Harold snorted when he heard Lilia's answer, "Are you sure you can do it? The list of your rumored boyfriend is getting longer!"
Harold's voice was a little too loud when he said that and it made Jean turn his head. He squinted with a suspicious expression, but Lilia looked away as if she didn't hear anything.
After the two of them finished talking, Lilia hung up on him and opened her social media account. As Harold said, the number of men suspected as Lilia's boyfriends was increasing. Apart from William, Alex and Ryan, now Julius also added to the list.
Lilia turned on the camera on her cellphone, then extended her hand to the man sitting beside her, "Jean, give me your hand!"
Jean put back the spoon he had picked up, then put his right hand in Lilia's grasp obediently. The woman adjusted her cell phone camera to catch their two interlocked hands on the table.
Then Lilia turned to Julius, "Uncle, move a little to the left so you can enter my camera." She pleaded
"Like this?" Julius shifted his chair so that his face could be captured more clearly on Lilia's camera.
"Perfect!" Lilia smiled and started taking pictures.
After several times shooting from various angles, Lilia finally got the photo she wanted. The photo showed Lilia's slender hand in Jean's big hand. Across the table, there was also the figure of Julius smiling softly.
Lilia posted the photo along with a caption containing the clarification.
[Lilia]: "Everyone, thank you for your attention. But he is my uncle, not my boyfriend. Please don't make rumors that are not true."
As soon as Lilia finished posting, the news immediately spread and extinguished the flames of enthusiasm and gossiping by netizens.
[User3848]: "You are all really rude for accusing Lilia's uncle of being her girlfriend! How dare you destroy the reputation of an innocent man!"
[User3848]: "@Lilia, apologize in advance, if I may know, does your uncle have a girlfriend?"
[User2083]: "@Lilia, I'm glad that he's your uncle and not your boyfriend! But which bastard's hand was holding yours in that photo?"
Lilia laughed as she read the hilarious comments. She replied to a comment asking about Jean's hand.
[Lilia]: "@ User2083, thank you for your support so far, but please be careful what you say. He is a very important person to me!"
Less than a minute later, User2083 changed his status to "Is the relationship between Lilia Pangestu and her new boyfriend official?!"
The netizen believed that the man in the photo must also be on the internet. The person seemed determined to make anyone who claimed to be Lilia's boyfriend appear online. But unfortunately, Jean had absolutely no interest in clarifying anything.
Lilia only skimmed over the comments that kept flooding her post. Most of them praised Julius' good looks and Lilia's luck for having such an extraordinary uncle. The model kept the phone back without commenting further.
Meanwhile, Shirley's ambiguous comments had been reported by someone. She was accused of spreading a hoax, which had been clarified by Lilia just now. As a result, Shirley's social media accounts were restricted from posting or commenting for a while.
Several hours after Lilia posted her clarification, many netizens became curious about her family background. Since her debut four years ago, the model had never once mentioned her family. That's why they were all shocked when Lilia's uncle turned out to be a legendary doctor. Could it be that Lilia came from an extraordinary family?
Unfortunately, their guesses missed a lot. Lilia purposely never mentioned her family because she didn't want other people to know about how her family treated her. If Lilia's fans found out that she was neglected by her mother and sold into a contract marriage, they would have reacted to the extreme. Even worse, her fanatical fans might burn her house in protest.
*****
That night, Julius went to one of the top universities in Jakarta. His colleagues in the medical field had been eagerly waiting for his return, so Julius needed to visit them. He had prepared himself to be showered with various academic questions from his fellow researchers.
Lilia didn't even pressure Julius to stay with her. She knew that her uncle had just won an award in Switzerland and that there was still a lot of work waiting for him. So Lilia just asked Clifford to drive Julius to university while she came home with Jean.
In Jean's car, Lilia was staring out the window as the man was driving with one hand. One hand gripped Lilia's hand, as if the man would die if he couldn't touch her.
Then Lilia remembered something and turned to Jean, "How is Merry's situation now?" She asked.
For the past two days, Lilia had been sending messages to Merry's cellphone. But not once did the young woman respond to her message. She also asked Chris, but the man only replied that Lilia didn't have to worry about Merry. Still, the longer she didn't get an answer, the more anxious she became.
Jean glanced at Lilia out of the corner of her eye. He seemed hesitant to answer, but Lilia's stubborn gaze made him melt. Jean sighed and said, "Merry had a big fight with Brother Samuel and refused to talk to him. She doesn't want to go to study abroad."
Lilia bit her lip with a worried expression when she heard that, "Is their fight that serious? Brother Chris kept telling me not to worry, but he never mentioned the fight."
When he glanced, the corner of Jean's mouth lifted into a cold smile. But before Lilia could see him, the man's expression returned to normal. It was Jean who told Chris to convince Lilia that everything was all right. He knew that the news about Merry would worry his wife and distract Lilia's focus in filming.
"How long have they been fighting? Hasn't their fight been over until now?" Lilia continued to pester Jean with questions.
Jean paused for a moment before finally answering, "I don't know either. Brother Samuel kicked Chris out not long after Merry came home."
Lilia stared blankly at Jean. So Chris was just pretending that everything was okay all this time?! That man deliberately covered up the fact that he got kicked out by the head of the Hiroshi Family! Then what about Merry?!
"Are you worried about Merry?" Jean asked while raising Lilia's hand in his. He kissed the back of her hand gently, "If you're really worried, you can go visit her."
Lilia flushed and tried to pull her hand away, but Jean refused to let go. She knew that the man was trying to distract her from Merry.
"Are you sure I can meet Merry?" Lilia asked, doubts filled her voice. She initially thought about visiting, but she was worried that the head of the Hiroshi Family would throw her out. Samuel even kicked Chris out of his house, so how could he let a stranger like Lilia in?
But Jean only nodded with an expression full of confidence, "Of course you can visit her if you want." He answered, his tone relaxed.
'No one dares to reject my wife!' Jean's face seemed to be shouting that.
Lilia chuckled at Jean's confidence. Slowly, the worry in her heart began to fade. She thought about it for a moment before saying, "I'll discuss my share with Mr. Louis tomorrow. If he is willing, I intend to take two days off to return to Surabaya. I'll tell you the results of my discussion later, okay?"
"Okay.." Jean stopped the car at a red light and immediately kissed Lilia on the lips, ending their conversation.
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