rex awake and the fellow sat up the next moment and looked around him with confusion and a frown, thinking where Lucas was.

"Lucas—" He cut himself off and peeked over the bed to see Lucas sprawled flat on the floor like a squashed cartoon character that he used to watch during his childhood.

"What are you doing on the floor?"

Upon hearing Rex's deep voice, Lucas immediately sat up from the floor and looked at Rex from the corner of his eyes before clearing his throat.

"N-Nothing. What are you doing by sleeping in my room?"

Rex chuckled at how cute Lucas's flustered expression was, noticing the faint blush coloring his cheeks red.

Stretching his back as he got out of the bed, he hummed.

"Ah, I heard that you were having a nightmare and thought you were probably having trouble sleeping, so I kept you some company."

Lucas glanced at him, watching Rex as he casually pulled on his shirt and shot a look back at Lucas.

Their eyes met—black locking onto muddy brown, something that made Lucas fumble in his steps and his heart beat faster.

"Are you okay?" Rex asked.

Lucas nodded and he quickly stood up from the floor before patting the imaginary dust off of his shorts.

Without answering, he immediately walked past Rex and into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

"What do you want to do for the whole day? It's Saturday," Rex called out.

Lucas looked at him with bubbles in his mouth, his eyes wide open as if asking.

"Well, I just thought maybe we could go out and see the city for a change instead of staying here all day and doing nothing," Rex suggested.

The idea of chilling out made Lucas's eyes sparkle. He nodded enthusiastically, and brushed his teeth faster, then suggested a visit to an amusement park.

"Alright, to an amusement park it is then. Get ready and I will meet you downstairs."

Lucas nodded and watched Rex walked out of the room with a smile on his face. As he headed toward the living room, he spotted Ezekiel hiding behind a boulder.

With his curiosity piqued, he walked towards him and overheard Wilian talking to someone.

Peeking through the boulder, he saw a woman, crying and pleading with Wilian to let her go.

"Who is that?" Rex asked quietly.

Ezekiel looked over his shoulder and saw Rex looking in Wilian's direction and sighed.

"That's Audrey Yang, Lilian's cousin."

Rex nodded in understanding and leaned his shoulder against the boulder, questions still kept flooding his mind.

"And why is she here?"

Ezekiel hesitated, "Well…" However, his voice trailed off when Rex stood straight, his eyes fixed on the look of horror in Audrey's eyes.

"R-Rex, I-I-I—" she stammered before Wilian's cold voice cut her off.

"Stay where you are, Ms. Yang. We aren't done discussing what you did."

Wilian's voice was filled with poison.

Audrey froze in her tracks, swallowed nervously and looked at Rex, her eyes pleading, hoping for an escape from Wilian, but fear kept her silent.

"What's going on?"

Wilian took a deep breath before revealing how he had caught the kitty trying to prey on the battered beaver.

"She tried asking Hunter to help expose information about Lucas."

Rex hummed in response, knowing that things would escalate quickly after the party's fiasco with Stellar.

"She even tried threatening him with lies, hoping to reveal his true colors to the public."

"Public? Where were they when this happened?"

"Minutes before a press conference for a new product launch."

Rex sighed, massaging his temples as he slowly felt a headache coming through.

"I'm sorry, Rex. It wasn't my intention to do so. I was just doing what I was asked to do."

"And those orders were?"

Audrey gulped. She never intended to reveal her plan to ruin Lucas's reputation to the public until Lilian got the chance to be with Rex.

"Cat got your tongue, Ms. Yang? Speak."

Audrey kept her mouth shut. Words slowly formed on her lips yet she didn't utter even one of them.

She didn't want Lilian to feel betrayed and didn't want to see her cousin broken into pieces.

A heavy silence filled the whole living room.

Audrey's breathing grew heavier as seconds passed and beads of sweat slowly began to form on her forehead.

Suddenly, a booming voice startled everyone.

Rex muttered a curse under his breath as he looked over to Lucas, who was pouting at him.

"I thought we were going out? Why are you not dressed yet?"

Lucas looked at Rex as if he were dumb, a mix of confusion and impatience, making the CEO chuckle before turning to Wilian.

"Well, I guess that's my cue to leave. I will leave the rest for you to fix, Wilian."

Wilian nodded in response, bidding farewell to the CEO, who left a teary-eyed Audrey behind.

Curious, Lucas peeked into the living room and saw a woman, balling her eyes out as she sobbed, pleading with Wilian to forgive her.

"I will do everything, please just don't send me to jail."

Lucas watched as Wilian's gaze never left the woman's eyes, as if knowing that she was shedding crocodile tears and wasn't going to be fooled by them.

"Who is she?" Lucas whispered to Ezekiel, who had never moved from his spot and leaned over to whisper her name.

"Audrey Yang, Lilian's dearly beloved cousin. Her only cousin who ever liked her, to say the least."

Lucas nodded in understanding, his eyes still watching the woman. Moments later, Rex emerged from his room, looking fresh and dressed in something casual.

"Ready?"

Lucas smiled, nodded and said goodbye to Ezekiel. As they left, Rex wrapped his arm around Lucas's shoulder, guiding him towards their destination.