"Is that it?" Tom asked, and Lucy looked at him in confusion.
"What?" she asked, wondering what he was talking about.
"Is that what you are scared of? Is that the reason you don't want to get married?" Tom asked, and Lucy frowned.
"Didn't you say we were not to talk about it until next year?" she reminded him.
"I said we would both revisit our final decisions after a year. That doesn't mean I don't want to understand the reason for your present decision. If I understand your reason it could influence my decision," Tom said, and Lucy sighed.
Her unexplainable fear of marriage and having kids both unsettled and bothered her more than she cared to admit. No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't fathom why the thought of having kids of her own who would rely on and depend on her made her feel like a weight was sitting on her chest. The thought of it made her feel very anxious.
"Tell me something, Lucy. Are you completely involved in this relationship, or are you still testing the waters?" Tom asked, and Lucy's brows pulled together.
"What do you mean?"
"You are still not completely sold out on the whole relationship thing yet, are you? This is only as much of yourself as you are willing to give to me, am I wrong? Based on what you said yesterday, you love being just my girlfriend. I'm sure you love the idea of having your own apartment where you have all your stuff and you could easily run back to it at the slightest inconvenience. Deep down you are still expecting something to go wrong between us, and that was why you implied that you don't trust me yet as that level of trust takes time, right? (chapter 532) You don't want to make too many changes so that if things crash you can return to your safe little world and meet it exactly the way you left it. Tell me, am I wrong? " Tom asked, and Lucy frowned.
"Is this the part where I respond and you call me selfish? Because your questions seem to be leading up to that."
"Contrary to what you think, this is not an attack. I'm not trying to attack you. I'm only trying to understand you better. So can you calmly consider my question and give me an honest response?" Tom asked, and Lucy shook her head.
"That sounds very much like an attack. I love you, Tom, but I have no idea what you are talking about," she said without looking at him.
Tom already knew that saying she loved him was her way of avoiding the subject, and thankfully he had a fair idea of what her problem was. Unfortunately for her, this wasn't a subject he was willing to drop.
"Your love for me isn't what is in question right now. You probably think your feelings for me might change and so you don't want to get married to me even though you love me and would want to remain in my life, am I wrong? You want the relationship to be on your own terms. You want it to still be within your control because you feel that the moment we get married you will have to give up complete control of your life and give all of yourself to me and our kids, and that is exactly what scares you, isn't it?" Tom asked thoughtfully.
He had made a mistake in assuming that talking about her experience during the interview with Alicia was all she needed to heal. If she still craved this much control over her life then she probably wasn't there yet. She still had a lot going on inside her, and she very much needed therapy. Why didn't he think of that? Tom mused.
Lucy considered Tom's words. Was that it? Did that make sense? Was that the reason she was scared of getting married? Why did this awfully sound like the conversation she had with Sonia?
"You make me sound like a control freak," Lucy murmured.
"I think you are a control freak," Tom said simply.
"You think I'm a control freak simply because I don't want to get married?" she asked, looking at him like he was being ridiculous.
"No. I think you are a control freak because from all we have discussed in this short time, you seem to have a problem with not having control, and that can't be normal. Although I hate losing control over situations myself as I'm sure every human does, but I don't obsess over control of every aspect of my life. I think maybe it's time you receive therapy as we discussed before (chapter 197)," Tom added as he drove into the company premises.
The edges of Lucy's lips hardened, "So now you think I'm crazy because I told you my unfiltered thoughts as you wanted me to?" Lucy asked fighting back her annoyance.
"At this point, you are just being unreasonable. I never said you are crazy. I'm glad you shared your thoughts with me because now I think I understand you better. I believe you need therapy because some of your decisions might have stemmed from past trauma," Tom said as he parked the car in front of the building for her to get down.
"Oh, wow! Now you think you know so much about trauma," Lucy muttered as she unfastened her seatbelt and reached for the door without looking at him, "Have a nice day," she said tersely, but Tom held her back before she could step out of the car.
"I don't like fighting with you, and I really don't want to fight with you over this, Lucy, but I will if I have to, for both my sake and yours. I'm hoping for your sake and for the sake of what we have that you will be willing to give it a try," Tom said before letting go of her, and immediately she got out of the car and walked away.
Tom sighed as he watched her leave. He needed to be sure if her decision to not get married stemmed from some past trauma, and if something could be done about it.
It was one thing for him to be willing to make such a huge sacrifice and give up his desire to be with her if she had clear logical reasons for her decision, and it was another thing to make such a sacrifice if he knew that something could be done about her fears but she was unwilling to face them.
He made a mental note to speak with his father later in the day. He was going to need to tap from his father's wealth of knowledge to deal with Lucy as he worried that he might run out of patience with her if she remained adamant about receiving therapy.
As he parked the car at his private parking lot, his phone started ringing, and he picked it up and received the call when he saw it was from Barry.
"Good morning, Bar. How are you?" Tom greeted as he got out of his car and headed for his private elevator.
"Good morning. I'm alright. Uhm, I wasn't sure whether or not to report this to you, but something is up with the Millers," Barry said, and Tom raised a brow.
"What do you mean?" Tom asked with a sigh. He was beginning to think that this was going to be another long and annoying day.
"First of all, Rebekah has men searching for someone called Richard Wyatt. I gathered he is her brother. She also had someone following her eldest daughter and found out about Bernice's affair with Tiffany's husband. Bernice also found out about her mother's affair with her husband...."
"When did all of this happen?" Tom asked with a slight frown as he rode the elevator up to his office.
"Over the weekend. They seem to have had quite a busy weekend. And things seem intense this morning. Bernice's husband called Rebekah a while ago to report that Bernice has not stepped out of her bedroom her opened her door since she went in the previous afternoon despite her kids crying for her. The reason I called, Bernice just sent Tiffany a text informing her of her affair with her husband," Barry explained, and Tom's brow pulled together.
"She did?" He hoped all their secrets wouldn't come to light before he had a chance to expose them himself.
"Yes. The text sort of unsettled me. I don't think she is alright. What should I do?" Barry asked, and Tom sighed.
"Just keep your eye on them all, and let me know whatever happens," Tom said and hung up just as he stepped into his office and saw Harry standing there with a young man.
"Good morning, sir," the young man greeted Tom with a polite now and Tom raised a brow as he looked at Harry with questioning eyes, wondering who the stranger was.
"You didn't think a CEO of my caliber will remain your assistant forever, did you? Meet Eric. Eric Howell. He is the young man I told you will be resuming at your office today (Chapter 353)," Harry said and turned to the young man.
"Do not forget all I've instructed you. Talk to my secretary if you're confused about anything. I will leave you to get acquainted with your boss," Harry said but before he could leave, Tom stopped him.
"Excuse us. I will let you know when I need you," Tom told Eric, and immediately he walked away and shut the door behind him.
"Don't you like him?" Harry asked as he unbuttoned his jacket and sat down, while Tom went around his desk to take his seat.
"I have no problem with him. You chose him, and I trust your judgment," Tom said simply as he sat down.
"So what seems to be the problem?" Harry asked as he watched Tom.
"I'm just not in the best of moods. The day just started yet I feel exhausted already. I had a misunderstanding with Lucy, and I just received a call from Barry about the Millers. Their secrets are beginning to come to light, and that could affect our plans," Tom said, and Harry raised a brow.
"What secrets are coming to light?" Harry asked choosing to focus on that before talking about Tom's misunderstanding with Lucy.
Harry listened as Tom told him everything Barry had said, "That doesn't change the plan. The secrets are still within their family. The most important goal is to expose them to the world and not just to each other. Besides, only one of Rebekah's offenses has been revealed. Her other crimes have not been revealed, especially the money laundering and the issue of how she and her lover duped her husband and murdered him. That was not mentioned, was it? Unless of course her daughters knew about it this whole time but said nothing. The goal is to reveal everything," Harry pointed out.
"Yeah. You are right. Let's hope it remains within the family until it's time for the live show," Tom said, and Harry nodded.
"It's unlike you to be bothered about something as obvious as that. I suppose your mood has a lot more to do with your misunderstanding with Lucy than Barry's phone call," Harry said knowingly.
"Perhaps you are right. Lucy is being unreasonable. I told her she needs to get therapy and she got mad claiming I called her crazy. Can you believe that?" Tom asked in disbelief.
"Therapy? Did you call her crazy?" Harry asked wondering about the origin of the conversation.
"Of course, not!" Tom briefed him on the conversation they had the previous day and that morning and how it had led to his suggestion.
"Well, I can see your point. She does need therapy whether or not she believes she is fine. I'm surprised she never received one after going through such a horrible experience," Harry said, and Tom raised both hands.
"Thank you! I mean, I may not be an expert on the subject, but what if there is a slight chance that her decision is in a way related to what happened to her? I'm not asking for too much, am I?"
"I think she reacted that way because she felt attacked. Lucy is reasonable. Give her time. She would come around after calmly thinking about it," Harry said confidently.
"I genuinely hope she does!" Tom said, and Harry rose.
"Well, while we wait for her to come around, don't sit here sulking. Today is a busy day and we've got a lot to do, so...."
"Not so fast. Did you think I wouldn't bring up last night?" Tom asked with a grin and Harry grimaced.
He had been counting on avoiding this discussion, "Don't you have more important things to do like prepare for our meeting with the board, instead of talking about my private business?" Harry asked, and Tom threw his head back and let out a good laugh.
"Kissing our sister in front of my house is now your private business? Were you counting on avoiding me so I don't bring it up?" Tom asked with a taunting smile.
Knowing that Tom would only taunt him more if he didn't admit his feelings, he decided to do so, "Fine. I'm in love with Jade. Is that what you want to hear? I've said it. So can we not talk about it?" Harry said, and Tom grinned.
"Took you long enough to admit it. So I guess she is out of probation?" Tom asked dryly.
"I haven't asked her to be my girlfriend yet. I will after I resolve the issue with Aurora. I was told you met her yesterday," Harry said as he returned to his seat since there was no reason to avoid Tom anymore.
"Yeah. She has quite a pleasant personality, and she is pretty smart and outspoken too," Tom said, and Harry smiled.
"Yeah, she is. She left a similar impression on me the first time we spoke, hence I couldn't just push her away," Harry said, and Tom nodded.
"Let's hope she doesn't get too hurt," Tom said, and Harry nodded.
"I will make sure of it. By the way, Jade told me about the incident at the spa. Shouldn't we fire Anita after that stunt she pulled?" Harry suggested, but Tom shook his head.
"We don't mix up our private issues with business, remember? One has nothing to do with the other. We won't kick her out for personal reasons, but she will quit on her own by the time we are done," Tom said, and Harry sighed.
"You are right."
"Speaking of dealing with people, any update concerning the fire incident at the hospital?" Tom asked, and Harry nodded.
"Yeah. I was going to tell you about it last night and also relay the detail of the virtual meeting with the shareholders to you," Harry said and went on to tell Tom all about it.
"Perhaps I should let you in on what I'm also doing," Tom said, and when Harry raised a brow, he told him about the fake research center.
"Were you ever going to tell me about it?" Harry asked, and Tom nodded.
"Sure. But only after she falls into the trap and has paid back in multiple folds all the money she stole from her family, your dad, and what she got after selling her daughter. I was concerned you might feel sorry for her and not want me to go to that extent," Tom said, and Harry shook his head.
"I can't feel sorry for her. No punishment is too great for her. She definitely has to pay for all the pain she has caused everyone," Harry said, and Tom nodded.
"Good. We are on the same page then. Also, Lucy raised a suggestion about Rachel's father," Tom said as he told Harry about it.
"I think that's a good idea. It saves us a lot of stress. Let's run with it," Harry said and seeing that they were done with their personal issues they delved into business.
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