The Good Boy's Facade

20

The manager of the exhibition showed up at the exit, giving a handshake first to Lucas and greeting Claire next.

Claire's mood was a bit off, having experience embarrassment not even a few minutes ago. On the other hand, Lucas put on quite a good image in front of the manager, all smiles and appreciation.

Something about those roses made Claire want to stare at them longer. She remembered that time when Lucas came to her house to ask her out.

She had to refuse.

Claire was upset for days till they shifted, and Adam gave her all his attention.

The manager and Lucas had a boring conversation, all Claire did was yawn next to Lucas and nod at even fee minutes. It was already 6 in the evening, and the dinner time was close.

"Please, have dinner at our resort, sir." The manager requested, gesturing to a fancy restaurant a few meters down the pathway.

"We have no intention on troubling you." Lucas refused, just as Claire's stomach growled loudly. And she clutched it with her hands, eyes widening.

"I-- I better get going." Claire said, extremely flustered at herself, taking a step back.

"Oh, if you're that hungry-" Lucas started, until his own stomach growled, making the manager hold back a tiny laughter. "Table for two, please."

The moment the manager left, Claire scoffed, patting Lucas' back in sympathy.

"The pretty young master must be very hungry, ey?"

Lucas didn't wanna admit it, but his ears still turned crimson, which only made Claire smile. She flicked his ear with her fingers, making his hiss.

This man, still carried in him to blush. Even after being a wealthy CEO, his ears still reacted to what Claire said.

"Ow, that hurt." Lucas complained, touching his ears, not in a state to make eye contact with Claire.

No matter how hard Lucas tried, he was the same guy who cuddled up to Claire and left puppy kisses on her neck back in highschool.

___

"Oh fuck this is so good." Claire took another bite, feeling ever so happy at just the sight of good food. You see, Adam and Claire didn't go out a lot for dinners or lunch. They tried saving up to pay for the bills.

But sometimes, Adam would still get take out and get yelled by Claire who, by all means, would be the one to eat most of the food.

A girl has her needs, right?

"I know! I hate the food my cook makes nowadays." Lucas grimaced. "He doesn't even make sure to change the menu."

"That sucks, to be honest." Claire shook her head. "Adam's cooking is out of this world, he can be a chef. He cooks the dinner everytime."

"My mother used to cook for us when we were in highschool, you know. And every morning she would make pancakes and it used to disgust me-- wait did you say Adam cooks every night?" Lucas paused eating and his rambling, to look up at Claire who was sitting opposite to him.

"Yeah?? So?" She stopped her movements too, to look at Lucas in her confused state.

"You guys.. you guys live together?" He asked.

"Yep. We do." Claire replied, before resuming to eat.

Right, they obviously live together. Lucas always suspected Adam of having a crush on Claire back in highschool. Maybe.. just maybe it wasn't just adam.

Maybe even Claire liked him too?

Why else would they be living together?

.. does that mean Claire had moved on with Adam?

"Right." Lucas laughed half-heartedly. He didn't know why his heart was sinking.

He was supposed to have moved on?? It's been 8 years? Hello???

It probably was because Claire was the first person he actually fell for, Lucas thought.

Claire finished up her food and left the plate empty, slowly pushing in away from her. She sat back and sighed tiredly.

What a great day to write a story.

Lucas' bangs rested on his forehead loosely, as he concentrated more on his food and Claire concentrated on him.

I mean Claire was looking at the appearances she could use in her book, ofcourse.

Just as Lucas was about to have his last bite, the manager came in, walking all the way to their table and asking for a brief review on the food. As Lucas spoke, Claire zoned out, just looking down at the table cloth and her hands that played with a ring on her thumb finger.

"Our resort is very new, sir." The manager said. "We'd love it if you spent your night here today."

Claire immediately met Lucas' eyes, the ring among her fingers getting crushed. She shook her head no.

She accepted everything that came, she dealt with it, and she thought it'd be over. She wanted to get away from Lucas as fast as possible. But this day, went against all her desires.

"No, thank you. We really do-"

"Sir, we'd really appreciate it if you stayed. This is how we want to show you our gratitude for being the first person to visit our exhibition. We'd give you the best of us." The manager stood his place "And since Mr.&Mrs.Clark couldn't show up, Mr.Clark made a reservation for you and your fiancée."

At this point, Claire knew she only wanted to choke herself to death. He and his fiancée? Where the fuck is Hailey? She doesn't see Hailey anywhere.

"... he did?" Lucas asked awkwardly, his eyes flickering between the manager and Claire.

"Yes."

Well, fuck.

This manager is a shipper I bet

Also, this book is copyrighted under All Rights Reserved and any sort of plagiarism will be reported directly and not be entertained.