You Are Precious

Lucian gently placed Violette on the bed and kneeled down to help her get the boots off her feet. Violette quickly grabbed his hand and shook her head but he just gave her a smile and proceeded to remove her boots.

He didn't mind serving her like a butler as he held her leg and removed the shoe before setting her foot down. But just as he grabbed her other leg and lifted it up, Violette jerked back in pain.

"I'm sorry." Lucian looked at her with an apologetic face and carefully placed the foot down. And when he noticed her biting on her bottom lip, he couldn't help asking worriedly. "Do you have any pills for pain?"

Violette looked up and stared at him with her mouth open as if she just remembered something that she shouldn't have forgotten in the first place. And Lucian figured as much from her expression and sighed helplessly.

"Where are they?" he asked and Violette lowered her head as she looked around the room.

She fixed her gaze on the red suitcase at the other side of the bed and Lucian understood her as he walked around the bed and opened it. He found two plastic bottles containing her meds inside, but he also found black, white and red lingerie among other things tucked in there as well.

He let out a fake cough to maintain his composure and quickly snatched the two bottles before closing the suitcase shut as if it was the Pandora's Box. Violette raised a brow at his behavior and watched as he grabbed the water bottle from the coffee table and walked back to her.

He opened the pill bottles one by one and poured the pills into his palm before giving them to Violette who immediately threw them into her mouth. She then took the water bottle from him and gulped them down her throat.

"You should lie down for a minute." suggested Lucian, as he took the bottle back and put it on the side table.

Violette took a deep breath and sighed as her tense posture eased a bit as the pills started working. She looked up at the man hovering around her with a worried frown on his face and realized that he wouldn't take no for an answer so she agreed with a tentative nod.

And as she was about to lie back, Lucian took a step close, grabbed her legs and slowly put them on the bed before he held her shoulders and supported her to gently fall back.

"I'm not a fragile doll." He heard a low, aloof voice and looked down to see her icy blue eyes glaring at him with annoyance and exasperation.

His felt his lips twitching into a smile but he played it cool and bent down to adjust the pillow under her head as if he didn't hear her at all. Then he moved closer to her face and looked straight at her with a smile as he said. "No, but you are precious."

Then he poked her nose as a final act and stood back with a grin as Violette closed her eyes and let out a helpless sigh.

The reluctant expression on her face amused him for some reason and he felt a warm feeling surging in his chest.

Teasing her was fun, he concluded and let out a chuckle.

Violette snapped her eyes open and threw icy daggers at him, forcing Lucian to hold in his laughter.

"Ahem." he let out a fake cough and raised his hands up in surrender before putting them in his pant pockets.

Then he began to look around awkwardly as if he didn't know what else to do. After admiring the walls and not finding anything interesting, his eyes fell on Violette again.

"Okay then…" He said and looked around one more time as he took a step back. "I think I'll get going now."

He then took another step back and smiled at her as he walked backwards to the door. With a few more steps, his back hit the door and he opened it as he turned around.

"You be careful." he relayed his final words and stepped out, closing the door behind him as he left.

Inside the quiet room, Violette was suddenly hit with a sense of loss and she didn't know how to deal with it. She didn't know why she was feeling so… empty.

She didn't know why after just a night, she was feeling such a connection to a man who was practically a stranger to her until yesterday.

She let out a sigh and closed her eyes, as she tried to distract her mind towards something else.

- - -

With a ding, the lift doors opened and Lucian stepped out with a serious expression on his face as he fished out his phone and dialed a number.

He was contemplating whether to take the faster route and just drive over to his place to reprimand him directly or take the effective route and relay everything to Gina instead.

And with every ring, the impatience on his face was growing as he marched out of the lobby.

After waiting for few more rings, he decided to hang up when the call finally connected and a laid-back voice answered him. "Look who finally has the time to-"

"What the hell did you say to Violette?" Lucian interrupted him and got straight to the point.

"What do you mean?!" Jake was taken aback by Lucian's sudden anger and felt unjustly wronged. "I didn't say anything bad to her, yet... I just-"

"So she just simply felt like running down the corridor, disregarding her condition and her safety?" Lucian cut him off once again and threw his temper at his brother

"She did what?" Jake was startled by Lucian's words and felt confused as he said. "I-I don't understand why she would do that."

"Jake…" Lucian was about to blow up again but he controlled himself and let out his anger with a sigh.

"I'm telling you, I really don't know why she did that. I only called her because you weren't returning any of my calls or texts. I was worried that something might've happened to you since you never left me hanging for so long. And when I told her that, she, uh… damn-"

"Wait, what did you say?!" Lucian felt like his patience was being tested again and again. It was as if he was dealing with an annoying, ignorant brat instead of an internationally acclaimed designer.

"I-I might have said that maybe, something happened to you...? But I was only exaggerating okay, like I always do. How was I supposed to know she would take my words so literally?" Jake was crying without any tears as he tried to explain that he didn't mean for any of this to happen.

Lucian took in a deep breath and pinched the space between his brows as he tried to control his temper. But his efforts failed when he heard his brother giggling like a school girl as he asked. "But Luci, do you know what this means?"

"It means, I'll kill you the next time I see you!" Lucian barked out loud, not caring that he was outside in a public place. A passing couple heard him and threw him cautious glances as they went their way.

Lucian also noticed the looks he was getting and took a deep breath to calm himself as he proceeded to walk out of the building.

"Hehe, it means she truly cares about you." Jake answered.