Sharon swallowed her saliva nervously, as she felt a lump in her throat. It really was illogical, and it really should be impossible, but…
*Ring~ Ring~ Ring~*
The sudden vibration and sound of the phone ringing in her hand almost startled Sharon into throwing the hapless device away. Fortunately, she was only startled into loosening her tight hold on it, not into letting go.
Still somewhat dazed, she looked down, saw the name that appeared on the screen, then looked up, meeting Alex's gaze.
"Who is it?"
Sharon blinked under the calm gaze of the brown eyes that fiercely contrasted with the turmoil she was going through, then unconsciously spoke the name she had just read:
"Riz Lotter."
Alex raised his eyebrows, then smiled, as he seemed to understand something:
"Bring it here."
Saying that, he shook the water off his hands, then dried them along with the glass he had finished washing while Sharon had been lingering midway to the kitchen.
Sharon hesitated, but she walked forward. When Alex took the phone, he checked the screen where there was indeed the picture of a mature, less lean version of Lance with an easygoing smile on his lips. Alex's smile widened as he picked up the call, put it on loudspeaker, and threw the phone onto the kitchen counter:
"I'm listening."
A calm and mature smiling voice came from the other side:
"Alex, it's me."
"I know."
While replying, Alex turned to the fridge, then paused when he saw the sparse sight inside, something he had failed to notice when he had taken out the milk earlier without paying attention.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Riz continued:
"I just received the notification mail. I suppose you will be needing a driver from now on, even if just for appearance's sake. Would you mind if I recommend someone for the post? It is someone you know well."
Alex laughed, then took out the egg carton along with the last bit of vegetables inside the insulated box of the cooling appliance and closed it:
"Does your son know that you are trying to sell him, Uncle Riz?"
The middle-aged man waved the question off with a careless laugh:
"Even if he knows, what can he do? I am still the one providing for his needs. And this time, his mother is on my side."
Hearing the thick schadenfreude in the lowered voice at the last sentence, Alex paused, then laughed out loud:
"Lance lucked out with his mother, but I don't know if he lucked out or not with you as his father, Uncle Riz."
Riz Lotter laughed freely, not at all appearing like he was speaking with a junior.
After the laugh, Alex nodded as he took out a pan:
"Alright, I think I can indeed use a driver. Have Lance come to my place next week."
Riz nodded on the other side:
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it."
"Come home for dinner sometime. Lila will be happy to have you with us. After all, she has always been grateful that you prevented our son from growing up too spoiled."
"Got it. Send her my regards."
"Will do."
*Beep~*
As the call ended, Alex also finished rinsing the pan. He turned on the stove and put the pan on it. Throughout all of that, he had been ignoring Sharon, but the blonde had been unable to take her eyes off him. And it had nothing to do with him being attractive after working up a sweat in his sleeveless top, and now working in the kitchen with confident ease.
The sapphire blue eyes of the actress were filled with uncertainty as she looked at Alex, hesitation having flickered through them more than once in the minute and a half the call had lasted.
The stare continued until Alex added oil into the hot pan, and broke an egg inside. Then amidst the sound of frying, he turned to her. Even he, who had become used to female attention to the point of being able to totally ignore it, found the need to react.
He met the actress's gaze, then wordlessly raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"You–"
Sharon opened her mouth, but failed to complete a single sentence. With a complex look, she held Alex's gaze, then suddenly closed the distance between them, raised his sleeveless top, and found nothing on the side that should have been sporting a bruise.
Sharon froze, then nibbled her lower lip, the uncertain look on her face thickening, until she was interrupted by a calm voice:
"Though I won't say I don't mind, everything should wait until I have filled my stomach first, don't you agree?"
Sharon raised her gaze to find Alex looking at her. Her lips parted, but she failed to say anything. She looked down at her hands, then let go of the sleeveless top to go around the playboy and raise it again to check his other side, and she found nothing there, again. Though it was unsurprising, given that this was his right side, the one which had not faced the point of impact during the accident as she had seen in the video.
Sharon raised her eyes to look at Alex. She met his curious gaze, and bit her lower lip. After a while, her lips moved, and this time, she managed to speak, quietly bringing up something she had offhandedly noticed the previous night:
"It was the full moon yesterday."
Alex calmly asked:
"And?"
Sharon bit her lip and brought out another fact:
"You had an accident yesterday."
Alex raised his eyebrows, flatly nodded, then asked again:
"Oh? You watched the news. Then?"
Sharon took a deep breath. She looked at the bare side of Alex's torso, then let go of his top and looked at him squarely:
"An accident happened close to me yesterday, but I was not involved, so I got no wounds, not even a bruise. But I suddenly started to feel pain in the evening, on my left side. Now I realize that it was the full moon yesterday, and you were in an accident where you could have hurt your left side, right where I felt the pain until I passed out."
As she spoke, Sharon's uncertain look mixed with a dash of incredulity firmed up. Alex looked at her quietly, then turned back to his pan and asked flatly while turning his egg:
"So?"
Sharon gritted her teeth, frustrated at Alex's nonchalance, but recalling the pain from last night, she forced her emotions down, took a deep breath, and asked, her blue eyes looking at the playboy with unconcealed intensity:
"So, what the hell is that inheritance box of yours?"