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Chapter 338 No Party

　　After leaving her mother on the balcony, Lucy went straight to Tom's bedroom, wanting to be alone for a moment to catch her breath and put her emotion in check. 

　　Surprisingly it was the first time she was really showing an outward emotion and talking about her repressed grievance against her family, which she had always kept to herself, buried inside somewhere. In fact, she thought she had gotten over the feeling of hurt. 

　　Although she would never say it out to her family, a part of her blamed them for what happened to her. Yes, it wasn't their fault that Jamie had been a lunatic who abducted her, and although it might be unfair of her to blame them, she thought her parents had been too absorbed in their jobs and themselves to even notice that anything was wrong with her. 

　　She had made several excuses for them, even when Tom had asked how her parents could not have noticed the changes in her following her discovery that Jamie was stalking her, but deep down, she knew they had been too careless. Even when she was barely eating as well as she used to during family mealtimes, no one had noticed.

　　And when she stopped joining them in the living room to watch the soap opera, they usually viewed together as a family whenever she wasn't at Sonia's, no one had asked why. They had been too focused on themselves.

　　She had desperately wanted one of them to notice and try to find out what was wrong so that she could confide in them, but no one had noticed. Lucas had been all about Rachel, and her parents had been all about each other and their job. She had felt so neglected, and the only person who had been there with her all that time was Sonia.

　　Maybe she was being unfair by blaming them, but she couldn't help it. She had been seventeen years old. Her parents could have done better. She hated that her mother's careless words had set it all off in her head, and try as she might to calm down, she couldn't stop the bitterness and anger that was making her stomach churn.

　　She turned on the faucet and let the water run in the sink before splashing some on her face. Just as she reached for a towel to dry her face, she heard the bedroom door open, and so she walked out of the bathroom. 

　　She forced a smile when Tom walked further into the bedroom while looking at her. 

　　"Don't do that, Lu," Tom said with a shake of his head as he studied her wet face, and she looked at him with questioning eyes.

　　"Don't do what?"

　　"Don't force a smile. Please don't pretend to be happy around me when you are not. You can do so with others if you want, but never do that around me," Tom said as he stopped in front of her. 

　　Lucy sighed. How did she always forget that even though they had only known each other for such a short time, he knew her so well? "How can you tell the smile is forced?" She asked as he lifted her chin so she would look into his eyes.

　　"When it comes to you, I can tell every nuance of expression and subtle tone of voice," Tom said, and Lucy felt her heart flutter. 

　　Her mood slowly lifted, and she smiled genuinely. This was her own person. With him, she wouldn't have to ever worry about keeping things to herself because whether or not she opened her mouth, he could just tell when she wasn't okay.

　　"I'm lucky to have you, am I not?" She asked, and Tom shook his head. 

　　"I'm the one who is lucky to have a gem like you," He said as he took the towel from her and dried her face. 

　　"I thought you said you'd be outside with the others?" She asked when he finished, and she turned away from him to check her reflection in the mirror.

　　"I was going to do that, but then I ran into your mom once again. Seeing that you were done talking with her, I decided to bring your phone to you," Tom said as he went to stand beside her and left her phone on the dressing table.

　　"How are you feeling now?" He asked as he met her gaze in the mirror.

　　"Much better."

　　"Good. They will be leaving soon, so don't keep them waiting," Tom said as he turned to leave.

　　"You are not going to ask why I was upset with her?" Lucy asked, and Tom paused by the doorway. 

　　"I will prefer you tell me about it yourself, but if you want me to ask, then it will be after we have seen them off. So hurry," Tom said and walked away without waiting to get a response.

　　Although he was curious to know exactly what her mother had said to upset her, he didn't want her to talk about it and get even more upset than she already was with her mother before seeing them off. He already figured that whatever her mother had said must have hurt her feelings profoundly, and it wouldn't be resolved so easily. 

　　As he walked down the hallway, his phone beeped with a notification to let him know that someone was at the gate. He paused and pulled it out to see who it was that was visiting his house so late in the evening and needed a pass to get in. 

　　A puzzled frown creased his brow when he saw that Harry's car was parked in front of the gate, and Harry was just seated there.

　　Like his cars, all of Harry's cars were authorized to pass through the gate without hindrance via the automatic number plate recognition installed on the gate. So why was Harry just seated there? He relaxed a bit when he looked closely at Harry and noticed that his lips were moving like he was talking to someone. It seemed like he was on a call.

　　Meanwhile, inside the car, Harry had a slight frown on his face as he pressed a finger to his temple, "Dad, are you really at my apartment?" He asked, not sure whether to believe his father or not since it wouldn't be the first time his father would be pranking him. 

　　"Weren't you the one who suggested that I pay you a visit? I told you I was going to take you up on your offer, didn't I?" Aaron asked his son dryly as he looked at the table which he had set for dinner. It had been a while since he last ate with his boy, and he couldn't wait to see him. 

　　"So you are really at my apartment?" Harry asked, torn between joy at seeing his father after such a long time and frustration that he had to turn back now that he was finally at the gate after spending most of the evening contemplating making this drive. 

　　It had taken him quite some time to make up his mind to honor Jade's invitation and drop by Tom's place for their father's party. Not that she was the reason he had decided to stop by after all since the last thing he wanted was to put himself through the torture of seeing Jade again. He didn't like the idea of saying farewell for the third time in one day. 

　　Maybe this was a sign that seeing her again before she left was a bad idea. He could save himself the torture now and just turn back whether or not his father was telling the truth.

　　"Do I need to take a photograph beside your refrigerator to convince you that I'm here? By the way, one of your bedrooms smells flowery like a female was here. Are you seeing someone?" Aaron asked, and that was all it took to convince him to make a U-turn.

　　"You are really here?" Harry asked excitedly, "When did you get here? I'm on my way home now. What do you want me to get you for dinner?" Harry asked, and his father chuckled happily when he heard the excitement in Harry's voice. 

　　"I already fixed dinner. Just get yourself here in one piece before the meal gets cold," he said before hanging up. 

　　Immediately after the call ended, Harry dialed Tom's line since he knew that Tom would have been notified of his presence at the gate.

　　"Why did you leave without coming in? Don't tell me someone is holding a gun to your head in that car?" Tom asked when he received Harry's call.

　　Harry grinned, "Yeah. And he let me have my phone for a minute just to let you know that you are a dumb ass."

　　"What a waste of your final words. You will be greatly missed, my dear friend," Tom said, and Harry chuckled.

　　"You don't have to worry about missing me. I will be taking you with me. I love you too much to let you live without me," Harry assured Tom who turned when he heard Lucy's footsteps.

　　"Keep your love to yourself. Why did you leave? Did something come up?" Tom asked seriously now.

　　"My dad just called to let me know he's around. So I had to make a U-turn..."

　　"Oh, that's great! Let him know I will drop by to see him tomorrow after work," Tom cut it.

　　"I'm sorry I have to miss the party. How is it going over there?" Harry asked curiously.

　　"Don't worry about not being here. You are not missing anything. There is no party."

　　"No party? Why?"

　　Tom quickly explained the situation to Harry, and he let out a sigh when Tom finished, "Maybe I should have come in to say hello since your folks will be leaving tomorrow," Harry said, contemplating if he should just turn back.

　　"They're not dying, just traveling. You can see them some other time. Go home to your dad," Tom urged him.

　　"Alright then. See you tomorrow," Harry said before hanging up. He briefly contemplated calling to let Jade know that he wouldn't be coming because something came up, but he decided against it. 

　　It was possible that she had invited him without really expecting him to show up, and he was the one reading too much meaning to her request. She would probably not even notice his absence. Why would she? He was just the boring uncle Harry to her, after all.