Convincing her (Jen and Lucas)

Chapter 368: Unexpected guests.

There are certain things in life that happen when you least expect them to. Jen was walking around with Lucas when she noticed a familiar figure not too far away.

The man had not turned around, but how could she not recognize him? The familiar posture the wide shoulders and the black hair were all too familiar. Before she could react, he turned around and their eyes met.

If Jen noticed him, it would be weird if Lucas didn't. He nodded in their direction before he turned his head to listen to the lady that was standing next to him. She was very beautiful, with her strawberry brown hair and green eyes that looked up smilingly at Tyler.

"What are you thinking about?" Lucas asked Jen who had a faint smile on her face.

"I'm glad he moved on," Jen said honestly. She knew that he had also been stuck in the past, seeing as he was single this whole time. Maybe seeing her with Lucas made him realise that it was about time that he moved on too.

Lucas was tempted to pat her head, but seeing how neatly styled it was, he chose not to do it. 

"Isn't it almost time for dinner?" Jen asked no one in particular.

"Hungry?" Lucas asked.

"Starving," she said and patted her flat stomach. Her intuition was quite accurate because people were already being asked to go have a seat at the dinner table. The arrangements were quite meticulous as they indicated their assigned seating on the invitation cards, together with their preferred menu. So once everyone was seated, the food was being brought out by the servers.

Jen unconsciously licked her lips as she waited for the food to arrive. Lucas looked at her and smiled helplessly.

"From tomorrow you have to take a picture of your meal and send it to me," Lucas and held her hand. Jen raised her eyebrows in question but did not refuse. She knew that he was just being worried about her.

"I will, I can even start now if you want," Jen said, and as if on cue, her plate arrived in front of her. Even though she was a bit impatient to eat, she still waited until everyone on their table had their food before digging in.

As she was eating, Jen was already thinking about how the party is going to end soon so that she can go home and sleep.

Even though she was able to sleep a bit longer on Friday, after a night of drinking and waking up early today, even though she went to the spa, it still did not compensate her fatigue. She was still feeling sleep deprived.

While this pair was peacefully eating their food, there was another pair not far from them that was having a very serious conversation even though their expressions did not show it.

"Are you avoiding your father?" Rachel asked Brian, who was sitting next to her. He thought he had been stealthy when guiding her to avoid the areas that his father would see him, but she had obviously caught on.

"Yes," Brian answered and looked at Rachel.

"Why?" she asked and received a sigh in response. 

"You don't want me to meet him?" Rachel asked and tilted her head while staring at him. Brian was receiving so much pressure from those pure looking blue eyes that he wanted to confess everything right there.

"I'll tell you when we get home," Brian answered.

"So we'll continue to avoid him for the time being?" Rachel asked him, and Brian was at a loss for words. He had never experienced this before with Rachel.

She was always being sweet and shy with him, he had never seen this side of hers. If her employees heard him describe her as sweet and shy, they would probably think there is something wrong with his tastes.

"If you want we can meet him," Brian said in response.

"Okay then, we'll do that you don't have to take me with you if you aren't ready yet, but you should at least greet him, right?" Rachel said after some thought. Brian looked at her, feeling a bit like he had helped her in trapping himself. He was expecting her to say something along the lines of 'okay then, I won't force you' or 'if it makes you uncomfortable you don't have to do it' she had closed off all exits with one sentence. He then decided to eat slower, to delay meeting his father sooner.

Rachel was completely unaware of Brian's racing thoughts and continued to happily have her meal while occasionally glancing at the newlyweds who were eating at the front of the hall. Looking at how Ethan was busying himself to take care of Leanna made her feel happy for her friend. 

She had heard that she had gone through something similar to what she had experienced, and even though it hadn't gotten to the same extremes, she was glad that she had left her boyfriend before it had gotten worse. Now seeing that she met someone that cherishes her gives her a lot of hope that she will be happy with Brian as Leanna was with Ethan.

Brian didn't know what she was thinking about, but when he saw how she was looking at him, he couldn't help but smile at her. He really wanted to pull her close for a kiss, but he was well aware of how publicly showing his affection for her made her embarrassed.

So he just picked up her hand and brought it to his lips. Her cheeks turned slightly pink from his action and she quickly looked away from him, making him chuckle in amusement. This is the sweet and shy girlfriend he knew.

Soon, everyone had finished with their meal, and the servers cleared the tables. After that, the parents of the newlyweds said a few words to them. The happiest looking one was Ethan's mother. Halfway through their talk, rushed footsteps were heard from the entrance before a tall figure appeared in the hall. When he saw his parents standing in front, he quickly rushed forward.

"Is that a relative?" Jen asked after seeing the man's resemblance to Ethan.

"Ethan's younger brother, Nathan," Lucas explained. The other girls heard this and had a moment of realisation. Jen had already forgotten about him. Leanna had briefly mentioned once that Ethan's brother may not make it to the wedding, and with how busy she was, it was inevitable that she would forget about it.

"I'm surprised he made it," Brian said, and James nodded in agreement.

"Why are you surprised? Is he busy?" Laura asked as she watched the man hug his brother and give his congratulations before joining his parents.

"He's a surgeon already, very busy. They book him for surgeries throughout the year. That's why Ethan ran away from that busy life and came back home," James explained.

"Oh, he works abroad?" she asked and received a nod. 

"Seeing how he is, he must have come here right after dropping off his things at home," Lucas commented as he noticed the dark circles under Nathan's eyes.

"I can understand why Ethan is so persistent about not doing overtime and insists on fixed working hours. Do you think he will give in soon?" Lucas asked as he watched Nathan with a sympathetic gaze.

"Most definitely, it's not easy to sustain such a busy life," David said and pointedly look at Lucas as if asking him to quickly grow up so he can finally be free. 

Lucas only looked at him sheepishly and chose not to say anything anymore. Jen laughed at the two of them and continued to pay attention to what was being said by the couple's parents.

Nathan was just happy that he had been able to make it before the whole thing ended. So after saying a few words of congratulations, he went back to sit with his parents, his eyes moving everywhere looking for familiar faces. Jason immediately accosted him and pulled him to his table that was dominated by bachelors.

"If you are looking for the others, you are going to feel too lonely," Jason said and pointed in the direction where Lucas and the others were sitting with their girlfriends.

"James became a groomsman?" Nathan asked in surprise.

"He was too jealous to let someone else do it. So was everyone else," Jason gave his made up, but very accurate explanation.

"You look horrible, what have you been doing?" Nathan asked the thinner, Jason.

"It's for art, you won't understand," Jason said briefly. No one really understood at the end of the day, and he was already tired of explaining that it was for a role.

"Besides, you look horrible yourself. Your dark circles are about to reach your chin," Jason exaggerated and even poked at the bags under Nathan's eyes.

"Thank you, I've only had five hours of sleep over the past six days. I only managed to rest a bit on the flight home. I'm planning to sleep for two days after leaving this party," Nathan said and rested his face on his chin, already looking a bit drowsy.

"You want to sleep at your brother's wedding? I won't let you," Jason said and stood up, dragging him up in the process. The two of them walked towards Lucas and the others so Nathan could go and greet his other brothers, and one younger brother.

[.