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"What step?"

"If your grandfather meets Lucy's family that sort of makes things more official, don't you think? I have nothing against things being official, but I wanted to be sure that you are both ready for that step as I'm positive it might come up in the discussion during dinner," Desmond said, and Tom sighed as he rubbed his hand over his face.

He had not thought of that. Obviously, he had not been thinking much all day because he was in a foul mood and his head kept aching.

"No, we are not ready for any of that. You can ask mother and Samantha to hold off on the preparations. I will make a reservation for us to have dinner at a restaurant," Tom said wearily.

"Are you alright?" Desmond asked, not missing the weariness in Tom's voice.

Tom sighed, "I was going to seek your counsel on something personal after I get home from work, but maybe if you're not too busy we can talk now since I doubt we will be able to speak in private this evening," Tom said, and Desmond nodded.

"I'm alone, let's talk. Is there a problem?"

"Dad, this has to stay between us. You can't tell mom about it," Tom said, and Desmond raised a brow.

"Alright. What is the problem?"

"It's Lucy. She doesn't want to get married and neither does she want to have kids. I think maybe her traumatic experience might still be affecting her in a way, but she doesn't want to receive therapy. Maybe I'm the one who is making a big deal out of this, I'm not sure. I probably shouldn't be, but I'm mad at her. I know she probably expects me to be more understanding considering how I'm the one who did everything crazy to get her, but I feel like if I keep being the understanding one and keep sacrificing all I want just to let her get everything she wants I might gradually grow to resent her even though I love her. I'm not sure I'm making sense, but I know you were in a similar situation with mom. What do you think I should do?" Tom asked, and Desmond sighed.

"For starters, what I had with your mother is completely different from whatever is going on between Lucy and you. Your mother wasn't living with me, and she wasn't even interested in any sort of relationship with me outside of platonic friendship. Lucy on the other hand lives with you and is very much involved with you. So you see? It's different. Secondly, I don't think there is anything wrong with how you feel about the situation. I'm not saying this because I'm your father and I feel the need to take your side. I'm saying this because you seem to be the one willing to make all the big sacrifices in order for things to work, and any normal human would be upset by that," Desmond said, and Tom sighed.

"What can I do? I really love her, and I don't want to lose her. But at the same time, I don't want to sacrifice so much for her only to end up having regrets and resenting her. I really wish she would put in a little more effort...."

"What effort do you want her to put in?" Desmond cut in.

"She could start by receiving therapy. I need her to work on her unhealthy desire to have so much control over her life."

"Did you tell her that? What did she say?" Desmond asked, and Tom told Desmond all about their conversation that morning.

Desmond sighed, "Did you suggest therapy because you believe she might change her mind on marriage and kids after doing that? What if she receives therapy and still doesn't change her mind? Can you live with that? Do you think it will make you any less resentful when you eventually remain with her for years and see your siblings and everyone else around you get married and raise their own kids while all you have is a girlfriend and maybe a pet? Or do you want to remain with her, hoping that she would change her mind as time goes on? What if she never does?" Desmond asked, and Tom frowned.

"You remained with mom for four years...."

"As I clearly stated, your mom's case was different. She wasn't even my girlfriend. Waiting and trying to convince her for years was my choice not because she wanted me to. Lucy lives with you. She has access to you. Why would she want marriage when she already has you this way? She isn't scared of losing you because deep down she knows you love her and would do anything to keep her. She wants to have you and keep you all to herself without going all the way," Desmond pointed out.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Now I'm going to advise you as your father. I think you need to stop being so available to her. I wasn't this available for your mother. I was out of the country most of the time but I tried to be there for her whenever I could. Maybe you should stop treating Lucy like a wife and giving her wife privileges. If all she wants is to be a girlfriend, then treat her like one," Desmond suggested.

Although he knew that was sort of harsh, he believed Lucy had been pampered enough by everyone around her and it was time for them to forcefully push her out of her shell or whatever safe cocoon she had been covered in.

"How?" Tom asked with a frown.

"Call and text her as you should naturally. Take her out on dates when you can, but she has to return to her apartment. If you believe her apartment is her safety nest, allow her to go back to it. She should take herself to work going forward. You both don't have to see at work every day. Make yourself scarce. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Allow her to return to her life the way it was before she met you. That's the only way she can find out for herself if she wants the changes that come with being with you or not," Desmond Advised.

Tom sighed inwardly. He knew something like that would really hurt Lucy's feelings, "Isn't that too much?"

"It's not. You are not breaking up with her. You are just taking some steps backward for her to step forward and meet you halfway. It's all psychology."

"Alright. I get you. But I don't think I can do that right now. Her parents are still around," Tom pointed out.

"We will all be leaving soon, so you can wait a bit. And mind you, I'm not asking you to wait because you owe them anything. I love Andrew and his wife, but they are not your in-laws. I'm asking you to wait just so it doesn't seem like you are acting out because of the misunderstanding you both had. Give it a few days, take your time to think about all I've said and if you are convinced it's the right thing to do for your relationship, you can ask her to return to her apartment," Desmond said, and Tom sighed.

Doing that was going to be difficult since he was used to having her around and he was going to miss her, but he agreed that maybe this was what he needed to do to save whatever they had. If what they shared was important enough to Lucy, she would step forward. And if it wasn't.... Well, he wasn't going to think about that part.

"Alright. I will do that. Thanks, dad," Tom said, glad that he had spoken with his father about it.

Once he hung up the call, he glanced at the wall clock and sighed. It was almost time to go home and he was still not in the mood to talk to Lucy yet.

He dialed Harry's line, "Have you left for the meeting with the new investors for the mountainside resort?"

"I'm about to leave. Why?"

"I'm going with you. I will meet you in your office right away."

"Tom are you...." Harry sighed when he realized that Tom had hung up.

Away from there, after much deliberation, Lucy found herself heading for the company's clinic thirty minutes before the close of work. She had thought long and hard whether to take the company doctor up on his offer (chapter 155) or to give Lucas a call and have him set her up with a good therapist, but she decided that since Tom was the one insisting she goes for it, he should as well be the one to pay for it.

Once Lucy arrived at the clinic, most of the staff greeted her politely as she walked past them, recognizing her as the CEO's woman.

She was ushered into the doctor's office immediately and she didn't waste any time telling him what she wanted.

A few minutes later she walked out of the doctor's office with the details of two therapists, and she returned to the company, wanting to catch Tom in his office before they left for the day.

She believed that by now he would be done with all he had to do since it was almost time for the close of work. They needed to talk. They had to talk about the stuff she had heard from Jade about Anita's family, and they had to resolve their misunderstanding. She didn't want to be on bad terms with him.

As she walked into his outer office space, she was surprised to see the young man seated there, "Hello, director Perry! I'm Eric Howell, Mr. Hank's assistant," Eric greeted politely, recognizing Lucy as Tom's girlfriend.

"Oh!" Lucy exclaimed softly. She had forgotten that Tom's assistant was resuming.

"I'm here to see the CEO. Is he in?" She asked politely, and Eric shook his head, surprising her.

"He left a moment ago. I was going to come to...."

"He left?" Lucy asked in surprise.

"Yes. He left for a meeting with Mr. Jonas. He instructed me to drive you home. I was just about to wrap up what I was doing and come to your office," he said apologetically, and Lucy's heart skipped a beat.

Was Tom so mad at her that he would leave the office without talking to her? What did she do that was so wrong? Lucy mused with a worried frown.

"Don't worry. I will go home myself," Lucy told Eric as she took out her phone from her handbag and walked away.

She dialed Tom's line as she got into the elevator.

Inside Harry's car, Harry looked at Tom with a slight frown, "C'mon, Tom! Don't tell me you are still mad at her?"

"Do you think I deliberately want to be mad or I enjoy being mad at her?" Tom asked in annoyance.

"If you don't enjoy it then you should talk things out with her," Harry said Tom snorted.

"Lucy is being unreasonable right now and it's getting on my nerves. I love her, but I just can't stand her attitude right now. Earlier, after the meeting, you saw how she behaved. If you hadn't stopped her from leaving or brought her back she would have left without saying hello to my grandfather. My grandfather, Harry! Do you know how disrespectful and embarrassing that would have been? I get that she doesn't want to get married, but did she have to act that way toward my grandfather? And the most annoying thing was that she kept trying to bring up the conversation right there. Not because she wanted to get what I was saying, but because she wanted to defend herself. Can you believe that?"

"Still, I think instead of avoiding her you should talk to her. How long are you going to avoid her anyway? You're both going to be sleeping under the same roof," Harry pointed out, and Tom's phone rang before he could respond.

He sighed when he saw that it was Lucy, and he reluctantly received the call but said nothing as he listened, and waited for her to speak first.

"Tom?"

"Yeah?"

"I just left your office and I was told you were not in," Lucy said in a small voice.

"Yeah. I told you I was busy. Eric will drop you off at my house. I will be back much later and might be late for dinner with my family. You don't have to join my family for dinner if you're not comfortable," Tom said in a cool tone that made Lucy's heart hurt.

She didn't miss how he had said his house instead of home and how he had just politely asked her not to show up for dinner with his grandfather.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"I'm busy. Let's talk later," Tom said and hung up.

"That was cold," Harry said, and Tom shook his head.

"Let's talk about something else," Tom said, and Harry sighed.

He could tell that Lucy's action had actually hurt Tom more than it annoyed him. He wasn't comfortable seeing Tom and Lucy that way, and he wished there was something he could do to help them. Unfortunately, this was something they would have to fix themselves.