Convincing her (Jen and Lucas)

Chapter 62: Skipping meals

Jen saw the cab parked out front when she got out of the hotel and quickly went inside. She gave the taxi driver the address to Lewis & Co. before they drove off. She sent Lucas a message to tell him that she was on her way before putting her phone back in her purse.

Fortunately, the ride was not long and she soon arrived at the company. She quickly paid the driver before heading inside. The temperature dropped the moment she stepped inside making her feel slightly refreshed since it was so hot outside. She walked towards the front desk but before she had even reached it she was intercepted by Dave.

"Miss Jen, the GM instructed me to come and pick you up," Dave said politely.

"Thank you, Dave, I hope I wasn't too big of an inconvenience," Jen said with a wide smile. He readily gave Dave the bag she was carrying that contained the food that she had prepared and followed him as he led the way to the elevator.

Jen managed to draw a lot of attention even though she wore pretty understated colours and didn't have a lot of makeup on. She gave a polite nod when her eyes met some of the people who were staring at her.

This caused her to carry around an amused smile on her face because she was amused by how embarrassed they became when she caught them staring.

Soon they were in the elevator on their way to Lucas' office.

"Does he skip his meals often?" Jen asked suddenly.

Dave was taken by surprise because he was not expecting her to talk to him, but he was reluctant to answer because Lucas was his boss, and he didn't know what he had told her before, he would be blamed if his response did not correspond to what she had been told.

Jen waited for Dave to answer but she did not receive any response. She turned to look at Dave expectantly but he still did not respond.

"I think you should talk to the boss about this Miss Jen" Dave finally said after he couldn't stand her probing gaze. Jen smiled and nodded not saying anything else. This made Dave feel even more uncomfortable and he couldn't stop the sigh of relief that escaped him once the elevator door opened.

Jen noticed his actions and couldn't help but smile. Dave seemed to be a very sensitive person, but he was loyal and Jen admired that. With a satisfied smile, she followed Dave all the way to Lucas' office. Before he could let himself inside, Jen held him back.

"I'll surprise him, you can get back to work," Jen said with a smile.

Dave nodded and opened the door for her to enter but did not go in after her. He gently closed the door and went to his seat. He ran his hand through his hair and shook his head as if to wake himself up.

He couldn't help but feel like Jen was very similar to Lucas when she talked to him. Was it because they weren't friends? Or she saw him as her employee? An occupational hazard? Dave sat on his desk for a while trying to make sense of what happened. He knew about her past so he could relate it to the fact that she too was a boss to other people.

***

Meanwhile, Jen walked into Lucas' office and set the things she was carrying on one of the sofas. Lucas was focused on the documents he was reading and hadn't noticed her until he heard the door close. Lucas looked up and saw Jen standing next to one of the sofas looking at him with a smile on her face.

"Come here," Lucas said as he felt refreshed just by looking at her. Jen went around his desk and stood next to his chair as she leaned against his desk. Lucas held her hand after slightly turning his chair so they can face each other.

"What is it?" Jen asked as she saw that he was being abnormally quiet.

"It feels like I haven't seen you for ages" Lucas replied immediately making her face red. She was always surprised by how he could say such things with a straight face. He pulled her so she sat across his lap.

"Are you blushing?" Lucas asked as he turned her face so she was looking at him since she was trying to avoid his gaze.

"How can you say such a thing with a straight face?" Jen asked.

She was still feeling embarrassed. Lucas smiled exposing his dimples. Seeing them, Jen found herself smiling back at him. His dimples really made his face look softer. Lucas leaned forward and gave Jen a lingering kiss. Jen looked at him and pecked his lips before getting off his lap.

"You look beautiful," Lucas said as he traced her cheek with his thumb.

"Let's eat first," Jen said and tried to get off his lap, but one of his hands was tightly wrapped around her waist so she couldn't leave.

"Give me a minute," Lucas said as he buried his face in her neck. He really liked holding her, she fit perfectly against his body and he couldn't get enough of that. Jen stayed still and didn't struggle since he was not doing anything too outrageous.

"Are you alright?" Jen asked as she stroked his hair with one of her hands.

"Mmmh, I just want to hold you for a while" Lucas replied.

Jen was really flustered when she heard his statement. She couldn't help but wonder why he was being so corny today but she did not say anything.

A bit over a minute later Jen couldn't stand it anymore, so she gently pushed at his shoulders but he did not move an inch. She was feeling uncomfortable since he was literally breathing down her neck.

"Lucas, let's go eat, I haven't eaten either and I'm hungry," Jen said gently pushing at his shoulders.

Lucas finally looked at her and nodded before releasing her. She didn't bother using too much strength with him since she wouldn't be able to move him even if she wanted to.

Jen slowly stood up and went to unpack the food she brought. Lucas helped her set everything on the table before they both sat and began eating.

"You're very meticulous," Lucas said out of nowhere as he sipped on the juice she brought.

She hadn't forgotten anything and even brought drinks, he was really impressed. Jen did not reply and just smiled at him as she continued eating. The two of them ate silently, even though Jen really wanted to lecture him on how he was skipping meals and overworking himself but she refrained from saying anything since he looked so happy when he was eating.

After a couple of minutes, Dave knocked on the office door and went in once he heard a response from inside. He was not planning on walking in on anything so he was being cautious. He was holding a folder that contained documents that Lucas needed to sign off.

"Did you read it?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, everything is per your instructions," Dave said.

He was salivating inwardly because he too hadn't had any lunch either. He couldn't go out to eat when his boss was working diligently in his office.

Jen looked at their interaction but did not say anything. As Dave was leaving, he was stopped by Lucas.

"You can go have lunch," Lucas said before he went back to eat. Jen watched Dave leave and turned to look at Lucas once he was gone.

"He is very hardworking" Jen commented as she chewed on her fork. Lucas looked at her, wondering what she was thinking to suddenly say that.

"He is" Lucas replied.

"Do you skip your meals often?" Jen asked out of nowhere.

"Sometimes I'm too busy to eat so I skip some meals" Lucas replied.

"So you skip them sometimes?" Jen asked leaving Lucas pretty much speechless. He skipped his meals not only often, but since he started working, the number of times he ate actual food in the office could be counted on one hand, but he couldn't tell her this.

"Just once in a while," Lucas said. He could already tell that he was going to be scolded.

"Oh, is that so? When have you come to my house after work and told me you have eaten so I don't need to cook for you?" Jen asked.

She did not want to interrogate him but she was worried about him. When she had started handling her businesses she hardly ate or slept, she was either recruiting employees, looking for buildings, scouting for chefs, looking for lawyers for her father's case, going through the books and basically did everything.

She was the icon of micro-managers since she was so scared something would go wrong and whatever progress she made with her business would disappear just because she overlooked something. She had passed out from exhaustion a lot of times and ended up in the hospital.

Her sister helped her with work once she started her degree and kept on telling her she needed to learn how to trust her employees, she couldn't continue living the way she was. She slowly loosened the reins and eventually only went to visit the restaurants randomly twice a month after her father's funeral.

She couldn't watch Lucas do the same thing to himself, she had experienced it and it was not pretty at all. She was feeling frustrated and helpless and watching him obliviously eat his lunch made her feel even more helpless.