Convincing her (Jen and Lucas)

Soon enough, Diane, Jake and Alex arrived at the Lewis's house. Jake and Alex were seeing the place for the first time, unlike Diane, who had become instant besties with Hellen. By the time the three arrived, the whole Lewis family was there already, including Jason, who was pretty much the life of the party.

Diane was feeling nostalgic and melancholic the previous night, but with this lunch arrangement, she felt more comfortable. She decided that rather than just remember her dead husband; it was better if she stood in a position where she could represent his happiness for his daughter instead.

The two families had lunch together and were sitting together having afternoon tea when Diane brought up her plans on going back home. Even Alex was almost done with her arrangements and had already started making arrangements so that she could seamlessly go back to work.

The mood was very harmonious, and even the youngest (Jake) was having a great time with his future in-laws. When evening came around, they already wanted to leave, so Hellen let everyone but Diane leave because she was going to be leaving the following day and she felt like she was really going to miss this recent friend that she had made. 

Alex tried dragging Jake along with her so they could go and have fun at the estates, but Jake refused because he was also leaving early in the morning the following day. It was definitely not because he wanted to be around his mother for a bit longer. 

Alex looked at her younger brother with eyes filled with judgement before she joined everyone else while rolling her eyes. She had grown up with him. How could she be unaware of his thoughts?

Just like this, Hellen's noisy house emptied and became quiet once more except for the two remaining guests. Alex, who was for once not the only person who was partnerless, was free to hitch a ride with any of the two older brothers. She would have gone with her sister on any other day, but for today, she was unwilling to become a lightbulb.

Three cars departed out of the large mansion and they started making their way to the estate. This time, Jen was the one driving as Lucas accompanied her. He had insisted on driving himself, but Jen insisted that she wanted to drive because she hasn't done it in a while.

"Is it going to be okay to delay your time of departure?" Jen asked as she briefly glanced at Lucas, who had been staring at her from the moment she had started driving.

"Mmmh, who do you think will complain? I'll get there in time for my classes on Monday," Lucas comforted.

He knew that he had work piled up, and even though he had tried to deal with most of it remotely, he was still very busy with the engagement and the lunch with the two families, so he wasn't able to address everything.

Now that they were going to the estate, he might as well consider the day gone as they were going to be drinking and having fun there.

Jen agreed with what he said. Who would dare complain in front of the boss? This is why it's nice being your own boss. 

"If that's the case, I'll have to tire you out tonight," Jen joked and Lucas chuckled when he heard her words. 

"Aren't you the one who is always asking me to stop and begging for a break?" Lucas teased and her cheeks grew red.

"I won't do that tonight," Jen said after she got over the initial embarrassment she felt from hearing his words. Lucas laughed when he saw her like this and teasingly poked her waist, making her jump.

"You'll cause an accident, stop fooling around" Jen complained, her voice filled with dissatisfaction because she could not even glare at him because her eyes were on the road.

"Okay, I'll do it later then," Lucas said with a dimpled smile and looked at the road ahead of them too. There were very few cars on the road, which made the atmosphere in the car feel even more intimate.

"Why don't we just go back home and ditch everyone else?" Lucas asked, sounding serious, making Jen slow the car down as she looked at him.

"Should we do that?" she answered seriously, and Lucas felt a bit speechless because he had been joking before. Now that she said it so seriously, he was tempted to say yes.

"I was kidding," Lucas answered after successfully holding back the answer he really wanted to give her.

"I thought you were going to risk it," Jen said with a smile. She knew he wasn't being serious, but when he hesitated after she agreed with him, she knew he was seriously debating on whether or not they should ditch their friends. 

"They will kill me. Everyone else might not kill me as such, but Ethan would definitely kill me. If he came all the way here with his heavily pregnant wife just for me not to show up, he will definitely kill me," Lucas said and Jen laughed. It looked like he had seriously thought about it.

The two of them continued chatting and joking around before they finally arrived at their destination. There were already other cars in the parking lot, and James and Jason were arriving just behind them. The couple got out of the car and waited for everyone else before going into the house together.

When they got into the house, a bolt of red ran past them and jumped into James's arms. James who was shrugging off his coat was almost toppled down to the floor. Alex tactfully slipped away, knowing that she was once again the only single person in the house, except for Nathan and Michael.

When she went to the living room, she wanted to leave again. She had so much fun hanging out with these people, but they all made her feel too single. 

She greeted Leanna and Ethan who were sitting on a sofa with Leanna's feet on his lap and him seriously massaging her swollen feet. The couple responded to her greeting with smiles on their faces, and Alex made a flimsy excuse to leave.

Leanna watched with an amused smile as Alex left before looking at her husband, who was happily rubbing her feet.

"I can't wait for you to come out so we can meet you," Leanna said as she rubbed her stomach and Ethan's smile got wider. In reality, she was just tired of being pregnant, her stomach was heavy and her back hurt. She either wanted to sit down or lay down at this stage.

"Me too," Ethan responded as he massaged Leanna's calves and a comfortable sigh left her lips. Ethan had also missed doing it with his wife. He knew that even after she gave birth he couldn't do anything to her for a while, but he believed the sooner the better.

It had been alright until two months ago when Leanna was too uncomfortable to do anything sexual, and he did not have the heart to persuade her as he knew that would make her feel bad, so he just shut up about it.

But seeing her every day and not being able to do anything was torture in and of itself. At some point, he felt that Lucas's situation was better than his because he did not have to be tortured with the sight of his woman every day just to be able to hug and kiss her. In short, he was tired of his hand.

The others who were following behind Alex saw this scene and felt warm in their hearts, not knowing the thoughts of the actual couple that were waiting for the baby to come out. Jen stopped to chat with Leanna a bit and the guys left to go look for everyone else.

Jen was just checking on how Leanna was doing because she knew she was now very close to her due date before the two went out to join the others.

The first thing Jen smelled when she went to the garden in the back was the mouthwatering smell of barbeque. She had eaten before, but she felt hungry. Even Leanna, who didn't have much of an appetite, felt her mouth water from the smell.

Everyone was chatting with drinks in their hands as Brian was busy grilling meet and Jen smiled warmly before looking at Leanna. The atmosphere was perfect, how nice would it be if they can all maintain such a harmonious relationship?

"Do you think it will always be like this?" she asked as she felt her heart warm from the atmosphere.

"I hope so," Leanna said with a beautiful smile.