Gentleman

"Hehe, it means she truly cares about you." Jake answered, his tone thrilled and excited as if he found a hidden secret. "Otherwise she wouldn't be so quick to misunderstand my statement and act so impulsively without any care for her."

"Don't twist her actions to suit your case." Lucian quickly retorted with a scoff. Although he was somewhat happy to hear those words, he was reluctant to take his brother's words at face value. Not after what just happened because of his words.

"What, you have a better explanation?" Jake questioned back with a self-righteous voice and when Lucian didn't answer, he continued with a smug tone. "Let me tell you something, junior brother, I've known Violette for a while and she is anything but impulsive. She is calm and level headed no matter the situation and always thinks things through before acting on them. And if she didn't really care about something, she wouldn't even spare a glance at it, much less act recklessly like that.��

Though Lucian was still miffed at Jake, what he said made him unexpectedly happy.

Does Violette really…?

No, no, don't fall for his words, Lucian reminded himself.

But he couldn't refute any of Jake's words either, as Violette indeed wasn't the type to act on impulse. Although he barely knew her, she had always behaved calm and composed, and given her cold and aloof personality, he could tell that her earlier actions were completely out of character.

That is unless…

"But Luci, you turned out to be quite a lady killer." Jake snickered, his tone carrying many underlying meanings. "I thought, with your boring personality, it would take a while for things to get started between you two. But it seems you already spent your night together. I have to say, I'm impressed."

Lucian huffed out a breath and refused to comment, allowing Jake to spin his own imaginary tales. He was worse than a paparazzi and there was no way he was going to say anything more to him.

"Ahhh! It hasn't even been a day and you are already shoving dog food down my throat." Jake cried out dramatically as he tried another way to pry the details off his brother. "Now tell me everything, who took the initiative? Was it awkward? Oh wait, did you use protection? Don't tell me, you directly pounced on her? Well, you are a thirty one year old virgin so it's understandable but, I hope you were at least gentle-"

"Stop!" Lucian cut him off as he couldn't listen anymore. Why did he even think he could fend off his brother after he got a whiff of the gossip? He rubbed a hand over his face and let out a defeated sigh. "Nothing happened between us."

"Wait, really?" Jake was surprised but he quickly shot another question. "Don't tell me that you slept on the couch or something?"

He waited for a bit and when Lucian refused to answer, he ended up bursting into laughter. "So you behaved exactly like the gentleman you are, huh?"

Although Lucian was irked by his brother's patronizing speech mixed with insults and jabs, he wasn't able to refute him either so he could only sulk in silence. And with Lucian's lack of response, Jake didn't find any fun in teasing him anymore.

"So… what are your plans now?" he asked in a calm tone, the previous playfulness his voice was nowhere to be found.

"Hmm?" Lucian noticed the change in his tone and wondered what he was talking about as he made his way towards his car in the parking lot.

"If I had to guess, you are going back to your bus, right." Jake said as if he was stating an obvious fact. He then waited for Lucian to confirm it but as expected, he didn't hear any response which was a confirmation on its own.

He sighed and spoke in a somber tone. "Listen, Luci, you are a married man now, you can't continue to live in that bus. You need to act accordingly and settle down properly to show Violette that you are serious about this relationship and that she can rely on you."

"And living in a bus…" he added. "That's not very reliable at all."

"It's not a bus." answered Lucian in a flat tone. He walked towards his car and remotely unlocked it with the key fob.

"Y-You… Is that really important now?" Jake sounded agitated as if his life's work was being ignored and wasted. Everyone knew that Jake can be annoyingly cheerful but only a few knew that the real annoying one was Lucian who can anger people to death with just a few words.

Lucian opened the car door and was about to get in when Jake spoke with a heavy tone. "Violette needs someone besides her, Luci – someone she can lean on and someone who can make her feel that she is not alone."

Then he took a deep breath and continued solemnly. "We all lost Charlie, but she lost the only connection to her family. I can't imagine what she must be going through. But she refuses to address those feelings and buries everything deep inside her while hiding her pain behind that poker face."

"Sound familiar?" he asked with a dry chuckle. "She needs to grieve, or the longer she keeps those emotions bottled up, the harder the toll it takes on her. None of us can get through to her right now but I think you can. You understand her emotional state better than any of us, so help her."

A heavy silence settled between them before Lucian decided to speak. "How?"

"Simple, stick to your wife." answered Jake, in his usual cheery voice. "She is staying in Royal Green, right? First book a nice, big double room and move Violette in with you. And then-"

"Um… Aren't we going a bit too fast?" Lucian was doubtful. He didn't want to pressure Violette into anything.

"Too fast?" Jake scoffed, as if it was something very trivial. "You both got married on your first meeting – I think nothing you can do will be considered too fast anymore. And besides, you guys are a married couple, not dating lovers. Moving in together is the next step of your journey anyway."

He knew that wasn't enough to convince him so he continued thoughtfully. "I know you are trying to give her some space to adjust but Luci, you need to be more active. Make her realize that she still has people who care about her. That she still has a purpose other than-"

Jake held himself before he spilled anything more and changed his tone again. "Anyway, you get what I mean, right?"

Lucian, surprisingly didn't press him about what he didn't say, and just looked up at the clear sky and closed his eyes as he let out a deep sigh. "Yeah, I get it."

"Good, but remember, when you are both alone in the room, you should control yourse-" Lucian abruptly ended the call and looked back at the building he just came out from.

He took a deep breath and closed his car door as he began to walk towards the entrance archway again.

- -

Violette stayed on the bed for roughly about 30 seconds before she couldn't stay still and sat up. She tried moving her leg and when she realized it wasn't cramped anymore, she stood up slowly and walked towards the bathroom door.

She then had a quick bath, changed into fresh clothes and sat on the bed with her laptop and several other files spread out.

The next few hours, she spent preparing the necessary documents and making a detailed presentation for her meeting with the New Era Investment and Equity Firm next week.

- -

Violette was fully immersed in her work, her eyes darting across the documents in her hand and the laptop in front of her when she was disturbed by a knock on the door. She raised her head and frowned at the door through the white square glasses perched on her face. She reluctantly pushed the files aside and got up from on the bed as she walked towards the door.

She opened the door without even checking who was on the other side and was surprised to see Lucian standing there with his hands in his pockets.

He stood still for a second and then spoke with a smile on his face. "Are you hungry?"