My Darling, My Dearest

Lea, Eric and Mendes were happily gathered inside Rachel's house, playing like they were one big happy family.

The TV displayed an intense drag racing competition. Eric was so excited that he couldn't keep himself off the edge of the seat.

Mendes sat on the floor next to them and he would cheer from time to time.

When Lucas arrived, he never imagined that he'd see all of them having fun like this. It was unusual for these people to get along so well without arguing and making a scene. While Lea and Eric were fiercely preoccupied with their match, someone started watching behind them. "Is it really that fun? You guys look intense," said the voice. Lea was too focused on the screen to turn around. "Shut up, Mendes! I'm trying to focus here." She crouched closer to the screen to focus. "You're going down Eric!" Mendes' voice was drowned by the two players' shouting. "But that wasn't me," he said.

Although she was too distracted by the game, Lea managed to slightly turn her head to the side. The moment she turned her head, the other player succeeded in overtaking her. After a few seconds, Eric managed to finish in ■d

first place. He jumped from seat and kept yelling "I win!" over and over.

Lea gnashed her teeth and threw her controller on the floor. "If I didn't get distracted, I would've won!" She made a mess of her hair in her annoyance.

Eric laughed at her dismay. "So who's to blame for your loss if not you?"

Who could have distracted her? If it wasn't Mendes, then who was it?

When Lea looked behind her, she was stunned when she realized who it was. She almost had a nervous meltdown as she blurted out his name. "Lucas!"

"Hi, Lea. It's been a long time since we've seen each other," said Lucas.

He was the last person she'd expect to appear right now, but that didn't mean she wasn't glad to see him. She stood up and burst into laughter. "What are you doing here, Lucas?"

Lea had completely forgotten what Rachel told her a few hours ago. Rachel had told her that Lucas would come to pick up the kid.

Lucas turned his head to Mendes. "I came here to pick up this little boy," he answered.

Lea turned her attention to Mendes and then back at Lucas. Rachel had not explained Lucas' connection to Mendes.

Lea suddenly realized something. Her jaw dropped and she pointed at Mendes and Lucas back and forth. She was almost shaking. "Is he your ■d

son?" she shouted.

Rachel noticed that Lea had not responded to her message yet. She wondered what could have kept her busy. She started to worry if there was something wrong with the last message that she sent, so she called Lea right away.

However, unbeknownst to Rachel, Lea's phone had been buried under the pillows and buzzing without her knowledge.

Lucas sat down on the floor next to Mendes. "So, where's Rachel?" he said.

Eric scratched the back of his head. "She hasn't come back yet."

"Not yet?" asked Lucas. He glanced at his watch. Hours had already passed since she got off work. What could've kept her at a time like this?

"She had something important to do. She said she'll be home late, so she asked us to look after Mendes," Lea intervened.

Lea was still not answering her phone. Rachel's uneasiness was starting to grow.

Jack noticed that Rachel was restless. He tried to focus on driving, but he couldn't stand to see her like this. "Is something bothering you?" he asked.

Jack didn't expect that Rachel would answer him. For a moment, he thought he had heard it wrong.

"My friend is taking care of Mendes. But she didn't pick up my phone call. I am a little worried," she replied.

Jack's strong jaw tightened a little, and his eyes ■d

softened. "Everything's going to be fine. We're almost there."

Rachel nodded, but she just had to check her phone one more time. Unfortunately, there was still no reply from Lea.

Lea took all the things that Rachel had packed and asked Lucas to double check if everything was there.

He looked through one by one. If he was being honest, it didn't really matter if there was something missing. He could always buy a replacement.

Lucas put the bag aside and zipped it up. "Did Rachel tell you when she'll get back?"

Lea checked her pockets if her phone was on her. "Wait a sec!" She leaned over to look for her phone.

Eric glanced at the boy. He didn't understand why Rachel took care of another person's child, but now he knew that it wasn't just her. Lucas was also involved. Perhaps Lucas was the main reason why she was so willing to take care of Mendes. Eric rolled his eyes and realized that something was going on between them. While Lea was trying to find her phone, Rachel and Jack was already downstairs.

Looking up at the light from the window of her room, Rachel let out a sigh of relief.

She was really worried that something might have happened.

Jack stepped into the garage with the remote ■d

control and parked the car.

After locking the car, Jack stood still for a few seconds and looked around the villa.

He felt completely different when he was standing there after he had signed the agreement.

As he stood there in complete silence, he felt so relaxed.

Just then, Rachel's phone rang and she answered immediately. "I'm here, Lea. I'm already downstairs."

"Well, Lucas is waiting for you too. Let's all have dinner together!" Lea replied.

Rachel couldn't believe what she had just heard. She felt her knees go weak. She wanted to tell Jack that he should go and come some other day.

As they were all there, Rachel really didn't want them to see Jack here. She was afraid that if they asked, she wouldn't know what to tell them.

"Hello?" said Lea. She probably thought that Rachel had dropped the call.

"Okay, I'll be there soon," Rachel replied.

She overheard Lea talk to someone beside her. "She said she'll be up soon."

She knew that Lea was talking to Lucas. Rachel thought she just had to go through with it. After all, they would meet sooner or later.

Rachel dropped the call and turned to Jack. "My friends are upstairs, I'll introduce you later."

Jack was a little surprised. He didn't expect ■d

Rachel to say that.

'Rachel's friends, huh?' he thought to himself. He had never been familiar with Rachel's friends before.

Rachel's friends knew about Jack, but Jack knew nothing about them.

Now that he thought about it, he barely knew anything about Rachel.

As they went upstairs, a tall and beautiful woman opened the door.

"You're back," said Lea.

Rachel nodded at her. Then Lea stepped aside to let her in. She noticed that there was a tall and handsome man behind Rachel.

Lea was taken aback. She couldn't find the right words to say. "Rachel, isn't he...?" Lea was clearly about to lose it. Rachel noticed that Lea's eyes were wide open. She was jumping and pointing at Jack. Rachel cleared her throat and dragged her away from Jack. "Let's talk about it inside."

Hearing Lea's screaming, Eric went to check on them. "What's going on?" he said.

When Eric saw Jack, his mood turned sour. His expression turned grim. "What in the world are you doing here?" Eric stood in front of Jack and stared at him from head to toe.

"Am I not allowed to be here?" Jack asked, wearing a sardonic smile.

Rachel was starting to get annoyed. She didn't want to see them talking in front of the door. "Let's ■d

all go inside first. We can talk about it later, okay?" she said.

The atmosphere in the living room was heavy.

Rachel and Lea sat on one side, with Eric and Mendes sitting on the other side. Lucas and Jack were sitting on opposite sides in front of the tea table.

It felt like they were being interrogated. Everything felt uneasy. They were supposed to have a lovely dinner, and everything changed when Jack arrived. Nobody spoke for a long time, so Rachel had to break the silence. She had no choice after all. She introduced Lea and Lucas respectively to Jack. Jack politely greeted both of them. She kept her introductions brief to avoid any awkwardness.

Lea had met Jack several times before. From what she could remember, he was a playboy. He was irresponsible and unfaithful.

But now, he was sitting before her. He didn't say anything and his demeanor made Lea feel a little uneasy.

Although Lea disliked the weird relationship between Jack and Rachel, she didn't want to embarrass him in front of Rachel. After Rachel introduced Jack to them, he greeted them one after the other.

"I've heard about you, Jack," Lea greeted back.

Lucas tried to play it cool. He didn't want to meddle in Rachel's personal relationships. ■d

"Nice to meet you. I'm Lucas Zhou,"

he said.

The room was overcome with silence again.

Nobody dared to say another word. Saying anything at this point would just make things more awkward than it was.

Eric was sitting on the edge of the sofa and looking at Jack with vigilance all the time. He stared at him like he was a criminal, and he was a policeman ready to arrest at a moment's notice. "Did anyone have dinner yet?" said Rachel, trying to break the ice.

It just so happened that they were discussing where to have dinner. After a moment of silence, Lucas spoke. "Why don't we all go out and have dinner together?"

Although everyone felt reluctant, they still went out for dinner together. They were an odd mix. Three men, two women, and a little boy.

The waiter ushered them into the restaurant and seated them. The situation was not any better than it was in the villa's living room.

Lea sat in the inner seat with Mendes, and Rachel sat next to them. Eric stared at the remaining three seats. There was no way he would sit next to Jack.

Not if they paid him a million dollars. He would rather die than get any closer to this jerk.

Eric decided that it was best to sit next to Rachel and Lea.

There were still three seats left. Lucas sat at ■d

the furthest end, opposite of Rachel.

Jack seated himself beside Lucas. Rachel noticed that something was off, but she didn't understand what was going on.

The waiter brought them the menu and let them order. Naturally, they let the child order first.

Lea distracted herself by playing with her phone.

They were in a Western restaurant, so it was okay for them to order what they wanted. There were children's meals on the menu, and Mendes was capable of ordering on his own. While Rachel was checking the menu with Mendes, her phone suddenly rang. The message was from Lea.

She added eight exclamations at the end of her sentence. Lea must have been really shocked. "What is he even doing here?!!!!!!!!" Rachel wrote, "Lea, you need to calm down. I didn't have any choice. Let's try to act like adults for now, okay?"