Yours, Until Needed
Chapter 112: Flowers

Chapter 112: Flowers

LUCIAN

The car ride home shouldn’t have been eventful, and externally, it really wasn’t. But Lucian was plagued with thoughts and random scenarios the entire time.

And to think Lucian had never been a worry wart. That was Eliana, the one who would worry about everything and anything randomly.

Lucian was the type to prevent the problem from even existing, so there was nothing else to think about. He just had to keep planning ahead.

But things haven’t been going as smoothly as they used to since he got married.

It wasn’t even a complaint; it was just an assessment. For someone like Lucian, there were only two responses to complaints: eliminate the source or ignore it entirely.

So, where should he begin to fix the problem?

And what was the problem?

Lucian thought about this for several days. Eliana kept looking at him like he’d grown a second head. His sleep had been compromised, and his work productivity had gone down, but he’d like to believe he looked normal externally.

It was only when Eli offered to cook eggs because he had been too preoccupied with his thoughts that he realized maybe he was being too flustered over something.

And maybe overthinking didn’t suit him.

So far, the office had also been quiet. Eerily so, in fact. Even Eli wondered what Alexa was buying time for.

Alyssa and Lara reported similar things daily, and so far, it was all about Alexa’s ’attempts’ at being a regular worker. Even the two undercover SCC interns had to work legitimately, but Alexa had been relegated to non-existent tasks because she was so prone to wrecking office equipment.

BCI continued incurring fines for machine repairs and replacements because Alexa couldn’t spare another brain cell to understand how the copiers worked.

But the peace was deceiving, and Lucian was surprised when Eli invited him to her Master’s Graduation Ceremony.

At first, Eliana wasn’t planning on attending, but her parents clamored about the injustice, so Eli decided to attend for their sake.

Lucian only ever attended his Graduation, and he did so alone because Lily was hospitalized and needed to be monitored by the adults. He didn’t even want to attend in the first place if not for having to give the graduation speech.

So, that was the extent of Lucian’s school event experience.

He sat in his designated seat as the family of the graduate, and with him were Eli’s parents as well as Rina, who looked like she raised Eliana with how over the top she was.

Lucian watched as Eli climbed the stage to receive her diploma and give a short speech for the graduating Master’s students.

With how the crowd stirred excitedly as she spoke, Lucian was sure her speech was rousing enough.

But Lucian was too engrossed in staring at her face and how her ears twitched to even digest Eli’s parting words.

All he knew was that Eli thanked him alongside her family, and people looked at him as if he was a zoo animal.

He ignored all of that, though, because Eli just flashed them a genuine smile and wished everyone success in their future endeavors.

Cute.

Lucian likened his wife to a little animal again. She’s fine when she’s like that, he mused.

And everything should have been fine until she went down from the stage only to be greeted by a delivery of a large bouquet of flowers.

Lucian’s ears rang because to his sides were whispers of how lucky Eliana was to have a husband who’d give her such a bouquet. Even Eli’s parents looked happy as they listened to the crowd.

Save for three people.

Lucian could see the conflict in Rina’s eyes, and Oliver just looked outright befuddled.

But he couldn’t see Eli’s reaction, which was obscured by the large flowers.

Photos were taken as Eli tried to figure out how to hold the flowers so she could walk.

Eli was greeted with avid congratulations from her parents, as well as Rina’s teasing congratulations.

"Wow, you finally got flowers from your husband? This should wipe the record for your first-ever romantic flowers. Who would’ve thought that creep would send you a bouquet!" Rina shrugged, but Eli’s face must have given it away.

It was that or my stiff body and darkening face that gave it away.

Because those flowers weren’t from me.

I didn’t even buy her flowers.

I left by the back door when I graduated, so I never saw people handing over flowers.

Oliver should’ve known from the beginning that something was wrong. Because he hurriedly whispered to Lucian.

"Young Master, I’ll get the flowers. They’re in the car since they’re normally given at the very end when all the events are finished."

But Lucian just stared at Eli, who also gave him a weak smile.

She didn’t even respond to Rina. Which means she knows.

That those weren’t from me.

Lucian felt faint.

There were flowers everywhere, and Eli was practically drowning in them. She was drowning in so many flowers, yet not one of them actually came from him.

Even the ones Oliver handed were bought because Oliver knew better than to come empty-handed. In fact, those were his personal congratulations to Eli, which he just passed off as Lucian’s when he realized Lucian had no idea of the custom.

He was no doubt angry.

But who does he blame?

So he decided he was angry at himself.

He hated every moment Eli walked while holding that bouquet.

It was a glaring reminder of the problem.

Lucian couldn’t compete like this.

He was going to lose because he was too careless.

They went out for dinner to celebrate Eli’s graduation, but Lucian was so out of it that Eli had to keep grabbing him to help him walk on the right path.

But they finished it in one piece and managed to send off her parents as well as Rina, who even planned to overstay but was told that tomorrow was still a work day.

"What’s up with you? You look sick." Eli asked when they were finally alone in the back seat of the car.

Lucian really felt sick.

"Was it from him?"

"Him?"

"Nicholas."

"I’m not sure, but probably. Let me check. I purposely hid the card in case someone was nosy enough to check."

That was probably Rina. But it bothered Lucian that Eli kept the card, as if she knew from the start that it was from someone else.

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Wasn’t that obvious? Flowers aren’t really your thing. And I’m pretty sure that those were Oliver’s flowers that were handed over earlier." Eli chuckled, but Lucian felt like he was lashed, the sting being a bit too strong than he anticipated.

It was why Lucian didn’t bother handing over Oliver’s flowers because those weren’t his. Instead, Oliver had to hand it himself.

"Oh wait," Eli said as she looked at the card before laughing uncontrollably.

"HAHAHAHA! She’s crazy!"

"???"

Lucian was still reeling from the feeling of incompetence and inadequacy but Eli’s laughter got him curious.

The letter read: "Congratulations on your Graduation! And I intercepted his flowers. These are from me. - L"

Eli suddenly brightened after reading the letter, now carefully placing the flowers like they weren’t dangerous anymore.

But Lucian just felt worse.

Even fucking Lara knew about the fucking flowers.