The Rise of the White Lotus

Chapter 403 - Are you mad?

The rest of the day, Lexi spent her day personally getting her hands on any of the files that could fully prove that Hannah Gan was innocent— or even though she wasn't that pure, at the very least, it was not her on the video. She and Nico Zhuang hustled as Nico Zhuang contacted a friend to locate the IP address of the uploader.

After that, when it was close to six in the evening, Lexi finally decided to fetch the twins since it was her schedule today to fetch their children. Hence, with the help of the personal investigations she had done, some of the negativity caused by Avah Tong, Jessica Dai, and Mr. Gan gradually lessened.

"Hi Mom, Dad," Arriving at the living area of the mansion where the two grandparents were already playing with the twins; with Frederick Yang carrying baby Evan who was wearing an astronaut costume in his arms while Lillian Yang carrying baby Lara as the little girl was wearing a cute dress matched with the same designed hairband.

If a person didn't know any better, they might think that the twins went to a costume party. However, this kind of attire of the twins that were akin to a prince and princess had become normal. Why? It was her parent's fault!

During her pregnancy, or rather, even before that, their purchases of baby clothes and pieces of equipment had become a nonstop haul. Hence, for the twins to try each of the clothes even once, they have to wear it before it wouldn't fit anymore. After all, the twins were growing chubbier by each passing day— it was very evident on their cheeks, arms, and leg rolls.

"Who is that? Did you see who just came? That's mommy? Mommy?" Frederick Yang changed his tone as he sounded excitedly young while talking to Evan Lu and guiding his gaze as he pointed at Lexi's entering figure.

Instead of going to the twins, Lexi plopped down on one of the sofas with a heavy sigh. After all, her parents would always want to spend even just a second longer with the twins even though they, Lexi or Ethan Lu, would drop them off every day to the Yang Mansion.

"Something wrong, dear?" Sensing the extra exhausted aura emanating from Lexi, Lillian Yang marginally arched her brows as she patted Lady Lara's small back and hushed the clingy baby girl.

Lexi glanced at her keen mother who was always the first person to detect if there was something bugging her. Alas, Lexi didn't want to alert her parents as she has to talk to Ethan Lu first. It might sound a little selfish, however, Lexi wouldn't worry her parents if she was not certain about her husband's real situation.

"Nothing, Mom. I am just tired. Abigail had this artist who was allegedly being involved in a scandal so she asked me to do her a favor to see if I can tone things down since she's out of the country." Shrugging her shoulders, Lexi forced her lips to stretch into a smile as she sounded as if nothing serious happened today.

Of course, her parents would always believe her hence, Lillian Yang didn't press on the matter anymore and only gave a few pieces of advice to her daughter about her non stop hustling. Overall, the night in the Yang Mansion was peaceful as usual until Lexi and the twins along with their nanny's bid their farewells to the two grandparents.

****

When Lexi arrived at their own home— Ethan Lu's villa, she of course, like a mother she should be, spent her time playing with the twins before she personally cuddled them to sleep. It was ten in the evening when she heard the room door of the twins silently creaked open. Hence, Lexi's closed eyes slowly opened and saw Ethan Lu wordlessly approach them.

"Hey, love…"

"Shhh…" Upon hearing his fairly audible call, Lexi gently shushed as she carefully slid herself out of the bed not to disturb her twins. Doing this almost every night in the past months, Lexi had mastered the craft of stealth hence, she successfully got out of bed without waking up the twins.

As if on cue, Ethan Lu walked over to the other side as he cautiously carried Lady Lara Lu and brought her to her pink crib while Lexi had to transfer Evan Lu to his own crib. Thankfully, Evan Lu didn't wake up after Lexi placed a pacifier in his mouth. After all, her little guy was the one who would always cry and throw a tantrum if he was abruptly disturbed in his sleep.

"Daddy missed you two." Placing a slight peck on their foreheads, Ethan Lu whispered the same sentence into their ear as he indeed missed his kids and his wife. To him, this day felt rather longer than usual and going home was the only good thing that happened today.

Turning to Lexi who was staring at him with her arms crossed under her chest, for some reason, he knew that they had to talk about something.

"Let's talk, downstairs." Tilting her head towards the door, Lexi glanced at her twins for the last time before she left the room while Ethan Lu tucked his children in before he followed his wife.

****

"Love," Leaning on the kitchen counter, Ethan Lu heaved a heavy sigh as he watched Lexi put on an apron and begin preparing the ingredients she brought out to cook some food.

"Have you had dinner?" Glancing up, Lexi knew that he might have guessed there was something wrong. After all, he knew that Avah Tong would approach her hence, the warning Nico Zhuang received. Still, Ethan Lu didn't know that he was a minute late because she had already met her and had this irking talk with the said woman.

"No, I mean yes I had this dinner meeting with CEO Tang." Rubbing his palms onto his entire face, Ethan Lu distressfully responded.

"Did you eat well?"

"No,"

"Then eat first before we talk. I'll be done in a minute." Knowing her husband fully well, Lexi slightly shook her head before she mixed the ingredients on the frying pan. After being with him for the past almost two years, Ethan Lu would always eat very little outside as he would always want to eat dinner with Lexi— no matter how late it would be.

Moreover, she didn't want to talk to a person with an almost empty stomach as the things she would want to ask tonight, she needs the full details regarding Avah Tong. After all, Ethan Lu only paid attention to Avah Tong the moment she came onto the scene and thus, Lexi knew that their past was deeper than expected.

As Lexi turned her attention back to the dish she was preparing, she felt his muscular arms wrapped around her waist before his chin rested on her shoulder that soon, his breathing turned into kisses on her neck.

"Are you mad?" Low and deep, Ethan Lu inquired.

"No," Shaking her head sideways, Lexi muttered in response. "I am more curious than mad." She added before she lowered the heat of the stove.

"You met her, did you?" Frowning, for some reason, Ethan Lu figured that Lexi wouldn't act like this if she didn't know a thing. Also, he doesn't like this uncomfortable feeling that he is sensing right now because of Lexi's odd quietness was not close to tranquility but a thousand deafening words instead.

"Who? Ariel?" Arching her brows, Lexi responded as she turned off the stove and began transferring the food to a serving plate.

"No," He didn't quite get the gist of Lexi's purposeful misname of the woman, so Ethan Lu shook his head sideways as he helplessly responded. "I mean Avah— did you meet her?" Seeing that Lexi transferred all of the food, he let his hands loose a little before he guided her to face him.

"Her name is Ariel— don't say your ex's name using the same mouth you use when you say you love me." Staring directly in his pair of dark eyes, Lexi emotionlessly muttered.

Indeed, the very reason why Lexi was avoiding this kind of talk was that she was afraid that this kind of thing would make her look immature. That she wouldn't be that perfect in his eyes anymore. After all, her man was a former infamous casanova therefore, how could she deal with the truth without being a little paranoid? Especially, to all the women he touched— as she didn't know that Ethan Lu only touched one woman before her and that was Avah Tong.

Still, since his messed up dating history was voluntarily coming back to them— Lexi decided to face the truth even if it would slightly prick her heart. They needed this because it has been stalled for a long time now.

"But, I also have an ex named Ariel." Pouting, Ethan Lu innocently blinked his eyes in an attempt to lighten up the mood but to no avail, all he received was a deadly glare. "Kidding, my love." Awkwardly smiling, Ethan Lu raised his hand and displayed a peace sign with his fore and middle finger.