Convincing her (Jen and Lucas)

Chapter 172: Ointments

Jen walked over to his side and Lucas rolled his office chair back to give her space prompting her to stand between him and the desk in the process. Jen went to stand in front of Lucas and he unhesitantly stretched out his hand to her.

She rolled down the sleeve of his sweater and rested his hand on her lap before she stretched her body to take the ointments that were on the other side of the desk.

Lucas keenly watched her as she opened one of the ointments one dabbed her finger in it and smeared a thin layer on the skin close to his elbow.

Lucas really didn't care much about what she was doing and was only focussed on the serious expression she had as she was doing a patch test on him. She smeared the ointment alphabetically so she would know which one reacted in case he did get an allergic reaction. 

"Are you mad at me?" Jen asked as she opened the lid of another ointment and dipped her finger in it before smearing it on his skin.

"Should I be?" Lucas asked having no intentions of letting her off at all. His answer made Jen quiet and she tightly pressed her lips together as she continued to evenly spread the ointment on his skin.

Jen didn't say anything as she continued to the next ointment. It felt like the ointments served as a timer, counting down on the time she had to explain herself. 

Lucas noticed how she seemed to be a bit anxious and reached out to push some stray strands of hair behind her ear. Jen looked at Lucas when she felt his fingers on her face before focussing on her task.

"Do you think I should have been mad?" Lucas asked her seriously. He really didn't feel like being like this anymore, in fact, he just wanted to pull her over so she would sit on his lap.

"I know I upset you. I could have handled the situation better. I'm really sorry" Jen said as she placed the last ointment on the desk. Lucas finally smiled at her and pulled her to sit on his lap. Jen complied and obediently sat on him and looked down at her hands.

"It's alright Jen, you are entitled to your own privacy. I was upset because you just brushed me off. As if my concern for you didn't mean anything.-" Lucas said but was cut off by Jen.

"You know that's not how I feel right?" Jen asked finally lifting her head to look at Lucas.

"I know, but I was still upset," Lucas said as he wrapped his hands around her waist.

"I'm sorry," Jen said as she blinked her eyes at him. How was he supposed to resist her?

"It's alright sweetheart," Lucas said and kissed the side of her face.

"We're good?" Jen asked as she turned her face to look at him with a smile.

"Mmh, do you want to tell me what was bothering you?" Lucas asked.

"When Michael dropped off the documents today, I saw AT Technologies written in one of them. I didn't read the contents, the name kind of just caught my attention. It made me realise that I'll probably meet Tyler again since we're in the same circle. I had never thought about it before because I hadn't seen him again since our break up. Technically since before our break up because we broke up on the phone. I couldn't help but start thinking about how I would react once I meet him. I'm not averse to meeting him, but since I haven't seen him anyway, I don't know how I'll guard myself, or if I even have to guard myself." Jen said in one breath. 

Lucas just silently listened to her as she spoke out her thoughts and did not interrupt her speech. He could understand where she was coming from, so he just decided to stay silent and listen to her.

"I guess I was just worrying myself for no reason," Jen said and leaned against his chest.

"It's not entirely for nothing. He'll be coming next week" Lucas said as if he was talking about the weather, making Jen sit up on his lap abruptly.

"Eh?" she exclaimed as she looked at Lucas wide-eyed.

"Mmh" Lucas responded.

"You're being serious?" Jen asked with raised eyebrows.

"Very serious" Lucas responded with a small smile. 

"Those AT Technology are about the cooperation we'll be having with them. The meeting was supposed to be yesterday, but it was pushed to next week" Lucas explained

"You're for real?" Jen asked still digesting what she had just heard from Lucas. Lucas gave her a small smile in response before nodding in ascent.

"It's not like I'll even have to meet him right? It'll just be a business meeting right?" Jen asked looking hopeful.

"It is a business meeting, but there is the launch party on Saturday that we're obliged to invite him to. So he might come for the party on Saturday" Lucas said honestly. He did not want her to be caught unaware in case Tyler decided to show up at the launch party.

"When did you plan to tell me this?" Jen asked after she had digested the information he just received.

"Well, I wanted to tell you today, but you seemed to be in a mood this morning so I figured that I might as well tell you later" Lucas explained.

"Oh~" Jen responded. It's not like she could even get mad at him. He did not do anything wrong.

"Will it be hard for you? If you won't be able to face him then you don't have to go you know?" Lucas said as he stroked her back as if he was helping her relax. 

Jen turned to look at him and knew at that moment that she didn't have to worry about Tyler because she was in love with this man who was comforting her for the anxiety she had about meeting her ex.