A few floors below the floors with the executive offices, Lance's eyes twitched as he looked at Alex. The latter had gone from being sharply dressed to leaving his suit in a corner and now rolling the sleeves of his shirt upward while standing in the middle of a padded arena in his socks.
Lance had known from Alex's face earlier that he was not in the best mood. Even his serious dress code of the day had only brought out his sharpness waiting to cut someone. And now, while it might seem to have been mellowed, Lance knew it had only receded a little, and it would spring back full force at the slightest opportunity.
He swallowed his saliva, and leaned slightly to the side to ask Sharon in a whisper:
"Say, Sharon, I have a question for you."
Sharon, her folder pressed against her chest with her crossed arms, gave him a sidelong glance. Lance, not getting an answer, turned to her, and met her gaze. He paused, and recalled the vow the blonde made earlier never to believe him again. Thinking about the grievances that must have been behind that promise, he flashed an ingratiating smile, and pleaded for leniency with his eyes, as he did not know how to argue.
He had spoken so much yesterday, and said many things, like always, that he did not even know which part of his words had landed him in a pit.
Sharon's glance lasted a while longer, before she relented, and asked:
"What do you want to know?"
Lance's smile turned relieved, and he hurried straight to the point:
"Are you really living with Alex?"
Sharon couldn't help but take her eyes away from Alex and look at Lance beside her. Her eyes had the look of looking at an idiot, mixed with curiosity. After a moment, she asked:
"Weren't you so certain of that until just moments ago? Why that question?"
Lance's smile turned wry, before he explained:
"I just wanted to tease Alex and you, because it is true that few have ever been to his place, and even fewer women. Actually, no woman beside those who are or might be his family has ever been to his place. So when you opened the door for me so early in the morning yesterday, looking ready to go instead of having just arrived, I got something to tease Alex with. And somewhere inside, I had hoped you were someone who managed to break his heart out from where he had locked it."
Sharon took a moment to process the words. She glanced at Alex from the corner of her eyes, but didn't reply immediately, instead asking in response:
"And now?"
Lance exhaled:
"Now I need to know something, and for that I must confirm if you are living with him or not."
Sharon looked at Lance, and after thinking for a while, turned away. But she didn't let Lance feel disappointed for more than a fleeting moment, as she let out the answer he was waiting for in a low voice:
"We are indeed living together, and it has been a few days already."
Lance gave Sharon a deep look, but didn't probe. That serious expression only lasted for a second, before being replaced by his usual lightheartedness. His demeanor relaxed as he returned to feeling nervous as he glanced at Alex, and behind that façade of nervousness, to feeling gossipy:
"Alright. So, do you know why he is in a bad mood? Like, that is a big bad mood that is rarely seen."
"Really?"
Looking at Alex, Sharon thought back to their argument in the evening yesterday. But when they met this morning when he came down from upstairs full of sweat, he didn't show any of that coldness he was displaying at the moment.
A thoughtful gleam flashed in her eyes, which Lance, who had been starting to feel ants gnawing at his heart, caught on, so he asked impatiently:
"So?"
"A package came for him today. It was a painting, and I remember noticing his subdued mood while leaving the apartment earlier. If something is the cause of his mood, unless something else happened, then it must be that painting."
Lance was looking at Sharon's red lips, but with his thoughts far removed from their allure. He frowned when she finished her words, and pressed for more details:
"What did the painting look like?"
He had been with Alex most of the time lately, but he didn't remember him trying to acquire any painting at all. So his curiosity was picked. Sharon glanced at him, and described the painting:
"It was a painting of a heart. It looked a bit like a planet in a desolate space, broken but struggling to hold while burned and dry. It was–"
"Full of intense emotions that grip at the soul with both hope and despair."
Sharon was surprised when Lance completed what she had wanted to say. She whipped her head to him, and
"Yes! That's right! Have you seen that painting before?"
"Yes…"
Lance turned dazed, and he replied reflexively, before he went on to mutter to himself:
"No wonder… Was it Mark– No. He wouldn't have. He wouldn't dare. So, only…"
Lance paused, and swallowed his saliva, as he seemed to have realized something.
"Damn it! No wonder! He can't even vent his anger. His bad mood is justified. I'm even surprised he bothered to come to work."
The corner of Lance's lips twitched. Looking at Alex's back, he resolved to keep his mouth in check for now, at least until the storm was over. He was pulled out of his thoughts by Sharon:
"Lance, does the painting have any particular meaning?"
He blinked, then realized that he seemed to have spoken his thoughts out loud just now. He had just been that shocked by the information Sharon gave him.
And to say that he just resolved to keep his mouth in check, and himself out of troubles. His lips twitched, before they formed a smile so forced that they would not fool even a kid. It was too ugly, after all.
"Hm? Hahaha… Sharon, that painting is not important, in the end. Let's talk about something else, would you? Like… Like…"
Right then, Jenny came in through a corridor on the other side of the wide room. Gone was her fashionable beach-goer. Instead, she now wore a training gi that gave her slim and petite form a different look.
"Right! I'm sure you must be curious about Jenny. She might even be why Alex is in a bad mood. You don't know who she is, right? I saw your reaction when she called Alex 'brother'. I bet you must be curious. Let's talk about her."