Convincing her (Jen and Lucas)

Chapter 281: Academics, Sciences

"This place is amazing," Jen said after she swallowed a mouthful of food. Lucas had ordered a lot of things from shellfish to crustaceans and some things she had never tasted before. At some point, Lucas had stopped eating and watched her eat in rapt attention.

He thought she looked cute, especially how she inhaled her food without losing her manners. Lucas smiled and picked up the glass of water next to him and sipped on it.

Even though he would have rather drank wine, he knew that Jen could not tolerate him drinking even a sip of alcohol. He also noticed that she was having juice and not her beloved wine, probably because she had to drive herself back home.

"You can have a few glasses of wine, you can rest in my office after we're done with lunch" Lucas suggested and helplessly sighed when Jen shook her head vigorously to say no.

"We'll drink later tonight, alright?" Jen said, and she licked her lips, making Lucas momentarily lose focus. He nodded without really caring about what he was agreeing to. Jen decided that she had to remember this restaurant and come over with the girls for lunch or dinner. 

When Lucas noticed that she was slowing down, he added more food to her plate, an action that made Jen look up at him in question.

"You've gotten so thin recently, you should eat more" Lucas said referring to the fact that she had been keeping herself so busy that she was skipping meals.

"Do you think I'm too skinny?" Jen asked, making Lucas speechless. She looked thinner than she was a few weeks before. But the way she asked him the question felt like a trap.

"No, of course not. I think you look beautiful" Lucas said completely changing the direction of the topic. Jen looked at him incredulously before laughing. She still did not know how he could say such things with a straight face.

"Thank you," Jen said, a smile hanging off her lips while her eyes seemed to shine as she looked at him making Lucas experience a rare moment of shyness.

Her mood improved even more when she noticed his ears that had turned red from embarrassment. It was such a rare sight, so she savoured the moment.

Fortunately, Lucas got over his shyness soon enough and looked up from his plate to look at her.

"What are your plans after you finish your exams?" Lucas asked. He knew they'd have a break after that, so he wanted to see if he could convince his father to give him at least a week-long vacation time.

"I want to go home for a week or two. I need to check on FDE and I haven't seen my siblings for quite a while" Jen said and grew quiet for a few seconds before continuing to eat. 

Lucas noticed that she said nothing about her mother but figured that if he brought it up, it'll ruin the mood.

"Let me know when you plan on going, I want to come with you as well. I haven't been to City K in a long time. I also didn't get any vacation time after finishing school" Lucas said, changing the direction of their conversation so that the mood doesn't stay strange.

"Mmh, it will be fun. Why didn't negotiate a holiday with your father after you finished your exams?" Jen asked curiously.

"You think I didn't? He was unrelenting. It's like he thought I would change my mind if he gave me time to think. That was exactly what happened with James" Lucas said as he drank his water.

"Really?" Jen exclaimed in surprise. James did not look like the type that would make such a decision. He gave the impression of being responsible. She thought he had built his own company from early on.

"Mmh, after thinking over his options and interest, he chose to go into entertainment, but not as a public figure.

I sometimes feel like he derives pleasure from pulling the strings from behind the scenes. It's an industry where you get almost immediate results and is quite close to the public. That's how I ended up with David in the first place, " Lucas said.

"Did they know each other?" Jen asked curiously.

"Mmh, they were in the same class at university. They are actually quite close and David helped him out when he was starting up, but as you were able to tell David's personality isn't cut out for entertainment. So he just has shares at Diamond star and James was able to convince dad to let him work here. Fortunately, he was smart and hardworking and worked with dad until he thought it would be alright for me to be directly involved with company matters. He was determined not to have a repeat of James and Jason. So after school, I hang around David then it got to university where I picked up more things, then last year after I managed to successfully launch L.L Hotels he became my assistant. He also helped a lot then, he also got shares in L. L hotels. He is a good investor" Lucas said with a chuckle.

"Interesting, does his family also dabble in business?" Jen asked curiously.

"He is the black sheep in his family. They are all in the sciences and academics and a few politicians as well. They were all surprised by his decision to go into business." Lucas said with a chuckle. 

"Sounds like Jason," Jen said as she too laughed.

"You're right," Lucas said with a smile and finished his glass of water.

"Are you done?" Lucas asked when he saw that Jen wasn't eating anymore.

"Mmh, I'm stuffed full," she said as she leaned back on the chair. She watched as he signalled for the bill, and their table was being cleared as they waited.

"Would you like some tea? Coffee maybe?" the waiter asked and Lucas looked at Jen in question. Jen nodded with a smile. She knew it was going to be cold when they got outside, so she wanted to warm herself up before they left.

Lucas asked for a tea and coffee and the two of them chatted for a while as they drank them. The waiter brought the bill and on their way out Lucas paid for their meal, unfortunately; it had already started raining again when they got out of the restaurant.

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