One Wild Night

"So it had to be me or the car. Which did he choose?" Lucy asked, and Tom grinned.

"Which do you think he chose?"

"Me?" Lucy asked with a grin of her own.

"Well, he did choose you. But that was only after he enquired if you had a car and when I said yes. He figured you could both use your car," Tom said with a chuckle, and Lucy giggled.

"No, he didn\'t say that!" Lucy said, laughing.

"That\'s not all. He also said he wouldn\'t get upset or yell at you," Tom said with a grin, and Lucy laughed even more.

"Aww. He\'s just too sweet," Lucy said with a hand placed on her chest.

"And too smart. A lot of girls are going to be in trouble when he grows up. I\'m glad he is Harry\'s nephew and your cousin. I can relax knowing that my nieces will be safe from him," Tom joked, and Lucy looked at him with a small smile.

She didn\'t miss how he said nieces but said nothing about daughters of his own. Her heart ached when she remembered what Jade had said the previous night about Tom loving kids.

"We shouldn\'t go too far," Lucy said when she noticed they had covered quite some distance, and they turned around to return in the direction they had come from.

"I\'m glad it\'s weekend. We don\'t have to worry about work tomorrow," Lucy said with a sigh.

"Yeah. I can\'t say I\'m not glad Aaron told Harry everything today. If he had waited until next week as he planned to, things would have been crazy considering that next week is going to be very busy due to the anniversary celebration," Tom said, and Lucy looked at him.

In the craziness of the last twenty-four hours, she had forgotten all about that. She had also forgotten about her contract signing the next day and Tom\'s plan.

"I almost forgot about my plans for the weekend. I guess we won\'t be able to go out on the dinner date as planned, right?" Lucy asked, and Tom raised a brow.

"Why not? Are you canceling all your plans for tomorrow? Including the contract signing?" Tom asked, and Lucy shook her head.

"Of course not. I can\'t possibly do that," Lucy said, and Tom stopped walking.

"So why are you canceling ours?" Tom asked, and Lucy turned around when she realized that Tom had stopped walking.

Lucy sighed inwardly when she realized where Tom was driving at, "I wasn\'t canceling anything. I just thought you wouldn\'t want to go out anymore, considering the situation with Harry. You planned on spending the day with Harry, remember?"

"Some part of the day, Jewel. Not the entire day, and definitely not the night either,"

"That\'s fine. There is no reason to get worked up over it," Tom said, and instead of arguing with him, Lucy stepped closer to him and placed both arms around his neck.

"We need to have some time to ourselves regardless of all the craziness going on around us, or else we will never get to it. I want some time alone with you," Tom said, and Lucy smiled.

"Me too," Lucy said as she kissed the tip of his nose, making him smile.

They both turned when they heard Jamal\'s voice, "I want mine too," Jamal said as he hurried towards them, while Candace flashed them an apologetic smile.

"That\'s easy," Lucy said as she crouched in front of him and kissed the tip of his nose while Tom rolled his eyes.

"You\'ve got some ice cream on your face," Lucy said as she took out her handkerchief and wiped his chin.

"You can\'t even clean up after yourself, yet you want a girlfriend," Tom said tauntingly, and Jamal scowled at him.

"You are just jealous," Jamal said to Tom, making both Candace and Lucy giggle.

"Yeah. Right. I\'m jealous of the kid who wants everything I own. You know I can have you thrown out of this place, right?" Tom threatened.

"No, you can\'t. You don\'t own this hospital," Jamal said, and Tom raised a brow.

"Don\'t be too sure about that," Tom said, and Jamal looked at Lucy.

"Does he own this place?"

Lucy bobbed her head, "He owns a hotel, a pharmaceutical company, an automobile company, and an airline, too," Lucy said, and Jamal looked at Tom with awe-filled eyes.

"Can I see all of them?" Jamal asked hopefully.

"Only if you promise to be a good boy," Tom said, and Jamal crossed both arms in front of his chest.

"I promise."

"Come with me then. Let\'s start with the hospital," Tom said as he took Jamal\'s hand.

"We will join you soon," Tom said to Lucy and Candace before walking away with Jamal.

Alone with Candace now and not gifted with the skill to talk much or begin conversations with people she wasn\'t very closely attached to, Lucy racked her brain for something to say to Candace as they both returned to Aaron\'s room.

What would Sonia say if she were here? She mused, then shook her head after some time. Sonia would probably say something silly like, "How about another striptease class?" Or "You want to hear how I put the lapdance lesson into practice?" Lucy thought in amusement.

Nah. She wasn\'t as crazy as Sonia, so she wasn\'t going to tow Sonia\'s path. Who else could she emulate?

Desmond. Yeah. What would that wise man have said to Candace if he were here? Lucy mused.

After thinking about it for some time, she looked at Candace, "Aaron is in so much pain right now. It hurts so much to see him this way. He\'s usually a very cheerful, funny, and easygoing person," Lucy said after they had stood there in silence for some time, and Candace gave her a noncommittal grunt.

"I know you hurt as much as Aaron. Possibly even more. I can\'t imagine the magnitude of pain and heartache you\'d be feeling yourself, considering everything you\'ve learned today," Lucy said, and this time Candace stopped walking and looked at her.

"I\'m no stranger to heartache or pain," Candace said, trying to sound brave, but Lucy didn\'t miss the slight tremor in her voice.

"Aaron would never forgive himself if he heard this," Lucy said sadly and stepped forward to embrace Candace.

"You can cry if you want to. You are with family now. You don\'t have to be so strong on your own anymore," Lucy murmured when she sensed how Candace had stiffened in her arms.

"Nah. I\'ve used up my crying quota for the day," Candace said in an easy tone that was meant to amuse Lucy, and Lucy found herself giggling as she pulled away to look into Candace\'s face.

"What does that even mean?"

Candace shrugged, "I\'ve cried enough for one day. I\'m emotionally exhausted. All I desire right now is a warm bath and a solid mattress. I need to get some sleep, and then maybe I can face the rest of the drama tomorrow," Candace said weakly, and Lucy nodded.

"When Aaron is done speaking with Harry, I will find out what Harry\'s plan is, and then I will ask Tom to take you and Jamal home while I stay back here with Aaron," Lucy said, and Candace raised a brow.

"You seem very close to them," Candace observed, and Lucy smiled.

"It\'s funny that I\'ve barely known Aaron for a couple of days, and although Harry has always been my boss like Tom, we\'ve only just started relating as friends, and now we\'ve found out we are cousins," Lucy said, and surprise flickered in Candace\'s eyes at her words.

"Cousins?" She asked, wondering what Lucy was talking about. She was not only related to Harry and Aaron but also Lucy?

"Oh, I\'m sorry I let it slip this way," Lucy said, pressing her lips together. For a moment, she had forgotten that Candace was Harry\'s twin sister and her cousin too.

"Does that mean you are related to Aaron?" Candace asked, and Lucy shook her head.

"Not Aaron. Sara. She is my mom\'s estranged twin sister," Lucy said with a wince, and as expected, Candace\'s mouth fell open.

She could never get used to referring to Sara as her mom\'s twin sister. She couldn\'t even bring herself to refer to Sara as her aunt.

"Your mom? You mean Janet?" Candace asked in disbelief, unable to reconcile the fact that Janet was Sara\'s twin sister.

Janet was too warm and kindhearted to be related to someone like Sara.

Lucy sighed as she gave her a nod, "I only just found out about it yesterday, and I told them about it today," Lucy said, and Candace shook her head in disbelief.

Janet was her aunt? Janet, who had loved and pampered Jamal, was actually Jamal\'s grandaunt? And Lucy was her cousin? What manner of coincidence was this?

"I still can\'t wrap my head around any of this. I feel like I might wake up the next minute and realize that I have been sleeping and it has all been a long dream," Candace said, and Lucy looked into her honey-colored eyes.

"Would you call it a good dream or a nightmare?" Lucy asked, and Candace shook her head.

"I don\'t know. I woke up this morning an orphan, having no family apart from Andy and Jamal. And now, I\'m learning that both my parents are alive; I have a twin brother, an aunt, and even two cousins. Does it sound real to you? Especially considering the fact that I briefly lived under the same roof with both my cousins and my aunt, and my host just happened to be my twin brother\'s best friend? Just two nights ago, I was trying to convince Jade about seducing Harry and confessing her feelings to him, and now I\'m learning that he\'s my twin brother. A couple of hours ago, I was telling Jade how strange it was that your twin brother coincidentally happened to have been in a relationship with the girl whose father dumped me at the orphanage, and now I\'m learning he\'s my cousin. None of this makes sense. This is the type of shit that only goes down in movies and Webnovels," Candace said, and just as Lucy was nodding her head in agreement, she paused when Candace\'s words hit her.

"Wait, what? What do you mean by my twin brother is in a relationship with the girl whose father dumped you at the orphanage?" Lucy asked in confusion.

"Jade said your brother was engaged to her..."

"Rachel?" Lucy asked in surprise, and Candace gave her a nod.

"Yes. That\'s her name," Candace said, and when Lucy enquired further, she told her about her first adoption and relationship with Rachel\'s dad and how he had taken over everything and dumped her at the orphanage after the death of her adoptive parents.

"How long have you known about this?" Lucy asked curiously while filing away the new piece of information in one of her spare brain compartments, reserving it for later when she could think about it and discuss it with Tom.

"I found out just today. Thanks to the package Jamal\'s dad had someone deliver to me after his death, we were able to connect the dots faster. Else Jade would probably have handed me over to Sara," Candace said in a lighter tone than Lucy would have expected.

"Jamal\'s dad is dead?" Lucy asked in surprise.

"Yeah. He died this morning," Candace said, and Lucy\'s brows drew together.

"I\'m sorry about that. It seems like you had a pretty tough day," Lucy said, but Candace shook her head.

"Yeah, I\'ve had a very tough day, but don\'t be sorry about his death. It\'s probably the best thing that happened to me today. I only wish the other revelations could have waited for at least a day or two before coming up so I could bask in the joy of being free from Jero and the cartel," Candace said, and then Lucy recalled the episode in the car that morning.

"Speaking about Jamal\'s dad, I\'m sorry to ask this question right now, but was he abusive? I mean, did he ever hit Jamal?" Lucy asked, and Candace looked at her in surprise.

"Why..."

"Something happened in the car this morning, and Jamal\'s reaction seemed weird," Lucy said, and Candace sighed after Lucy explained what had transpired between her and Tom in the car.

"I thought he had outgrown since it\'s been a while since he last had such a reaction," Candace said sadly while Lucy looked at her.

"Jero never hit me because he claimed he loved me too much to hurt me, but he never hesitated to hit Andy and Jamal at the slightest annoyance. Whenever he hits Andy and Jamal cries, he hits Jamal too. And whenever he\'s mad and raises his voice at me, Jamal gets frightened, and when he cries, Jero hits him to shut him up," Candace explained without meeting Lucy\'s gaze. She felt too ashamed and guilty to do so.

"None of that was your fault," Lucy said, sensing that she was feeling guilty.

"It was. I\'m the one who got involved with such a violent man. I dragged Andy into that with me and had Jamal for such a man," Candace said, and Lucy shook her head.

"You don\'t regret having Jamal, do you?" She asked, and Candace looked at her like she was crazy.

"What? Never. Jamal is the best part of my life. He\'s like the only thing I\'ve done right. I could never regret having him," Candace said fiercely.

"Then you shouldn\'t blame yourself for anything. Put the blame on Jamal\'s father. He did all that, not you. And thanks to you, Jamal will grow up to be a charming young man with all the right male influence around him," Lucy said, and Candace smiled weakly.

"I have to say; I\'m glad you are Jamal\'s first crush. He couldn\'t have done better," Candace said, and Lucy giggled.

"You have no idea how honored I am to be crushed on by such a precious boy," Lucy said, and Candace grinned as she leaned forward and embraced Lucy this time.

"Thank you, Lucy," Candace said, and Lucy raised a brow.

"What for?"

Candace shrugged, "I don\'t know. I feel light and grateful all of a sudden," Candace said, and Lucy smiled.

"I\'m happy you feel that way," Lucy said, and they both turned when they heard Aaron\'s door open.

"Aaron, why did you get out of bed?" Lucy asked in alarm as she hurried to his side when she noticed the way he was panting and leaning against the door, but his teary eyes were fixed on Candace.

Lucy stopped by his side when she noticed the way he was weeping silently and staring at Candace.

Neither Candace nor Lucy needed to be told that Harry had told Aaron about her being his missing daughter.

Candace could see the pain, the regret, and the apology in Aaron\'s eyes even though he didn\'t say a word to her.

Maybe it was because of all the lovely things she had heard about him from Jade and Lucy which she now believed, or perhaps it was because of the way he had made her feel during their brief interaction a moment ago, or maybe it was because she was a parent, she understood his pain and empathized with him.

Without saying a word, she stepped forward and hugged him. Hoping that he would draw comfort from her embrace and not be too hard on himself anymore.