When Lucas had left his office he was in a better mood. Before going up to his house he had stopped at the parking lot and smoked again to calm himself down.

He could feel himself getting stressed out even before going home. After snuffing out the cigarette with his shoe, Lucas took his briefcase and made his way up. 

He didn't have to open the door to know that Jen had cooked a lot. He could smell the food the moment the elevator doors opened. Although it smelled good, he was not hungry at all. He was not in the mood to eat since she brought him lunch that afternoon. 

Lucas opened the door and took a deep breath before going inside. The house was completely silent, not even the television was on. This made him slightly worried that perhaps something happened to Jen, but when he saw sitting at the dining table when he got in, he was relieved and silently made his way upstairs to freshen up.

"Lucas," Jen called and Lucas heard the chair sc.r.a.pe against the floor as she stood up from it and walked towards him. Lucas stopped when he heard her call and waited for her to say whatever it was that she wanted to tell him.

"Lucas, have you eaten?" Jen asked, feeling unsure with herself. Lucas looked at her, his gaze detached and watched her use her hands to hold her upper arms. His gaze was clearly making her feel uncomfortable.

"I won't be eating tonight. You can go ahead and eat" Lucas said and dismissed himself by going up the stairs. Jen really felt like crying.

She would rather he exploded on her and vented his anger rather than the distance that he had put between them. It was truly hard for her to bear with it. He had never been like this so she was completely out of her element.

Lucas went to his room and took off his clothes before walking into his bathroom to take a much-needed shower.

Meanwhile, Jen had not moved from the spot he had left her downstairs. She had been able to detect the distinctive smell of cigarettes that he had walked in with. She wasn't even able to ask him about it before he walked away from her. Had he smoked? Did he even smoke?

Jen was baffled about what was going on. She had never seen Lucas smoke in this period they had been dating and she had never seen a cigarette in his house, she would have seen it since she was the one that insisted on cleaning up the house regularly since the use of the hotel felt like an invasion of privacy.

She walked to the living room listlessly and sat on the sofa curling her legs in a clearly protective posture and rested her head on her knees and sighed loudly. She wondered if he ended up smoking because of her and once again her thoughts went downhill from there.

Lucas came out of the bathroom and wore his pyjama pants and draped his towel over his shoulders before leaving his room and going downstairs to get a gla.s.s of juice. Of course, at the end of the day, it was just an excuse to be in the same s.p.a.ce as Jen. 

Even though he did not want to, he knew that they needed to resolve this issue fast since they had planned to make a public appearance together in two days.

Lucas could hear Jen's fidgeting when he pa.s.sed by the living room but he went to the kitchen without a pause and made a beeline for the fridge.

Jen heard Lucas' movements in the kitchen and thought that he was hungry but he was too proud to say it so she stood up and went to the kitchen too.

She stopped at the doorway when she saw that he was pouring himself a gla.s.s of juice and watched him as he closed the boxed juice and put it back in the fridge. 

They came face to face when Lucas picked up his gla.s.s and turned around to leave since she was standing in the way. Lucas did not say anything and instead walked around her and left the kitchen.

Jen expected him to go back upstairs but he walked towards the direction of the balcony and stood at the sliding gla.s.s doors not opening them to go outside. Jen was relieved he didn't go to his study and followed him but stood some distance away from him.

"Lucas" Jen called but Lucas did not turn around, but she also knew that he was listening to her. Lucas thought that he had calmed down but apparently, he hadn't. He had also never been in this kind of situation before, where he felt jealous, angry and wronged all at the same time.

He wanted to a.s.sert his own presence at that moment but he really did not know how to go about it, so he could just calm himself down and listen to what Jen had to say.

"Are you still upset?" Jen asked trying to coax him. Lucas did not say anything because if he said no then it would mean he was just being unreasonable if he said yes he would be petty so the best answer was silence in this case.

"I was obviously not thinking clearly when I came to your office today. I thought about it and I realised that I was being ridiculous and unreasonable by confronting you about Tyler. I was embarra.s.sed and-"

"You came to vent. About him, because you were worried that he saw us together right?" Lucas interrupted.

His voice that was normally filled with warmth and indulgence was cold and distant and Jen could feel her heart race and gooseb.u.mps rise on her skin. How was she supposed to answer that?

"Lucas I-"

"Are you ashamed of me? Or were you embarra.s.sed to be seen with me? Or did you want to hide me from him?" Lucas asked.

He had not turned around to look at her as he asked her these questions so all she could see was his broad naked back. After hearing what he said, Jen realised the big mess she had just made.

She never thought that he could have interpreted her reckless actions in such a way. After hearing such words from him, she felt even more guilty about what happened. How was she going to fix this?