"Brother!?!"
The surprise that hit Sharon like a ton of bricks almost made her brain crash.
She snapped her head back to the joyful Jenny, then at the impassive Alex, before looking at Lance, as if to ask for confirmation, because Alex Lenner, the playboy boasting the highest level of fame among the younger generation of the Lenner family had never been known to have a sister.
Alex stopped and looked at the chaotic bundle of energy without any expression on his face. He looked at her dead in the eyes, making her stop her charge, and suddenly lose much of the wind in her sails. As Alex looked at her with scrutiny, scanning her from head to toes, she started to fidget, her earlier dominance all but gone.
After taming the younger woman with just his gaze, Alex took it back, and smoothly walked around her. He only spoke when he passed by the blonde who was still trying to swallow her surprise:
"Call my uncles. Have them here in five minutes for a meeting."
"I– Yes. I understand."
By the time her words were done coming out, she had also regained her composure after breathing in to swallow her stutter. She looked at Alex back, and stepped forward to use the deskphone.
Lance took in the heavy atmosphere around Alex, and made his presence small while thoughts swirled in his mind. The Alex he knew had streaks of gloom, but never like the suppressed volcano he was now.
For a moment, his usual goofiness faded away to let the truth behind the façade peek out.
Alex took the seat Jenny had vacated, and closed his eyes after leaning back. The atmosphere turned subdued, even prompting Sharon to keep her voice low.
"This is the chairman's office. Director Lenner is required to come over for a meeting."
"..."
"Yes, now."
Lance took a glance at her. She had been smart enough to not ask whether the one she was calling for was already at his office. She took the fact for granted and skipped straight to the reason for her call, preventing any excuse from being made while accomplishing the task Alex had given to her.
The experience Sharon displayed made not only Lance, but even Jenny look at her, before the latter returned to her more pressing concern. She fidgeted, then suddenly went forward. Without a word, she went behind his chair and started to massage his shoulders.
Sharon glanced over for a moment, before focusing on the second call she was making. As for Lance, his lips twitched, and he found himself unable to keep looking thoughtful.
The discrepancy between the treatment he got before and what Alex was getting was just proving too much for his heart. It was a show of discrimination, such a blatant and unapologetic one that it pierce straight through his defenses, then his heart.
Looking at Jenny's submissive expression as she tried very hard to please Alex and get on his good side, he finally found himself unable to hold it in when Sharon was done with the calls:
"Jenny, I'm not against you fawning over Alex, but after all this time, can't you cut me some slack? I'm his friend, of the same age as him, in other words, older than you. Since you respect him so much, can you give just that small bit of face?"
Jenny looked at Lance, her expression, as if controlled by a switch, as it suddenly flipped into one of disdain and blatant mockery.
"Heh. Is face something to be eaten? If you want it to survive, go find it somewhere else. Tch!"
The interjection at the end went a long way in making Lance feel like a bottle of aged frustrations in his heart had been pulled up the surface, turning his expression into a representation of constipation. But it also made Alex open his eyes, making Jenny immediately understand the dissatisfaction behind the indifference in the brown eyes.
She forced a laugh, her expression flipping again to a fawning one as she changed the subject:
"Hehe… Brother Third, please don't be mad. I didn't disappear, I just wanted to surprise you. I was always under the supervision of first and second brothers. You know that with their means I can't escape them. And look, am I not here now? I came to congratulate you for taking over the seat that has always been yours. Congratulations, brother Third."
Alex didn't answer. He simply closed his eyes again. Jenny raised her eyebrows, and glanced at the indignant Lance with a questioning expression while signaling at Alex with her head.
Lance glanced at her, rolled his eyes, then shrugged. Thus, a peculiar atmosphere settled down, with Sharon a simple spectator after she was done making the calls. While observing the wordless communication going on, her gaze took on a thoughtful hue, especially when looking at Jenny.
The situation went on until a few minutes later when the door of the office was pushed open. Alex's eyes snapped open at the same time as two footsteps came in, one stately and dignified, and the other, calm, unhurried.
While the owner of the first set of footsteps kept a dignified silence as he advanced toward the desk, the owner of the second set of footsteps questioned smilingly:
"Alex, dear nephew, you called for us?"
Alex didn't reply. At least, he didn't get to, because of an exclamation that rang just then:
"Uncle Sigurd!"
Sigurd, half a step behind his elder brother Marten, looked at Jenny in surprise, his face lighting up with the expression of an elder happy to see a junior.
"Jenny! You are back?"
Jenny let go of the shoulders she had been massaging and ran to hug the older man. The latter patted her on the head affectionately, a doting gentleness settling in his modest blue eyes.
"I missed you so much, Uncle Sigurd."
"Oh, my! It has been only a year or so."
"But it's still a long time."
"Right, father has been gone for that long already."
Before that comment could make the atmosphere turn subdued, Sigurd Lenner smiled and looked down at his niece:
"You are all grown up now, and soon, you will be having a family of your own. Sigh… I'm old already, just like the others. The future belongs to you youngsters."