The Rise of the White Lotus

Chapter 238 Did you perhaps... know?

Minutes ago…

Ethan Lu was deep in his sleep— dreaming a very nice scene of Lexi and their kids running around in some garden. Seeing this, Ethan Lu was about to give her a back hug in his dream

However, when he did in real life, his brows knitted sensing an empty space beside him.

Slowly, his eyes opened and Lexi wasn't there. "Love?" Through his hoarse throat, Ethan Lu deeply called yet, no one answered.

He rubbed his weary eyes as he sat up. Scanning the room, the space under the bathroom door wasn't showing a light nor was the walk-in closet.

Ethan Lu remained in his position for another minute, waiting for Lexi to show up but she didn't. Hence, despite the tired muscles and still weak knees from their intense love making earlier, Ethan Lu got out of bed and got dressed to check where Lexi had gone.

The moment he opened the master's bedroom door, an indistinct and faint noise downstairs instantly reached his ears. Taking one step out of the room, Ethan Lu's senses heightened as his focus was on the sound until the muffled cries stopped. Still, before the cries stopped, Ethan Lu managed to distinguish that it was Lexi.

Therefore, without further ado, Ethan Lu sprinted downstairs just to see Lexi hugging her knees while her head was buried on her knees as well. The instant he saw her small frame, his tracks came into a full halt.

For some reason, the aura around the living area was too gloomy that even he felt melancholic. Seeing her back, Ethan Lu felt something prick his heart without knowing the reason why.

He slowly took very light— as light as a feather steps to Lexi before he squatted down.

"Hey… Love…?" Softly calling out, Ethan Lu placed his hand on her back. "What are you doing here?" His voice was filled with concern as peeked on her side.

Ethan Lu didn't know why but right now, he could feel a hand clenching his heart— tightly. Even without seeing her face, his hand on her back slightly trembled as he could vividly feel the depressing aura she was emitting.

"Don't go…" Faintly, Lexi murmured before her body slowly fell on the side. Fortunately, Ethan Lu was there to catch her or else, she would land on the carpeted floor.

Gazing down, under the dim yellowish lights of the living area, Ethan Lu saw a tear fall from her closed eyes that traveled to the bridge of her nose.

"Love… why are you crying…?" Seeing just a tear drop from her eye, an unbearable pang struck his heart once more. Slightly shaking her, it appeared that Lexi cried herself to sleep.

"It's okay, now… I'm here, my love." Ethan Lu didn't know what happened to her which made him more anxious. Was she having a panic attack? A mental breakdown? After all, Lexi was still coping from her mental health with the help of Doctor Xu— the Yang family's trusted family doctor.

Still, his heart hurt to witness that Lexi was going through something like this when she's alone. After all, she was a strong, independent woman that wouldn't easily tell her crap to others and keep it to herself. Therefore, he wanted her to get better and replace all the heartaches she had with his overflowing love.

Kissing the top of her head, Ethan Lu secured her petite figure in his embrace and stood, carrying her light body. He looked down at her and placed another soft kiss on her head that was on his chest before he started taking strides back to his bedroom.

He laid her down on the soft mattress and tucked her in. Ethan Lu didn't immediately lay down beside her as he peered at her swollen eyelids and her red lips that it seemed she bit as hard as she could.

Tracing her delicate yet sharp facial features, Ethan Lu gently stroked the strands of hair on her face to the side. He then lightly wiped the leftover tears on her soaked eyelashes until they were dry.

"Lexi… were you this sad before…?" His brows creased even more as his jaw tightened.

Just then, he snapped from his melancholic trance as he heard a vibrating phone on the surface of the bedside table. Turning to the bedsides direction, Ethan Lu's eyes landed on his phone screen that was flashingly lighting up while vibrating by an incoming call.

He sprawled his arms toward his phone and his brows furrowed seeing Chris Yu's contact name on the screen. Alas, even before he could answer it, the call ended— showing numerous missed call from his friends.

"Hmm? Are they partying?" Inside his mind, if only Chris Yu left a missed call, he would have thought that it would be important. However, Elliot Gong and even his always busy friend Kevin Woo left a few missed calls that made him speculate that they were partying and wanted to invite him over. Therefore, Ethan Lu didn't want to bother to call them back and sleep beside his crying queen.

Alas, just as he was about to return the phone back to the bedside table, it rang again— Chris Yu was calling again!

'Why was he calling again?' This time, instead of feeling annoyed, part of him felt alarmed.

Hence, Ethan Lu glanced at Lexi and quickly skimmed if she was securely tucked in. After he was convinced, Ethan Lu went out to the balcony from his room and answered the incoming call.

"Do you know what time is it?"

"I don't care! Do you know what happened?! Where the hell are you? Is she with you? Damn!" Agitated, Chris Yu started to grumble his words as if Ethan Lu had owed a huge debt to him.

"Hey, why are you asking if Lexi was with me? What happened?" Furrowing his brows, Ethan Lu subconsciously glanced back and looked at Lexi's sleeping back through the glass sliding door.

"Damn… can you answer your phone next time when I call so many times? I thought something happened to you as well. Tsk shit!" Chris Yu kicked the air as he almost died from nervousness while trying to reach his friend.

Currently, Chris Yu was at the end of the corridor from the surgery room of the hospital. Some of his friends: Kevin Woo and Elliot Gong were sitting and waiting near the surgery room and none of them were speaking.

By the looks of it, the two of them rushed their way there as Kevin Woo was wearing a trendy formal wear as if he was at a party when the news reached him while Elliot Gong was only wearing a plain sweater and a face mask, covering half of his face.

On the other hand, Chris Yu had blood smeared all over him and even his hands, there were remnants of dried blood that he overlooked to wash.

If not for the fact that he needed to guard Morris Liu to prevent an assailant to sabotage the surgery that the doctors were performing right now— he would have bolted to Ethan Lu's private villa.

Thus, Chris Yu only left a voicemail to Ethan Lu's assistant, Lyrick Jiang but to no avail, he never heard anything back from his assistant. Hence, to make his heart at ease, he asked his other two friends to alternately reach Ethan Lu.

"Something happened to me as well? Chris… what happened?" Ethan Lu's voice deepened as his eyes darkened. His grip around his phone slightly tightened as he prepared himself to hear the unsightly news he assumed he would hear.

"Tsk, Brother Mo was ambushed on his way to a meeting and was shot many times— shit! He is currently being operated on at Jin Medical but the chances—" Chris Yu aggressively ruffled his hair as he ground his teeth. He could not bear to relay what the doctors told them earlier as it pained him.

Ethan Lu felt his heart sink the moment he heard the news. He already assumed that something dire happened but still, his heart wasn't prepared for it. He glanced back at Lexi once again and his jaw tightened.

'Did you perhaps... know?' Suddenly, this thought hovered in his head because it was too coincidental. But, he didn't want to conclude just yet and he decided to ask her tomorrow.

"Send me what hospital he is in— I will send my men to guard the area." With that said note, Ethan Lu abruptly ended the call before he turned to face the room and stared at her back through the glass sliding door.

No one knew what he had in mind for a brief moment before Ethan Lu slightly shook his head and dialed Lyrick Jiang's private phone— giving his orders which was executed without a seconds delay.