One Wild Night

The place looked like something out of a novel. It looked more like a castle. A perfect castle for Princess Lucy. The whole place was a mixture of gold and white colors, and it gave her a royal vibe.

She looked up at the golden staircase that extended from one end of the room to the top, with two white king-sized chairs at one side of the foot. She could hear Lucy\'s mom talking with Alicia and Jasmine at the other end of the room which she assumed to be another living room. The whole place looked spacious and impressive.

She moved further down the living room towards another glass door when she heard Bryan\'s laughter, and her lips curved involuntarily as she followed the sound.

Bryan who was busy trying to win the Kombat with his father turned to the door distractedly when it opened and did a double-take when he saw Sonia. His eyes roamed over her body as he dropped the pad in surrender and stood up, making his father shake his head in disappointment.

"After fighting so hard to win, you give it all up for a woman?" His father asked, making him chuckle.

"I gave it all up for MY HOT woman, dad. I guess you\'re old now, so you won\'t understand," Bryan said as he walked over to meet Sonia with an appreciative glint in his eyes.

"Dad, meet my hot girlfriend, Sonia. Babe, meet the senior Mr. Hank," Bryan said, and his father dropped his pad as he stood up and looked at Sonia.

"It is nice meeting you, Mr. Hank," Sonia greeted with a polite smile.

"The pleasure is mine, Bryan\'s hot girlfriend," he said as he looked her over in amusement, "Has my wife seen you yet?" He asked curiously.

"Yes, she has. I met her at the door," Sonia said with a small smile.

"What did she have to say about your dress?" He asked again, but from the expression on his face, Sonia could tell that he wasn\'t asking because he was against her outfit. He just wanted to know his wife\'s reaction.

"Why? What is wrong with her dress?" Bryan asked, looking at Sonia\'s dress curiously.

"She seemed okay with it," Sonia said with a shrug, and he gave her a nod.

"Good then. What about your friend?" He asked, looking behind her for Lucy.

"I left her with your wife," Sonia said, while Bryan snaked his hand around her waist.

"Enough with the interrogation already, let\'s go somewhere private," Bryan said with a naughty smile before waving at his father, "See you at dinner, dad," Bryan called to him as he led Sonia out of the den.

"Where are we going to?" Sonia asked as Bryan led her towards the stairs.

"Somewhere I can appreciate your dress best," Bryan said with a wink as he led her to his bedroom.

Meanwhile, in another part of the mansion, Tom showed his tourists the ballroom, "Although I\'ve never held a party here, I\'m planning to host one soon. Perhaps a Christmas ball with a retro theme," Tom said.

"That would be awesome! I hope we will be invited?" Alicia asked hopefully.

"You\'re my neighbor, how can you not get an invite?" Tom asked as he glanced behind him, wondering what his mother was talking to Lucy about, and when she was going to join them.

"Did you buy the house? Or you deliberately built and decorated it to look vintage?" Jasmine asked curiously, cutting into his thoughts.

"The building is over a hundred years old so there is no way I could have built it myself," Tom said with a chuckle, "I bought it. Although I\'ve done a lot of renovations, I didn\'t want it to lose its originality," Tom explained as he led them out of the room and the others nodded in understanding as they followed him.

Lucy\'s father who had just been following the others silently while observing Tom, sneaked away from the others when he caught sight of Lucas heading upstairs with their bags, and he quickly followed him, "Hey, Luc!" He called as he caught up with him and took one of the bags from him.

"I thought you were busy looking around with the ladies," Lucas said as he let his father take the bag but continued walking.

"I\'m not interested in the house. That\'s women stuff. I was too busy monitoring him. Are these all the bags?" His father asked, and Lucas nodded.

"Adolf already took the other bags to the bedrooms," Lucas said, and he stopped walking when Adolf came out from a bedroom ahead of them after dropping off Lucy\'s luggage in Tom\'s bedroom.

"That is your bedroom. And the one opposite it is for your parents," Adolf said pointing to the doors before walking away.

"Thanks, Adolf," both Perry men greeted and Adolf gave them a polite nod as he walked away.

Once Adolf disappeared from view Lucas walked into his parents\' bedroom with their bags, and his father followed him.

His father watched him as he set the bags on the bed, and he cleared his throat to get his attention, "Are you okay?"

"Sure. The house looks really grande," Lucas said as he looked around the bedroom which looked like a hotel room.

"Why are you refusing to take Rachel\'s call? Did something happen?" Mr. Perry asked, not letting him change the subject.

"What do you mean? You are aware that I ended things with her. There is no reason to take her call," Lucas said with a shrug, not wanting to tell his father about Rachel\'s threat.

"Are you sure that is all?"

"Yes. That\'s all. I should check out my bedroom," Lucas said as he picked up his duffel bag which his father had also dropped on the bed. As Lucas walked out of the room his father called out to try and give Rachel a call to find out what she wants, but he said nothing.

Once he walked into the bedroom Adolf had shown him, he locked the door behind him and dropped his bag on the floor before lying face down on the bed. His chest felt tight like something was lodged in there. He had been trying to focus on every other thing going on around him and not to dwell on Rachel, but she was making it difficult for him to ignore her.

Taking his phone out of his pocket, he sat up on the bed and ran his fingers through his short crop of black hair as he contemplated whether or not to give Rachel a call to hear what she had to say.

He took in a deep breath as he dialed her line, and almost immediately the call connected.

"Baby! Why are you doing this to me?" Rachel cried the moment she received his call. From her tone, he could tell that she had been crying.

His heart squeezed painfully in his chest on hearing her voice. "What do you want?" Lucas asked coolly.

"I\'m sorry, babe. Maybe I overreacted..."

"Maybe?" Lucas asked incredulously.

"I\'m sorry. I shouldn\'t have been upset with you for going to be with your sister. Now that the issue has been resolved can you come back so that we can make up?" Rachel asked hopefully and Lucas pinched the bridge of his nose.

Lucas knew that it would be so easy for him to want to believe her words and makeup with her just so that he would stop being hurt by this break-up, but this wasn\'t just about Lucy. It was about Rachel being a spoilt brat, and how he had been enabling her the whole time. If he forgave her and continued with the relationship, he was going to be subjecting himself to Rachel\'s irrational possessiveness and emotional blackmails, and he couldn\'t live that way.

"No."

"Please, baby. I\'m so sorry. Forgive me, please. I love you. I can\'t live without you. I don\'t want to," Rachel cried, but Lucas was past being deceived by that.

He knew that the only reason she was being this way was just so that she would get her way again. Her threats failed to work, and so this was the way Rachel knew how to get her way. This was what she called love.

"I thought you knew me, Rachel."

"I do, baby. I know you."

"I don\'t think so. If you did, you would know that I wouldn\'t have ended things with you if I didn\'t mean it. I\'m not coming back to you, Rachel. It\'s over. You can keep the house since you seem to want it. I\'ll pick up my stuff when I get back. And please... Do not call either my parents or Lucy anymore. I already told them not to take your calls..."

"How can you do this to me after all I\'ve done for you? I love you! You\'re hurting me!" Rachel cried, and her mother took the phone from her.

"Lucas?" Her mother spoke into the phone, and Lucas took in a deep breath.

"You possibly can\'t end things with Rachel over something as insignificant as this. You of all people know how much she loves you, and how much this family has supported you because of your relationship with her," Rachel\'s mother said in a tone that sounded more like a threat than a plea. He didn\'t want to be married into a family like this either. They were the reason Rachel was the way she was.

"I appreciate your support thus far. However, marrying Rachel isn\'t going to be a means of expressing my gratitude to you. I won\'t subject myself to a lifetime of emotional torture just because I\'m grateful to your family. I\'m hanging up now," Lucas said as he disconnected the call, and Rachel\'s mother turned to her.

"Your father is going to be very cross with you when he finds out about the Perrys\' relationship with the CEO of I-Global. Do you know how such a connection would have been good for your father? How could you not have known that your fiance\'s twin sister is in a relationship with someone as influential as Thomas Hank?" She scolded, and Rachel broke into a sob.

"How was I supposed to know? Can\'t we just threaten him with something? I could say I\'m pregnant for him? He would come back to me if I say that, right?" Rachel asked hopefully.

"You think you can deceive a medical doctor with something like that? Seriously? Are you my daughter?" Her mother asked in a tone laced with disapproval.

"What about his job?" Rachel asked again wiping her tears with the back of her hands.

"His twin sister is in a relationship with the CEO of I-Global. You think he wouldn\'t get a job easily if he asked for help?" Her mother countered, and Rachel broke into a sob.

"I can\'t lose him, mom. I love Lucas. I don\'t want to lose him. Please help me," she cried bitterly, and her mother went to sit beside her to console her.

"Then you shouldn\'t have acted that way towards him."

"I was only looking out for our relationship! I didn\'t want his sister\'s scandal to affect us," Rachel said defensively.

"I don\'t think he intends to get back with you. So let\'s just go ahead and cancel all the wedding plans. Don\'t worry, we will find you someone else," Rachel\'s mother suggested as she consoled her daughter who was weeping.

Rachel shook her head, "I can\'t let him go, mom. I don\'t want anyone else. I\'m going to talk to Lucy.. I\'m sure he will listen to her if she pleads on my behalf."