Chapter 8 A Sad Romance Film

• Yet, Lucian merely frowned. “Don’t tell me that you actually wanted to come to Toluc Finance? Do you seriously think you have the capability?”
• “I won’t join your company even if you come begging at my feet. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t look down on people like some scum! After my family went bankrupt, I had to juggle between school and work. Nonetheless, I still received my CFA and CDA financial certifications. Later on, in my career, I helmed seven to eight projects for my company while operating a unique financing method. So don’t speak to me with such a superior attitude! You have no idea how hard I’ve worked for all these years.”
• Tears welled up in my eyes as I berated.
• Yet, Lucian still had the audacity to reply, “Jennifer, if you’re truly that capable, you wouldn’t be fumbling to explain anything to me or let a few words hurt your ego. This only shows one quality - you’re nothing but a weakling!”
• “Fine! I’m a weakling, and I’m insecure!” Angry tears streamed down my cheeks as I pushed him away, ready to leave the room. “Lucian, I regret starting this conversation with you. But I just hope you understand that not everyone has a carefree, laid-back life like you. Some people don’t have the luck and resources as you do, whereas some, unfortunately, lost everything due to fraud. While you need not sympathize with them, at least respect the amount of effort they put in to get by every day. And trust me when I say that one day, they will be like powerful phoenixes rising from the ash, ready to conquer everything.”
• “Well, I look forward to that day then!” There was a slight waver in his eyes, but his voice remained firm. Infuriated by that heartless man, I stormed out of the room with my cheeks still wet from crying. Meanwhile, Lucian followed behind silently.
• When Jack saw the tears on my face outside of the room, he gently wiped them off with his hands and asked, “My poor Jennifer, why are you crying? Did Lucian bully you?”
• His concern instantly brought warmth to my heart. Nobody ever cared for me like he did, not since my mom left. Taking a deep breath, I held back my remaining tears and replied, “It’s nothing, Grandpa. I’ve got some dust in my eyes, that’s all.”
• It was obviously an unconvincing explanation as Jack was looking at me incredulously. Just then, Lucian came out of the room, and Jack immediately boomed at the approaching Lucian, “Lucian Sutton! What did you do to make her cry!”
• The man merely shrugged, and his lips curled into a familiar arc. “I did nothing! Jennifer and I have always been getting along well.”
• To prove his point, he even tried to grab my hand, hoping that I would play along. Unfortunately, my patience was already at its limit. Swinging his hand away, I began to run.
• “J-Jennifer!” I heard Lucian calling behind me. He probably did not expect me to fall out with him right in front of Jack.
• “Why are you still standing here? Go after her! If you can’t get her back by sunset, you can officially stop calling me your Grandpa,” Jack bellowed.
• And so, Lucian began to chase after me.
• I barely made it out of the house when he managed to intercept my path. “What do you think you’re doing?” His voice was cold as ice.
• Is he serious? He had the nerve to ask me such a question!
• The more I thought about it, the more infuriated I was. Turning around, I shouted as I stomped my heels on his foot. ”It’s none of your business!”
• He drew in a sharp breath and winced. Although his grimace was satisfying to watch, I had to ditch him and continue walking. After a while, I heard someone honking their horn while shouting my name. I spun around and could not believe my eyes. This guy actually caught up with me using his car! “Get in!” he shouted as he opened the car door.
• Obviously, there was no way I was abiding. Unfortunately, I only managed a few more strides before he forcefully carried me into the car and clipped on the safety belt. “You want to make a scene? Fine, I’ll do it with you.”
• “Let me go, you a**hole!” I was just about to unbuckle my seat belt when a call from Jack came. “Jennifer, let Lucian make it up to you. But let me know the next time he makes you upset because I’ll be sure to deal with him myself.”
• Seeing Lucian’s flushed face, I promptly felt better. With that, I agreed to Jack’s proposal and hung up the phone.
• After the call, Lucian turned to look at me and asked, “Where would you like to go?”
• However, I refused to answer him or even acknowledge his existence. It was just to annoy him since he had been such a pain in the butt earlier. After a long while of silence, I could feel that he was irritated as he was sighing frustratedly beside me.
• “A movie. I’d like to watch a movie.” I eventually spoke.
• Again, this was just to annoy Lucian, as I knew he was not a fan of movies. However, he had to accommodate my preferences lest I complained to Jack afterward.
• We reached the cinema after a fifteen-minute drive. As soon as we reached, I thanked the heavens that it was over because it was an excruciatingly painful ride since we were not talking to each other.
• But because it was a weekend, the queue at the cinema was long, and most of the customers in line were couples.
• Since Lucian was seeking my forgiveness, it made sense that he should be the one getting the tickets. Obviously, the man was displeased as he was unwilling, but I had Jack as the ultimate weapon, and I would not be afraid to use it.
• He returned after ten minutes with the tickets, but the movies were never good without snacks and drinks at hand. Pointing at the other counter, I demanded, “Popcorn, drinks, and some nachos!”
• He glared, but it was futile. “Are you going to buy them or not? If you don’t want to, then I’ll do it myself. Don’t give me that look.”
• Conceding out of fear of his grandpa, he went ahead to procure the said snacks and returned to drag me into the cinema hall grudgingly.
• It was a sad romance movie. Or rather, it was a romance movie - whether it was “sad” or not depended on the audience. That was proven true when I was drowning in my own tears, whereas Lucian was completely unfazed beside me.
• Towards the end of the movie, his eyes were not even on the film anymore. Instead, he was playing games on his phone. In a fit of lingering anger and angst from the movie, I pinched him on his thigh.
• In a comical coincidence, my weeps - due to the movie - blended well with his yells.
• I was too engrossed in the movie and did not appreciate his disturbance. “Bear with it,” I said while stuffing my face with popcorn.
• Eventually, he could not focus on his game any longer as the intensity of the pain gradually increased. Desperately massaging his abused thigh, he found himself running out of patience soon.
• Then, he did something I least expected - he grabbed my hand and held it for the rest of the movie. My palms grew clammy at the emitting warmth from his hands, and I was sure that my face was blushing. But he did not budge, merely whispering threateningly, “I’ll throw you out if you continue to move.”
• Whatever he was doing seemed to be working because the rest of the movie barely registered in my mind. For the entire time, my mind kept wandering off as I sneaked a few peeks at our tightly clasped hands.
• When the movie finally ended, our hands were still entwined together as he dragged me out of the hall. “I can’t believe you enjoy this sort of movie. The plot is so illogical and sappy! Ugh... What a chore to sit through the entire film...”
• Bowing my head, I made no reply as he led the way out of the cinema.
• Lucian only realized that our hands were still held together when we were outside. Shrugging it off and wiping the sweat from his own palms, he ridiculed, “I think you should go to a doctor to check if you have violent tendencies and abnormally clammy hands.”
• Arghh, you just can’t shut up, can you? To shut him up, I rubbed my clammy hands on his shirt and hurriedly ducked into the car. “Let’s head back. I’m hungry!”
• When we came back, Jack was watching the television in the living room. The moment he saw us coming in, he motioned me over and asked if I had forgiven Lucian.
• The man in question looked at me expectantly as if he were telling me not to screw it up again this time.
• I fell silent and decided that there was no need to prolong the ordeal. Shaking my head, I replied, “All is good, Grandpa. I’m not angry anymore.”
• “Phew...” A sigh of relief came from Lucian the moment I said that. His eyebrows relaxed, and I could see that he was less tense now that I had forgiven him.
• After that, Lucian proceeded to reserve a table at a restaurant for dinner that night. But as we were having our meal, Jack was that close to figuring out that something was wrong.
• It all started when Lucian, in an attempt to ease his grandfather’s suspicions, decided to offer me some cilantro. But my disdain towards the vegetable prompted an instinctive reaction. “Get that away from me! I hate it.”
• Silence followed the moment I realized I had said something wrong. Instantly, the atmosphere turned awkward. I glanced over towards Lucian and saw that his face was as black as thunder.