After an hour of driving the two of them finally arrived at the family house as Lucas normally refers to it. They got off the car in front of the house and Lucas handed his keys over to the butler who then quickly arranged for someone to go park the car.
The two of them entered the house and they could already hear the activity inside. h.e.l.len was barking orders left and right and the maids were running around.
Jen and Lucas stood at the doorway to the kitchen and watched the comotion for a while before Lucas loudly cleared his throat to draw attention to himself. h.e.l.len turned around and saw Lucas standing with Jen outside the kitchen.
She smiled brightly and went to give him a big hug. Lucas bent down to hug his mother happily and Jen couldn"t help but smile.
"Happy birthday baby" h.e.l.len said and kissed him affectionately and patted his cheeks.
"Thank you mom" Lucas said with a smile.
"I also want a kiss!" Jason"s voice rang out in the house before he gave his mother a back hug making her laugh happily.
"Happy birthday kid" James said and ruffled Lucas" hair affectionately making Lucas frown.
"Thanks" Lucas said and reached out for Jen who had made s.p.a.ce for the brothers who had come to wish him happy birthday.
"Happy birthday Lucas" Jason said still hugging his mother.
"Thank you" Lucas said plainly. Jen looked at them in amus.e.m.e.nt and couldn"t help but laugh at them.
"Where is dad?" Lucas asked after deciding to ignore how Jason was behaving.
"He is in the garden" h.e.l.len said as she started slapping off Jason"s hands that were clinging to her.
Jason only felt someone smack the back of his head and saw James" deadpan expression before he released h.e.l.len.
"Can"t you see mom is busy? How do you always manage to be a nuisance?" James scolded before he too hugged his mother making Jason look at him incredulously and Jen laugh.
Unlike Jason, James released his mother after a couple of seconds.
"Jen! Come here sweetheart" h.e.l.len said and pulled Jen in her arms hugging her warmly.
"How are you doing? Is Lucas giving you trouble?" h.e.l.len asked.
"I"ve been well, how have you been?" Jen asked.
The brothers speechlessly watched as h.e.l.len pulled Jen over to the kitchen while they were left standing in the hall by themselves.
Lucas smiled as he was happy that Jen was getting along well with his mother. He then turned to go greet his father leaving Jen with his mother.
Jen entered the kitchen with h.e.l.len and saw how busy it was there were people kneading dough others were chopping ingredients, others were busy at the stove. She looked at h.e.l.len in question and h.e.l.len shrugged her shoulders.
"The food isn"t done yet and it was getting late so I had to come in" h.e.l.len said as her relentless gaze pa.s.sed over the staff in the kitchen.
"There is a head chef here right?" Jen asked h.e.l.len softly and h.e.l.len nodded in response.
"Then you shouldn"t worry too much, let him do his job. If you stand here-" Jen was interrupted by a plate breaking.
"Mistakes are bound to happen" Jen said as she looked in the direction of the person who broke the plate since h.e.l.len was icily looking at the person responsible.
"Let"s go hang out with the guys, you haven"t seen Lucas in so long you shouldn"t ruin your mood like this" Jen said and looked at the staff member signaling for him to clean up and smiled at the head chef who looked at her gratefully.
Jen hooked her arm around h.e.l.len"s hand and distracted her with some small talk as she led her out of the kitchen.
"I used to personally supervise the chefs sometimes when orders would come out late at my restaurants, it only resulted in more chaos so I stopped doing that and only pressured the head chef instead. I"d just ask the waiter to tell him to get his act together, it"s more efficient that way. If I stood in the kitchen, even the person was.h.i.+ng dishes would make mistakes" Jen said with a nostalgic smile as they both walked out to the garden where the guys were sitting.
Jen went forward and greeted Noah who was working on his laptop. He looked up from the screen at Jen and smiled warmly at her which she returned.
"Dad, I don"t remember the last time you smiled at me like that" Jason lamented.
"You should have been a girl if you wanted to be treated like Jen" James said shutting Jason up briefly.
"Should, I get a s.e.x change then?" Jason asked not really thinking about what he was saying as a result he was. .h.i.t once more by James.
"That would be a breach of contract. Don"t even think about it" James said coldly.
On the other hand everyone was laughing at the two except for Noah who had an amused smile on his face.
"Mom, you always said you wanted a daughter" Jason said as he ignored his brother.
"Mmh, that"s why you should get married" h.e.l.len said efficiently shutting him up.
Jen who was sitting between h.e.l.len and Lucas had also gotten quiet all of a sudden. Lucas noticed but did not say anything. He figured that she must be feeling homesick. He thought that he should really arrange to go to City K soon so she can see her family. She should at least meet her siblings.
"Did you tell Dave to pick Nancy and Leanna first?" Jen asked when she noticed it was already 12 pm.
"It slipped my mind" Lucas said and called Dave immediately. After briefly relaying his orders he hang up.
"You still don"t give him a break?" Jason asked after Lucas asked.
"Heh, I"m not a slave driver" Lucas said.
[A/N: You should be thankful Dave isn"t there]
"He will be coming later right?" Jason asked.
"Mmh, I was asking him to pick up her friends" Lucas replied.
"Oh, your friends will be coming?" Jason asked curiously.
"Mmh, I hope that"ll be alright" Jen said.
"Don"t overthink it, we all bring our friends in these occasions" Jason said with a smile making Jen smile back.
She had built some immunity against Jason after being exposed to his real personality for sometime, but she could already feel sorry for her friends. She worried about Laura specifically who was the one to introduce both her and Rachel to his music. It could be said she was one of his earliest fans.
She smiled apologetically at Jason for something that was yet to happen. If he knew her friends, he would take back his words.