The Rise of the White Lotus

"What was that about?" Without buckling her seatbelt, Lexi abruptly turned to the driver's seat where Ethan Lu had just entered inside the car.

"Huh?" Raising his gaze to meet the investigative pair of brown eyes, Ethan Lu raised his brows before they knitted together. 

"What you said to Mia Chen— why would you say that?" Of course, Lexi didn't let that pass. She just chose to finish their visit as peaceful as possible and then wanted to sit him down to talk privately. 

"What I said back there?" Recalling his words to Mia Chen, Ethan Lu was reminded that his words wouldn't make sense to others aside from Mia Chen. Hence, he bit his tongue for letting his anger show to that woman and his dissatisfaction with his friend Kevin Woo got the better of him. 

Ethan Lu's mind worked double time to come up with the most understandable reasoning he could come up in an instant. "Ahh…"

"What?" Slightly tilting her head to the side, Lexi arched her brows as she waited for a good logical reason why Ethan Lu would treat Morris Liu's current girlfriend like that. Well, it was not like Lexi was affected by that fact but still, she was curious as Ethan Lu wouldn't say such harsh words without any reasonable substance.

"They broke up— I don't know the reason but I don't appreciate the fact that she was acting as if she had all the rights to who should and shouldn't visit brother Mo." Nonchalantly shrugging, Ethan Lu gave her a half truth and half lie on his explanation. 

Indeed, he didn't like that Mia Chen was being manipulative and using his gullible friend Kevin Woo to speak for her. Also, seeing her calm and gentle as if she didn't know that she hurt Lexi one way or another in the past truly infuriated him. 

After all, Ethan Lu had always criticized Morris Liu inside his mind for choosing a woman who had no decent family background over his original fiancee who has everything. That was back then, when there was no Lexi Yang in his life and he was just an unimportant character doing his own thing. That was his mindset before he knew what love really was— before he had a taste of love. 

Therefore, there wasn't any strong impression for him to be attached to Mia Chen. He just remained civil with her in the past because he believed that Morris Liu held her dear. Moreover, now that he knew the whole truth, Ethan Lu had no reasoning as to why he should be friendly to someone who was used as a tool to destroy someone else's life. 

"What?" Scrunching her nose up, Lexi momentarily widened her eyes by the news. "They broke up? Weird." She then rested her back against the front passenger seat with an ugly expression on her face as she thought about Morris Liu and Mia Chen breaking up. 

"What? What are you thinking right now?" Narrowing his eyes, Ethan Lu peered at Lexi as if to distinguish what's going on inside her mind. It wasn't that he was thinking that Lexi was having second thoughts about their relationship and planned to get back together with Morris Liu. But still, he was curious to know her thoughts about the 'break up' even though there wasn't any Morris Liu and Mia Chen in the first place. 

"*sigh* I just thought that my actions back then were all for naught and even made their love stronger." Letting out a heavy sigh, Lexi slightly shook her head as she thought for a second that maybe, her being an obstacle in the seemingly perfect love story of a prince and a commoner somehow made their love for each other stronger. 

Turning her head to Ethan Lu whose eyes were squinted as he intently examined his expression, a sly smirk formed on the side of her lips. "What? Did you think I would be happy?"

Lexi moved her body so she could easily lean forward a little to him, she humored. "Why? Did you think I would think of going back to my ex? Don't you want me anymore?"

"Love, do you want to do it here?" Grinning, Ethan Lu felt a sudden heat hearing her last remarks. 

"What a pervert!" Drawing her head away from this maniac, Lexi glanced at him with dismay. She was expecting another cheesy line he had in store in his repertoire of chivalry yet, instead of a heartwarming note, Ethan Lu actually chose a perverted response. 

"Hehe, kidding. I know you love me…" Chuckling, Ethan Lu grinned from ear to ear, revealing his small white teeth. "...but what can I do? You're seducing me."

"Seducing you? When?!"

"Right now— every time I see you, hear you, or touch you." Simultaneously raising his eyebrows up and down, Ethan Lu cast her a knowing look. Well, in his eyes, Lexi was always unclad as it was the most beautiful clothes she could ever wear. Slowly, his hand sneakily reached for her legs that was mercilessly slapped away. 

"Ethan Lu, stop." Rolling her eyes, Lexi buckled her seatbelt letting her boyfriend burst out into laughter. "You can't postpone your meetings anymore and I need to prepare for my classes tomorrow." In a matter of fact tone, Lexi turned to the driver's seat again. 

Well, now that the premiere night was done and her job as one of the main cast of the movie Taming Hearts was done, Lexi's first step to her chosen career was about to start. 

"Yea, yes, this guy needs to work hard to give this lady here a comfortable married life." Ethan Lu's grin widened even more as he winked at the gorgeous lady perched in the front passenger seat. 

'Do that and propose to me, duh?' Lexi was about to utter those words loudly alas, she stopped herself and only gave Ethan Lu a faint giggle. Well, although she was certain that she'd say a capital 'yes' when he did, Lexi wanted to have a stable career as well. 

Granted that the Yang Company was now stable and was operating smoothing just like before, however, Lexi wanted to be a capable woman that wouldn't be revered as Ethan Lu's wife. She wanted to establish her name in the business industry as a businesswoman not a troublesome white lotus in the entertainment industry. 

Maybe, she was just like that. Even before when she was Morris Liu's fiancee, she always wanted to be a strong pillar of support to her future husband. The only difference this time was that Lexi was doing this mainly for herself.

As Ethan Lu started the car's engine, he started maneuvering the car in silence as he focused on the road. Their plan was to drop Lexi at home and Ethan Lu would head to the agency that handled Gael Zhang— Lexi didn't know this. 

Half of their journey, with their hands wrapped around each other, Ethan Lu raised her hand once again and placed a soft peck on the back of her fair hand. "Love, why don't you move into my place?"

"Huh?" His sudden declaration made Lexi avert her eyes from the road and look at Ethan Lu's side profile with eyes filled with question marks. 

"I mean, you will be busier in the next few months— building your own empire and I know I will have to work as hard as you are so whether we like it or not, our time together will be reduced." Quickly glancing at Lexi before returning his gaze on the road, Ethan Lu briefly explained his sudden worries as he decelerated his speed a little. 

"Uh…" Processing his words, Ethan Lu had a point. Moreover, the classes she would attend and a few seminars would be held at a prestigious school near his place. Hence, if she traveled back and forth to the Yang Mansion, Lexi would have to spend more time on the road. 

But, if she moved to Ethan Lu's place, it would at least reduce her travel time by half. Still, she has to give her parents a heads up about this abrupt change of plan. Also, there was one problem, Louis Lu— she was hostile towards the man for some reason. 

"Don't worry about Lou— He'll have to move out if you agree." Guessing her worries, Ethan Lu reassured her without turning his gaze away from the road. 

Unbeknownst to her, Ethan Lu was already planning to hasten his plan to take over the whole Lu family and propose to her; and this time around, he'll have to be more aggressive to succeed with his plan. Furthermore, it was best to keep her close to secure her safety because there were still people coming after her life. Ethan Lu could tell her about all this but still, why would he let her live in fear if he could prevent it from happening?

"Hmm, I'll let Mom and Dad know first." Nodding her head, Lexi agreed to live with him for the next few months. 

"Baby love, we will let them know." Grinning, they were on their way to the Yang Mansion, weren't they? Hence, he planned to discuss this with her parents aside from his plan of giving Frederick Yang a talk about the truth of what was going on. 

Also, Ethan Lu understood that he could keep Lexi in the dark but with respect to Frederick Yang, her father, Ethan Lu had already decided to detail everything to him so her father would know what's lurking around them and around his daughter. 

"Gosh… I wonder what their reaction will be like." Shaking her head for this sudden agreement, Lexi envisioned her parents' reaction when they told them she'd be living under the same roof with Ethan Lu. Surely, she could imagine their jaw-dropping just like when a daughter tells their parents she's pregnant. 

"Hehe, they will be happy." Mischievously giggling, Ethan Lu responded as he placed another kiss on the back of her hand.