Chapter 558: 558 Take Your Own Advice

The moment the general meeting came to an end, Lucy stood up and quickly headed for the door with her stuff. This had to be the longest meeting she had ever attended in her entire life.

She had felt awkward for most of it since even though she had kept her head down she had met Tom's gaze each time she looked up, and had once caught Tom's grandfather staring at her, and when their eyes met, he had grinned.

"Why are you in so much of a hurry to leave, cousin?" Harry asked as he blocked Lucy's path.

"Who are you running from?" Harry asked, giving her a knowing look. He had hurried after her the moment he saw her head for the door.

Lucy flashed him a quick smile, "Sonia is waiting in my office," she said, wanting to be out of there before Tom and his grandfather would get to the door.

"So, you are in a hurry to go meet Sonia and it's not just because you are avoiding me or your boyfriend?" Harry asked, and Lucy looked at him, wondering if Tom had told him anything.

"Why will I avoid either of you?" Lucy asked, choosing to play the innocent card.

Harry grinned, choosing to indulge her, "Well, I will speak for myself. After your drunken drama last night…." Harry let the rest of his words trail off when Lucy blushed.

"About that. I'm sorry," she said, and Harry chuckled.

"It's fine. Don't you want to say hello to Tom's grandfather? I think you should do so before leaving," Harry suggested, and Lucy looked at him, unsure if it was okay to do so.

"Even strangers are saying hello to him, shouldn't his grandson's girlfriend do the same? You would embarrass Tom and give everyone the wrong idea if you don't greet him. Come say hello to him. I'm sure Sonia can wait or you both can just meet up at home," Harry said, and before Lucy could protest he took her hand and led her back into the hall where some of the shareholders were still gathered around Tom and his grandfather.

Once Tom saw the both of them at the door, Harry signaled to him to come over, and Tom excused himself from his grandfather's side and went to meet them.

"Your boyfriend is here, he should do the honors of taking you to his grandfather while I return an important phone call," Harry said as he let go of Lucy's arm and winked at Tom before walking away.

Standing alone now, Tom looked at Lucy while she looked everywhere else but at him, "Let's go," Tom said and started to walk away when he noticed she seemed to be maintaining her earlier annoyed stance, while Lucy looked at him.

"Are you mad at me?" Lucy asked with a frown as she followed him, but Tom said nothing.

"Tom, why…."

Tom turned to look at her, "Not now, Lucy. I'm really not in the mood to argue with you. I will introduce you to my grandfather and you can go back to your office as you were in a hurry to do earlier," Tom said, and Lucy sighed inwardly as she followed him.

Cora who had been standing with the other directors who had gathered around Tom's grandfather, to introduce themselves to him and snap pictures with him, didn't miss the awkward tension between Tom and Lucy as they approached.

As a matter of fact, she had noticed that there was no form of communication between them during the meeting and Lucy had kept her head down for most of the time, and had only spoken when she gave the report on her department. It seemed like there was trouble in paradise, she mused. She hoped so.

"At last! The beautiful lady whose greeting I've been waiting for this whole time. Were you going to leave without saying hello to me?" Lawrence exclaimed when he sighted Lucy, and he beamed a smile at her.

Lucy tried not to stiffen visibly when all eyes turned to her, and she forced a smile, "I'm sorry. I noticed the crowd and didn't want to be a bother," she said apologetically as she stopped in front of him, and he waved off her excuse.

"When did a simple hello become a bother? Since it's still work hours I won't bother you. We can get to know each other better during dinner," He suggested, and Lucy looked at Tom.

"Dinner?"

"Yes. I'm having dinner with the family tonight. I should leave now so you both can get back to work. Why don't you both see me off," Lawrence answered before Tom could, and Tom led him out of the conference hall while Lucy followed behind.

Once they had seen the old man off to his car and he had left, Tom turned to return inside without saying a word to Lucy and she followed him.

Tom pretended not to notice she was following him until they both got into the elevator and she pressed the button for his floor.

"I think we need to talk."

"Do we?" Tom asked with disinterest.

"I'm not a control freak…."

"I'm busy, Lucy. I have a lot of things to take care of. I can't talk about that right now," Tom cut in simply, making it clear he was no longer interested in the subject.

Lucy frowned, "Why are you mad at me? You are the one who called me names. I'm the one who should be upset not you," Lucy said defensively.

"I don't remember saying I'm mad at you or stopping you from being upset, did I?" Tom asked, feeling both annoyed and irritated by the fact that she was holding on to the claim that he called her names.

"But you…."

"You should go back to your office, Lucy. I'm busy," Tom said when the elevator stopped at his floor and he walked out without looking back.

Lucy stepped out with him, "Tom…."

"Can you just let me be?" Tom snapped at her as he turned to look at her, startling her.

"I want to be left alone. Please, let me be. It doesn't always have to be about you, does it? I was trying to have a reasonable conversation with you this morning and you picked offense. That is fine by me, but don't expect that I will put a long list of things I'm supposed to attend to right now on hold just to entertain whatever tantrum you want to throw. I'm sure you have stuff to do in your office, get to it while I take care of mine," Tom said, and walked away, leaving behind a stunned Lucy.

As much as he did not like to talk to her in such a harsh manner, his head was throbbing and he was short on temper. He knew without a doubt that they were going to argue some more if he entertained the discussion right now, and he really wasn't in the mood for it. He had a lot on his plate that he needed to take care of.

As he walked into his office, he was surprised to find Bryan seated there, "Where is grandfather?" Bryan asked when Tom shut the door behind him.

"He just left. When did you get here?" Tom asked, but Bryan was frowning.

"He left already? I expected…."

"He will be having dinner with the rest of the family tonight," Tom informed him.

"Oh! That's great then. Much better than meeting him in such a formal setting. How did he look? Is he okay? Why did he decide to come here all of a sudden? Did he inform you before coming?" Bryan asked curiously.

"He looked okay, but I don't know. You can direct the rest of your questions to him when you meet him. I should probably call Mom to inform dad and Samantha about dinner," Tom said as he took out his phone and dialed his mother's line.

Once he was done with the phone call he sat behind his desk and faced Bryan who was watching him speculatively, "Why are you staring at me in that manner?"

"Are you okay? Did the meeting not go as planned? You look and sound pissed," Bryan observed as he watched Tom.

"I'm just having a bad day I guess," Tom said with a sigh as he wiped his face with his hands.

"Sorry about that. Do you want to talk about it?" Bryan asked, and Tom shook his head.

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"I can handle it. What are you here for?" He asked as he rose to go take another pain relief for his throbbing headache.

"I came in with Jeff and Mia to check out our office space…."

Tom stopped by the doorway of the office bedroom, "About that, You can make do with whatever little space you get for the time being. There should be no major move until I'm done with Golden Star," Tom said, and Bryan raised a brow.

"What do you mean?"

"The space left within this building wouldn't be large enough to house an entertainment agency. I was going to purchase another building, but I don't think it will be a bad idea to take over Golden Star Entertainment instead," Tom said, confident in his ability to take over the agency.

Bryan smiled, "I was hoping you would make such a move. I got some shares," Bryan said, and Tom nodded, impressed with his smart thinking.

"Good. I will let you know when I need them," Tom said before walking into the bedroom to get himself medicine for his head.

"How is the plan for Anita and her family coming? I heard about the incident that took place at the spa yesterday," Bryan said when Tom joined him again.

Tom sighed, "I thought it was all under control, but now I'm not so sure," Tom admitted as he told Bryan about his plans and the recent developments in the Miller family.

"Wow! That's a lot," Bryan said, and neither of them said anything for a minute until the door opened and Jade walked in.

She had left Lucy's office the moment Lucy returned and said the meeting was over. At first, she had been in a hurry to go see her grandfather but after Lucy informed her the old man had left, she decided to go see Harry instead.

"Lucy says we are having dinner with grandfather?" Jade asked, and Bryan gave her a nod.

"Yeah. Where is Sonia?" Bryan asked curiously.

"I left her with Lucy. Why is Harry not in his office? Did he leave for another meeting?" Jade asked Tom.

"Shouldn't you have asked his secretary?" Tom asked, and Jade raised a brow at Tom's terse tone.

"Well, his secretary asked me to check your office. I will just give him a call," Jade said, and looked at Bryan with questioning eyes, wanting to know if everything was fine, and when he gave her a nod she sashayed away.

Away from there inside Lucy's office, Sonia tried to put aside what was bothering her and faced Lucy, "Is everything alright?" Sonia asked, and Lucy sighed.

"I don't know. Tom is acting weird," She said with a frown.

"Weird? In what way?" Sonia asked, and she shrugged.

"I was trying to speak with him just now and he snapped at me. He asked me to leave him alone," Lucy said with a worried frown, and Sonia raised a brow.

"Why? Did something happen at the meeting to annoy him?" Sonia asked with concern.

"It's not that. We sought of had a misunderstanding earlier this morning and I got mad at him for calling me a control freak and saying I needed therapy," Lucy explained, and Sonia nodded thoughtfully.

That at least explained what she had read in Lucy's journal, "I see. And I suppose you don't agree with him?" Sonia asked, and Lucy raised a brow.

"Do you?"

"This is not about me. It's about you," Sonia pointed out defensively.

"And I'm asking you. Do you agree with Tom? Do you also think I'm a control freak?" Lucy asked, and Sonia licked her upper lip as she tried to find the right words to answer the question.

"Well, it depends on what you think being a control freak means," Sonia said, and Lucy looked at her, trying to fight her annoyance. She could tell that Sonia was trying to evade the question in the same way Lucas had tried.

"If I remember correctly. Just two days ago, you asked me this same question and I gave you a direct answer without beating around the bush," Lucy said stiffly, and Sonia sighed.

"Alright. If by control freak you mean hating change and always wanting things to go your way, then yes. You are like that most of the time. Although you don't do it so aggressively and I don't think you do it deliberately sometimes, but you do it. You get upset when you are criticized or told a bitter truth, but you have no problem with criticizing others or telling them the truth. You love to stick to your principles and expect everyone to do the same. You prefer to do things yourself because you believe no one can do what you do better than you. You get visibly upset when you feel like things are not going your way or everything is changing."

"So you also think I'm a control freak," Lucy murmured as tears gathered in her eyes.

"That doesn't mean you are a bad person," Sonia assured her.

"How do any of these character flaws you listed not make me a bad person?" She asked, and Sonia's brows pulled together.

"You see why I didn't want to answer your question? Now you are upset," Sonia said, and Lucy shook her head.

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are. I think you need to give yourself a break. You are not perfect, Lucy. You can't be, even if you try," Sonia said as she rose from her seat to go sit on the edge of the desk beside Lucy.

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" Lucy asked with a frown.

"The same reason I'm sure you were tolerating my attitude all these years too I guess? I suppose we were able to stand each other's attitude because we love each other and it wasn't toxic or harmful to us and we both respected each other's boundaries well enough. But things are different now that we have these men in our lives," Sonia said with a shrug and Lucy sighed.

"Do you think Tom is right, and maybe that is why I'm scared to get married? Do you think it's all related to what happened?" Lucy asked with a frown.

"Why don't you tell me about your conversation and exactly what led to Tom saying that and I can give you my honest opinion?" Sonia suggested.

Sonia listened as Lucy gave her every single detail of her conversation with Tom, and when she was done Sonia sighed. She could see Tom's point, but she knew better than to jump on it and say she agreed with Tom.

"How do you really feel whenever you think about getting married and having kids?" Sonia asked, and Lucy shook her head.

"Anxious? The thought of it is like a weight on my chest and I can't breathe," Lucy said, and Sonia nodded.

"Was that the way you felt before? I mean before the incident?" Sonia asked, and Lucy considered it for a moment.

"If I remember correctly, the last time we had this conversation right here in your office (chapter 303) you mentioned that what happened contributed greatly to your conviction of not wanting a man in your life. I think it might all be related. Your need for control, your fear of marriage and kids. Let's look at it this way. You had no control over what happened to you. It was a very terrible and traumatizing experience, and so now you desperately crave control over your life because that is the only way you can ensure that nothing goes wrong for you ever again. You don't want anything that might threaten what little control you have over your life and that includes getting married and having kids. Maybe you are scared that you haven't got your life in order and the last thing you want is to bring anything unpredictable into the picture. And maybe a part of you sympathizes with your parents and you don't want to ever have to go through what they did as parents seeing their daughter that way," Sonia said reasonably.

"I don't know," Lucy said with a shake of her head.

"True. And we would never know for sure if you don't go for therapy…."

"But I don't need…."

"No, buts Lu. We've had this conversation several times over the years, and I know Lucas has tried to convince you about therapy too. Maybe you should take your own advice. Put yourself and your fears aside and think about everything from Tom's perspective this time. Think about your relationship with Tom and how much effort he has put into chasing you from the very beginning and trying to make things work between you both, and then compare it with how much effort you have put in. Is he really asking for too much? Is asking you to do this for yourself such a big deal? You told me that if I value what I have with Bryan, I would learn to make some changes and be the kind of person he wants me to be for him. (Chapter 506) YOU TOLD ME SO. You said there was no harm in learning to be the kind of person my partner wants. You said you love Tom and you are learning different ways to show him that. It seems to me that you are not learning the really important things he needs you to learn. So maybe this time you need to think about everything from Tom's perspective and really hear what he is saying instead of trying to pick a fight with him for telling you the truth. Tom loves you, of that I'm sure. If you love him and value your relationship, you would do what he is asking. It's for you. And I would love nothing better than for you to receive therapy. I'm sure your parents and Lucas would love that too. If you won't do it for yourself, at least do it for the sake of those of us who really care about you," Sonia pleaded, and Lucy sighed in resignation.

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