Convincing her (Jen and Lucas)

After a week, Jen was more homebound than she was before. She would hardly leave her house and order any groceries she would need through the hotel. Her friends came to visit her often and unlike previously, Alex had already gone home.

So if no one came to pester her, she would just stay home all day and lock herself in the study studying. Lucas would also call her at least twice a day to talk to her and those times were the highlight of her days.

Of course she would go to the campus whenever she had appointments with the lecturers or if she wanted to go to the library, but she would normally be at home. She was diligently preparing for her exams that were going to begin the following week. She had four exams and a few submissions due the following week, she had already finished with her assignments so she could comfortably focus on revising for the exams now.

The one thing that kept her going was the thought of the upcoming holiday after she was done with the intense studying she was doing.

She ended up losing some weight even though she was eating regularly. She had not even noticed it until Lucas mentioned it. She did not let it bother her and was determined to fatten herself up after her exams. It was not something she wanted to stress about since she was already so busy.

Lucas was also ridiculously busy with both work and his classes. He had a long line of deadlines that were waiting for him in university so the time he had to rest had decreased. And because of how intense his curriculum was, he did not have any holidays or breaks throughout the twelve months that he was supposed to be studying.

If he was not working, he was doing an assignment and vice versa. He was so busy that he was always typing something on his laptop even when he was in the car on his way to and from different appointments and schedules.

So after not seeing much of Jen throughout her study week, her friends invaded her house and kidnapped her to go to relax at the house at the estate. Everyone was going to meet up there to have fun so she could not find any excuse to get out of the trip.

Laura called Lucas when they were in her celebrity van and Lucas who was at work was met with the sight of Jen being squeezed between her friends.

"Lucas, look at how pale your wife has become from locking herself in the house for a whole week," Laura said and even went further to compare their skin. Laura was naturally very pale. She did not even tan normally and would just burn in the sun. Seeing how similar their skin tones became, Lucas's eyebrows went up in surprise. 

"We had to get her out, she might be too drunk tonight to call you," Nancy added and Lucas chuckled. As long as Jen is safe and having fun he had no problem with her friends abducting her.

"Where are you all going?" he asked as he looked at the active bunch. Even Leanna who had gotten to the point where she could barely walk had a big smile on her face.

"We're hanging out at the estate, unfortunately she won't be able to get any sun by the time we arrive," Laura joked and even Lucas laughed.

"Well you girls have fun," he said and briefly looked away. They did not know what was going on but they figured that someone had gone into his office.

"You get back to work, I'll call you later," Jen said when she noticed this small detail.

"Mmh, I love you," Lucas said and all the girls in the van screamed. Jen's face that was as red as a tomato was tempted to hide under the car seat.

"I love you too," Jen responded before reaching forward and ending the call. Lucas's laugh from her reaction still echoed in her head. 

"Aren't you two the cringiest of the bunch," Laura joked and Jen smacked her arm in her embarrassment.

"They aren't as embarrassing as a certain someone and her husband," Nancy said and Leanna looked out the window like she was not part of the topic. They all continued to chat like this and soon enough they all arrived at the estate.

Everyone was there and this time, Jen did not have Alex to accompany her, so she was the only person that was there alone. She ended up missing Lucas even more because of this gathering.

The group had dinner and they gathered in the garden for some drinks, Jen was not in the mood to drink so she sat next to Leanna who was also having some juice. Everything was going well for a while, until Jen noticed Leanna frown a bit.

"What is it?" Jen asked her. She looked at her friend like she was about to burst open anytime since a few weeks ago.

"It's nothing, my tummy just hurt for a bit, I'm fine now," Leanna said and gave Jen a reassuring smile. Jen also frowned a bit and accepted the explanation.

"Just let me know if you need anything," Jen said and Leanna nodded. 

"I will, don't worry, I'm fine," Leanna said when she saw that Jen was still worried.

"Okay," Jen said and continued to watch everyone act silly.

Everything was fine until Leanna groaned an hour later and her eyes became watery. Jen jumped up as she cautiously looked at her friend. She was the only one who heard her but she did not ignore it. She called Ethan who had been joking around with Brian and told her that Leanna was having a stomach ache. 

"Did this happen before?" Ethan asked and Jen nodded.

"She complained that she was having a stomachache like an hour ago," Jen said innocently not knowing what was going on.

"Fuck! Who is sober!?" Ethan roared and everyone became serious.

"I'm sober," Jen said nervously.

"The baby is coming, you drive to the hospital, it will be late if we call an ambulance. Jen nodded in agreement and dashed into the house to take the car keys, everyone else was stunned into silence by the sudden development.

Leanna who was still having a contraction was carried by Ethan and was carried to the house. Only then did people start reacting.

Nancy ran after them and soon, Jen drove away to the hospital. David and Michael were also sober since they still had to work the next day and split everyone into two cars and followed Ethan and his wife to the hospital. Everything was happening so fast that no one really had the chance to really process what was actually happening.

Jen was focused on the road and tried to calm down so that she didn't cause any accidents. Nancy was on the passenger's seat but was only looking at her friend in the back who was calm as she looked at everyone else panic.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Ethan asked her, sounding very frustrated. When he looked at her watery eyes, whatever he wanted to say was swallowed back. He can't scold her because she was having a baby! It would be unreasonable!