Chapter 285: Chapter 273: Lucia Is Here Again
Flora was woken by the sound of a Thunderbird pecking and chirping at her window.
She opened her eyes and was about to move the leg she had draped over a certain someone’s waist, but a hand shot out and gripped her ankle, holding her in place.
"Good morning, Flora," Lex said, placing a light kiss on her forehead. His gaze then drifted down to her position. "You should know the consequences of being this forward so early in the morning, right?"
Flora tapped Lex. "Let go! I... I have to go to the bathroom!"
Lex grinned and let go. In one smooth motion, he got out of bed, bent down, and swept her into his arms. Before Flora could even process what was happening, Lex had already set her down on the bathroom counter.
"I’ll wait for you outside."
When Flora came out, Lex was standing by the bedroom windowsill with the Thunderbird perched on one hand, his eyes on her.
"Everyone’s ready. It’s time for me to go."
Flora nodded and followed Lex downstairs. She saw that of the original thirteen special forces soldiers, only eleven, including Lex, were present. The Crown Prince and Lynx were missing.
"Let me take you to the airport. Isla Preston has already secured it, so it’s safe."
Lex shook his head. "That’s not necessary. The airport isn’t far, so we’ll go on our own. Flora, remember, wait until I’m back to deal with the Annelise Locke situation! Also, protect yourself. You hear me?"
Flora nodded.
"Oh, right. Don’t just leave the satellite communicator in your dimensional space. Keep it on you so we can stay in touch at all times!"
Flora continued to nod.
Lex looked down at Flora and reached out to ruffle her hair. "I’m off, then?"
Flora just nodded again.
Just as Lex turned to leave, Flora suddenly remembered something. "Wait!"
Lex stopped and turned around. "A kiss?"
Flora shot Lex a glare and handed two large barrels of spiritual water to Nolan Jennings and Five. "Take these with you, just in case."
Lex stood perfectly still, watching Flora. "Is there nothing you want to say to me?"
"You’re only going to be gone for two weeks. It’s not like you’re never coming back. We can use the communicator if anything comes up!"
Lex shrugged. With a cheeky grin, he wrapped his arms around Flora, leaned in, and stole a kiss. "Yes, ma’am."
Flora watched the group leave through the gates of Villa No. 2 before turning her attention elsewhere. Just then, The Crown Prince and Lynx appeared in front of her.
"Hurry up and follow them. Your leader has already left."
The Crown Prince and Lynx remained motionless. "The leader told the two of us to stay and protect you."
Flora turned her head again, looking in the direction where Lex had disappeared, and sighed. "Do you two know what his mission is this time?"
"We don’t know," the two replied in unison before their figures vanished on the spot.
Lex had gotten up before the sky was fully light. Flora went back to her room to get some more sleep. When she woke again, she was startled by Cynthia Grant’s face looming over her. Her shriek brought both Jade and Caleb Bloom running upstairs.
"Cynthia, what are you doing! Scaring me like that first thing in the morning! Don’t you know I’m pregnant?"
Cynthia quickly took Flora’s pulse with three fingers. "Oh, okay, good. Your heart rate is just a little fast, no big deal. This baby of yours is tough!"
Flora asked irritably, "What do you want?"
"Oh, Flora, you have no idea! That Lucia woman is back! And there’s a huge crowd gathered at the isolation wall."
"Oh." Flora replied nonchalantly, not even raising an eyebrow.
"Joel already went over."
Flora whipped her head toward Cynthia, glaring at her. "Why didn’t you say so sooner?"
Cynthia said innocently, "But I am telling you!"
"Lead with the important stuff next time!" Flora slipped on her shoes and immediately rushed toward the isolation wall.
By the time Flora and Cynthia arrived, Joel was already standing outside the isolation wall, face-to-face with Lucia, as a crowd of people pointed and gossiped.
"You must be Joel, right? Look, it’s not easy for a young woman to be carrying your child, especially in the apocalypse. You should know better than to take her for granted!"
Joel frowned. "Does everyone really need to gather here and gossip? This is our private business. It’s none of your concern."
Joel had barely finished speaking when he was met with a chorus of objections. Under the pressures of the apocalypse, many people loved to climb onto their moral high horse and pass judgment on others.
"Hey, watch your tone! We came here with good intentions, to help you two reconcile! We’re trying to do a good thing! How can you be so unreasonable?"
"Exactly! No good deed goes unpunished. That girl must have been blind to fall for you. Now she’s carrying your child and struggling to survive out here, not even knowing where her next meal will come from. Have you no sense of responsibility?"
Joel’s eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Lucia. "Lucia, we all know perfectly well what happened back at the weather station. Do you need me to spell it out for everyone again?"
Lucia suddenly turned to the crowd, her face a mask of tragedy as if she were about to burst into tears, and explained cautiously.
"It’s not what you’re all thinking! I just missed you so much I had to come and see you. I didn’t mean to bother you, Joel! If you don’t want me here, I’ll leave right now."
As Joel took a deep breath, not knowing how to respond, Shauna Wallace and Shelly suddenly emerged from the isolation gate and pulled him back.
"Joel, why are you still talking to a woman like her? She’s pregnant, sure, but who’s to say the child is even yours! She threw herself into another man’s arms just to survive. How can you be so sure she hadn’t already betrayed you for some other reason before the apocalypse even started?"
The moment Shelly’s words fell, Lucia burst into tears. "Joel, even if you’ve fallen for someone else, you shouldn’t talk about me like that! The baby I’m carrying really is yours, and I never asked you to take responsibility for me! But the child... the child is innocent!" A vicious glint flashed in Lucia’s eyes as she looked at Shelly, her verbal attack now clearly aimed at her.
But Shelly was completely oblivious to the shift. "You horrible woman, just leave!"
"I just wanted to see Joel and talk with him for a little while. Is that so wrong?"
"Joel, let’s go back inside," Shauna Wallace said, frowning. The crowd of gawkers—or perhaps, her self-proclaimed defenders—behind Lucia only made her look even more frail and pitiful. "Lucia, let’s stop beating around the bush. It’s no use telling us what you want. You can wait for Flora and talk to her."
Shauna’s words seemed to strike a nerve. When Lucia heard Flora’s name, her eyes flashed and her pupils visibly constricted. "I... I don’t want anything. I already said, I just want to be able to see Joel from time to time. Think how pitiful it would be for the child to be born without a father!"
"That’s right! It’s bad enough that a small group like you is hogging this huge villa complex, but now you want to deny responsibility for a child from your own family? Does the apocalypse give you an excuse to be so shameless and irresponsible? You’re not even real men!"
Flora had already reached the inside of the isolation wall. After listening to the exchange outside, she spoke to the empty air behind her. "The Crown Prince, Lynx, are you there?"
The air shimmered, and The Crown Prince and Lynx materialized.
"I need you two to follow Lucia for me. See who she’s been meeting with."
The Crown Prince and Lynx hesitated. "No can do. The leader left us here to protect you. We don’t get involved in other people’s affairs."
Just as Flora was about to glare and threaten them, a wave of energy from a Hidden Ability user approached from a short distance away, and a figure suddenly materialized.
"If they won’t go, I can."
