The Good Boy's Facade

19

"Would you like to walk or-?" Lucas asked, as they made their way out from the cafe and Lucas had his sunglasses back on, resting on his nose. His gaze shifter from her and the road, pointing to something. "I have my car there."

Go in car with Lucas? Alone? No shit. She'll pass.

"Um,,"

"Car? Okay." Lucas smiled, leading the way, Claire blinked, having not seen that coming from this man standing here. "Our destination is quite a long ride. I'm afraid we can't walk even if you want us to."

Why the fuck did he ask, then?

No, no, why the fuck?

"Where are we going, again?" Claire licked her lips in frustration, as she followed him to his car.

"The flower exhibition."

She let out a little laughter to his humour, recalling how he never made jokes but sure was sassy enough to make him attractive back then.

"I was invited, thought I'd take a friend along." He informed and opened the door to the driver's seat, and seeing as there was a man there already, he smiled and opened the door wider. "Please, let me drive myself today."

Claire watched as the man asked no question further and just obeyed, with a "yes sir." rolling out of his tongue and stepping out.

"Are you being serious? The flower show?" Claire blinked.

"I'm well aware you wouldn't be much fascinated." He replied, studying her face. "But I assure you the best."

Fuck no. She'd go anywhere but this stupid flower exhibition or whatever. She couldn't be bothered with all these stuff. Never gave it a try, and never wanted to.

So going with Lucas? Was a big no.

Contrary to what she thought, she said, "I'd love to accompany you on this. I've loved flowers."

"Since when?"

"Since.. a second ago." And she held her hand to her face and fake giggled, to show how greater her feelings of hatred towards this situation were.

She got into the passenger seat, and next to him, noticing how he strapped his seatbelt on and expectantly looked at her to do so too. And she reached out for her own seatbelt, gaze never leaving him through the corner of her eyes.

Imagine, a CEO pays for your cafe and insists on taking you to a flower exhibition, and you, not knowing if the person had changed over the 8 years, just so as he says. Let's say this felt like a fanfiction.

Claire sighed at the thought.

It's not like Lucas can try anything at all on her. She can take him down easily, and he knew it too.

"Hey," she started, right before the car could roll back to life. "What about him?"

She pointed to the man standing next to the car in his uniform and hands behind his back.

"He'll go home." Lucas said. "I pay him more than enough to find his way back home."

Pretty sure the man gets thrice amount of salary Claire gets just for driving his young master around the town.

"Oh." Was all Claire could say. She just pursed her lips and looked out.

Lucas drove around, a hand on the steering wheel, and another on the gear, and eyes trained on the road. He took smooth turns that made Claire raise her eyebrows in return. She didn't miss how he sat relaxed, yet very much concentrated.

"So," Claire broke the silence, feeling awkward. "You said.. there are a lot of things to catch up with. What are those?"

"Ah." Lucas' fingers tightened around the wheel. He glanced at her, a little smile etching on his face. "You should go ahead first. What have you been doing all this time?"

Tryna figure out how to get over guys I accidentally fell in love with.

"Nothing much."

"Oh, cmon." His glasses reflecting off the sunlight. "You can tell me more, I'm sure."

Claire sunk in her seat, looking down at her hands. "Spent my years learning how to write a book that gets you rejected."

"You're an author?" His eyes widened at that.

"Can't really say that." Claire sighed. "I write, but I haven't written a good story yet."

Lucas didn't really respond to that. He just kept driving. And as for her, she just looked at the road, and how they had come far into the outskirts of the town.

He pulled over and took off his glasses. "We're here."

---

Claire tucked her hands into her pocket and followed Lucas around in boredom. Yeah, this was a pretty cool place. Colourful, bright and she could smell mud and flowers everywhere.

She was surrounded by flowers from all the four sides and it bothered her so much that she could do nothing about it.

There weren't anyone else around. It's was just them. Not a single human in sight.

Not media, not even tourists.

"These are so beautiful." Lucas exclaimed, bending down to touch some.. flowers Claire didn't know the name of or cared to know. His fingers lightly brushed on the surface of the petals and his eyes turned doey.

Claire's lips parted, realising how much she had missed those big curious eyes. She gulped, unable to take her eyes off of him.

Underneath those fat rich clothing, he was still a skinny boy who loved bright colours and soft sweaters that went well with his eyes.

He kept looking around in awe, touching all the flower petals delicately and grinning. As if he had forgotten that Claire was with him too, and looking at everything unfolding in front of her.

"Claire, look!" He lifted one of his skinny finger and pointed at dark blood red roses a few feet away, face lighting up instantly. "Their colour looks exactly like those roses I.."

He stopped mid sentence, eyes landing on Claire, a little fear evident.

"..you what?" Claire asked.

"I gave you on Christmas." He finished his line, standing up straight, turning his head away from her. He didn't wanna make an eye contact. "Which you never accepted."

She felt a pang in her chest.

He hasn't forgotten, has he?

"I never liked roses." She told him, hands clenched on her sides.

"Did you throw them away?" He chuckled. "Probably."

"I-" Claire tried to come up with something, but all she could do was stay silent. She knew she was at fault, and it was eating her up.

All these years, she spent her time trying to move on, only to be met by a day like this.

"I knew it." Lucas smiled. "It's alright, I only bought those roses because.. Because I couldn't show up empty handed. And anyway, it's been a long time, I have no reason to act up."

Claire wanted to tell him that's not what she did. The roses he bought that day for her, were too dear to her to throw them away.

"Lucas," she called out, reaching out to him and gripping his jacket. He didn't turn around to face her, but he did stop to listen. "I kept them. And when they were wilting, I kept them in a diary."

And yes, maybe she shouldn't have told him about it.

But she wanted to.

She couldn't stand being guilty anymore.

"Do you still have them?" His voice wavered as he spoke holding his breath.

Her heartbeat was rising rapidly, as she looked at the back of his head. The heat from her chest was spreading to her face.

"Yes." She answered.