Convincing her (Jen and Lucas)

Chapter 189: Cigarette

When the restaurant staff went into Lucas' office to take what they were expecting to be empty plates, ended up with them taking back food that had been transported, cooked and delivered steaming hot. Even the way they had placed the cutlery was exactly the same showing that he had not even tasted the food. 

When one of them wanted to ask him if he did not like the food, he made eye contact with David and remembered the warning they had received before entering the office, so he just kept quiet and proceeded with packing up everything before silently leaving.

David also wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible, so he did not say a word and also silently left with the staff.

Once they left the office, the one that had wanted to speak up couldn't resist but ask David.

"Did he not like the food?" the man asked.

"I can assure you that the food tasted great. He is just in a bad mood, probably lost his appetite" David reassured the guy who thought that the food was not to his liking.

After smoothing things over with him the people from the restaurant left but the mood in the office was slightly weird. Not long after they had finally settled did David's desk phone ring.

"Yes?" David said without checking who called.

"Send in the minutes for the meeting," Lucas said and cut the call. David looked at the phone in his hands and sighed.

"Did you finish sorting out what we discussed in the meeting today?"David asked Michael who was too busy to care about what was going on.

"Yes, I'm done" Michael replied not looking away from his desktop.

"Print them out and send them to Lucas" David ordered. It was during these times he was happy to have Michael around, otherwise, he would have to deal with Lucas himself. How annoying would that be?

The day continued like that in the office with Lucas keeping himself impossibly busy making it one of the most productive days they have had that month. They worked well into the night and David had to tell Michael to go home because he knew the kid had classes the next day.

All the secretaries had also already left the office since it was way past working hours and almost the whole office building was empty. 

David was used to working late so he wasn't exactly bothered by his current situation until when Lucas called him to tell him to bring him more work.

David grew a bit worried, how could he have completed three days of work in mere hours? David walked in and saw Lucas who was completely engrossed in his work.

Lucas thought that he would have calmed down by now but that was not the case at all. It was actually the opposite, the more he thought about it, the more fired up he became. He didn't think his indulgence would result in such shamelessness one day.

He could tolerate a lot of things but being confronted about an ex-boyfriend when he didn't even do anything to him was the last straw.

David dropped the files in front of Lucas' desk but didn't turn to leave as he did earlier. Instead, he stood there for a while as if waiting for Lucas to say something. When Luca continued to ignore him, he finally opened his mouth to say something.

"Is something wrong? Why are you being so hard on yourself today?" David asked, not as his assistant but as his friend. Lucas took off his glasses and leaned back in his chair.

"If I'm not I'll rush home and it'll all turn into some ugly argument," Lucas said and pinched his nose and closed his eyes.

"If you'll argue then you'll argue regardless of when you go back. Is it okay to hold yourself back like this?" David asked in concern.

"Mmh," Lucas responded as if he hadn't heard a word of what David had just said. He really knew how to make people feel frustrated.

"Did you hear anything I just said?" David asked feeling annoyed with him

"Do you have a cigarette?" Lucas asked startling David. Lucas hadn't smoked for the past two years. At no point in this time did he ever ask for a cigarette, ever.

"Lucas-" David started but he was cut off by him.

"I know you have them. You always carry them around when you go see clients" Lucas said not giving him a chance to talk him out of it. David looked at Lucas for a few seconds waiting for him to tell him to forget about them but Lucas' piercing gaze did not waver at all.

David sighed and took out a box of cigarettes from the inside of his suit jacket and threw it on his desk he did not bother to say anything and turned around to leave. Before opening the door to get out, he paused and turned to look at Lucas.

"I'm going home," David said and left Lucas' office. If he stayed to accompany him they would both work through the night. He was not in the mood to do so since he promised Nancy that he was going to call later. Lucas nodded absentmindedly and David left his office.

Lucas looked at the box of cigarettes that was sitting on his desk for quite a while before he picked up the box and took out one stick. When he placed it on his lips he chuckled helplessly.

"Why didn't he leave a lighter?" Lucas asked out loud in a voice that was mixed with annoyance and amusement.

"Did he think I didn't have one?" Lucas said and opened his drawers looking for his lighter. After some rummaging, he finally found out and lit a cigarette and took a long drag out of it. It had been a long time but the familiar sensation that came whenever he smoked came over him.

He felt his limbs relax and he wasn't as tense as he was earlier. He leaned against his office chair and took another drag of the cigarette. He stayed that way for quite some time.

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