The Rise of the White Lotus

Since Ethan Lu had to work for the rest of the day and initially had planned to spend time with Lexi, it turned out as a day accompanying Morris Liu until he rested. As soon as he fell asleep, Lexi and Ethan Lu decided to go home since it was near dinner time. 

As they reached the parking space, Ethan Lu stopped in his tracks and turned to face her. "What's wrong?" He asked because Lexi was unusually silent since earlier. 

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong but I am confused about one thing— let's talk when we get home." Cold and emotionless, Lexi responded as she continued to approach Ethan Lu's vehicle. 

When Lexi arrived, Lyrick Jiang, as usual, opened the back passenger seat for her but to his surprise, Lexi hitched inside like a gust of wild wind. 

'Woah! Lover's Quarrel? What happened inside?!' Lyrick Jiang's first thought after sensing the unpleasant vibe between his boss and lady boss, his curiosity was about the reason of their argument this time. 

"Shut up." The moment Ethan Lu brushed past his assistant, he warned Lyrick Jiang's thoughts from getting wild before entering the other door of the back passenger seat. 

'Huh? But I wasn't saying anything yet!' Lyrick Jiang was caught off guard from his master's advanced warning that made him protest inwardly. 

"Ahh, my head— why am I being dragged into this again?" He lowly mumbled before picking up his phone and sent a message to all his men; indicating they were leaving before hitching inside the front passenger seat and their vehicle sped away. 

*****

Inside the car, Lexi remained in her seat, leaving a huge gap between her and Ethan Lu. She never once opened her mouth after she warned him not to get close to her. 

Alas, this tension that was building up inside the car was killing Ethan Lu as he didn't know what he had done so wrong to the extent of being forbidden to get close to her. 

Not only was Ethan Lu being strangled by this silence as the two at the front constantly swallowed hard because this was the first time they felt this strange aura between them. They always flirted whenever they are with each other hence, seeing their gracious lady boss not talking to their benevolent master was enough of a threat to them. 

'Oh good Lord, I am just a mere driver now, please let us arrive safely to our destination.' Jarred Guo prayed inwardly as he constantly glanced at the rearview mirror from time to time. He could only see Ethan Lu's displeased front which made him chant his prayers over and over again. 

'What did master do to our lifeline? Did he assault Mr. Liu again? Perhaps, an ambiguous text message from one of his ex's was found out? Ahh!! This is killing me! Please our dear madam, give me some clue!' On the other hand, Lyrick Jiang's worries were nothing like Jarred Guo's. To him, he wasn't worried if Ethan Lu would vent his frustrations to them as gossip is more important than his life— it's what was keeping his boring life more colorful after all. 

"I can't take this silence anymore! Love, what did I do?" Having enough from this unending sorrow called silent treatment, Ethan Lu snapped as he turned to face Lexi. 

If only he could kneel down on a washboard, he would do it that instant even without knowing the reason of her dissatisfaction. If that could lessen her irate emotions, then, he would willing to do it all day!

"Quiet. Let's talk at home." Lexi only glared at him as she ground her teeth in annoyance. She didn't want to argue with him outside the house as it was only proper that they should discuss this inside their home. After all, although Lyrick Jiang and Jarred Guo were his close confidants, Lexi didn't want others to hear them arguing about their personal problems— especially about their relationship. 

Soon, they had finally reached Ethan Lu's villa— journeying with the stifling silence along the way. God knows how relieved Jarred Guo was the moment his bosses left the car and headed straight inside the villa as he could finally heave a sigh of relief. 

"Hey, what do you think our boss did to anger the madam?" Of course, Lyrick Jiang's itchy tongue could finally be set free as he asked his colleagues' opinion about the drama. 

"I don't know! Didn't you hear him earlier? He also didn't know! *sigh* women..." Jarred Guo shook his head sideways as he let out another heavy sigh. 

"I wonder—"

"Shut up! I'm leaving! Drive yourself home and ask whoever's available— I'm out!" Knowing Lyrick Jiang, he would go on and on with his speculations. Therefore, before he could hear another groundless assumption, Jarred Guo exited the car as if escaping the person who would kill him. 

****

The moment Lexi entered the house and changed her heels into house slippers, she turned around and started her interrogations. "Did you know about Mia and Brother Mo's agreement?"

"Huh?!?" Baffled at what she was implying, Ethan Lu wasn't able to change his formal shoes into house slippers as he raised his head just to meet her natural sharpness.

"Is that why you had said to her before that, 'she shouldn't be there' because she's not important to him? Is that it? It's because there wasn't anything between them in the first place and not because they broke up?" Continuing on her irked questions, Lexi watched Ethan Lu's expression slightly changed which only confirmed the obvious answer. 

"Huh, I can't believe you." Scoffing in dismay, Lexi shook her head sideways before walking out on him. 

"Wait— love! Let me explain!" Ethan Lu desperately took off his shoes and dashed to follow her like a bolt of lightning. 

Fortunately, his speed was twice as fast as her hurried steps and caught up with her just as she was about to enter their room. "Love, let's talk." Ethan Lu held on her hand— trembling. 

For some reason, he was once again afraid. His fear was unclear as he was certain Lexi wouldn't get back together with Morris Liu but, he wanted to fix things before it gets out of hand. 

"Please?" Knitting his brows as fear crept out on his surface, Ethan Lu lowly pleaded that had made her tense shoulders relax a little.