One Wild Night

Chapter 386 Time Is Money

　　Lucas, who was sipping from a hot cup of espresso in a cafe not too far from Miley's hotel, combed his fingers through his hair in frustration as he tried not to worry about Miley or feel guilty over the way he had left her. He knew he had hurt her feelings by saying he didn't want to be friends with her, but he believed it was better for him that he left when he still could.

　　He couldn't afford to worry about someone else right now. Especially not when he had problems of his own to take care of, and one of them involved thinking about what next he wanted to do with his life. 

　　He glanced at his phone when he received an Instagram notification, and he saw that it was a notification that Miley was doing a live video. He was very tempted to check to see what she was up to, but he stifled the urge. 

　　Instead, he went straight to her page and unfollowed her. He didn't want to get involved with her any more than he already was. His sixth sense told him that she was going to be wanting more than friendship from him, and he was worried that he might offer her what she wanted if he remained around her. 

　　He shook his head to discard thoughts of her. A least he was grateful to her for one thing. He wasn't going to be spending any more time sulking over Rachel and her betrayal. No, he wasn't going to do that. If there was one thing he had learned from his brief interaction with Miley and Amy, it was the value of life. 

　　Perhaps it was because he was a doctor and was used to seeing terminal patients die. He had never really thought of life or the implication of death so deeply until he saw how much Miley loved her life. Or maybe he had always known but had never taken it seriously, and it had taken him to be in his heartbroken state to understand it.

　　This reminded him of the saying, "When you're happy, you enjoy the music. When you're sad, you understand the lyrics." 

　　Well, he had learned a lot of things in this short duration, and even though he hated that he had to learn his lessons in such a hurtful and harsh manner, he was grateful for the lessons learned. 

　　With that thought in mind, he took out Rachel's phone, which he had seized earlier and which was in his pocket, and started to go through her texts and call log to see if he would find anything he could use against her. 

　　He gave up when he came up with nothing after going through it for a while. Of course, it made sense that she wouldn't have let him hold on to her phone for that long if she had something to hide. He dumped the phone in the trashcan closest to him as he stood up to leave. 

　　The only reason he had held back from confronting Rachel was because of the plans he was sure Tom and Lucy had for Anita. Rachel was a small fish in the river. The best thing he could do to her now was to move on with his life like she never existed in the first place. There was nothing else he knew that would hurt her more than that. 

　　He hesitated outside the cafe door for a moment before returning inside to pick up the phone he had discarded, thinking that it might come in handy. He dipped the phone in his pocket as he walked out of the cafe and flagged down a cab.

　　Once he was seated in the cafe, his phone started vibrating with a phone call, and he received it when he saw it was a call from Lucy.

　　"Good morning, Lu," he greeted in a cheerful tone, not paying any attention to the driver who was staring at him like he was waiting for him to say something.

　　"Good morning, Kiddo! How are you feeling today?" Lucy asked as she took off the stiletto she was wearing and stretched out her toes.

　　"Kiddo?" Lucas asked with a scoff. He could tell she was calling him that to get a rise out of him since she knew how much he hated her calling him that. 

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　　"Should I have just called you kid bro then, kiddo?" Lucy asked, and Lucas chuckled, making Lucy smile. 

　　"I won't give you the satisfaction of annoying me today, big sis. I feel much better now than I was feeling yesterday. How are you?" Lucas asked, not paying any attention to the cab driver as he turned on his car's ignition and drove off. 

　　"I'm fine. I'm sorry I wasn't close to my phone when you called last night. Is everything alright with you?" 

　　"Yeah. Everything is great. I can't even recall why I called. I probably called to check in and let you know that I'm alright and you shouldn't worry," Lucas lied.

　　"You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that. Let's leave the whole of that unpleasant incident behind us now, okay?"

　　"Are you sure about that, Lu? Or are you just saying this for my sake?" Lucas asked, and Lucy smiled.

　　"I'm done pretending to be okay when I'm not, I promise. So believe me when I say I'm fine. I just need you to focus on getting over her. I understand what it means to be stuck in a particular phase for too long, and I don't want you to waste so much time dwelling in regrets," Lucy advised, and Lucas sighed. 

　　"Yeah. Sure. I don't want to do that either. You don't have to worry about me. I will be fine. By the way, how are things going over there at the office? And how is that secretary of yours? The one that came over to the house," Lucas asked, wanting to know how Amy had managed to get excused from work and be there with Miley and how long she was going to stay beside Miley.

　　Lucy's brows arched at the unexpected question as she wondered why Lucas was asking about Amy, "You mean Amy? She took sick leave. Apart from that, everything else is fine over here."

　　"Why? Is she ill?"

　　"No, Lucas. She is not ill. Her best friend is ill, so she has to be with her. Why?"

　　"You let her go on leave for a sick friend? Are your superiors aware of this?" Lucas asked, impressed that Amy had been honest with Lucy.

　　"Yes, the CEO is aware. Amy is not just my secretary. She is my friend. She was the only one in my team who stood by me, so I have to also support her when she needs me to..."

　　"How long will she be away for?" Lucas asked, interrupting Lucy.

　　"You don't really expect me to tell you that, do you? Are you going to tell me why you are asking questions about her or not?" 

　　"No reason. I'm just very concerned about my big sister, and I wanted to know how her secretary turned friend was doing. That's all."

　　"We both know you are not the type to just pick interest in random people. Did you meet Amy or something?" Lucy asked curiously, and Lucas smiled.

　　"Are you sure you want to know?" Lucas asked, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

　　"Yes. Tell me," Lucy said with a crooked smile, knowing that he was going to say something silly.

　　"Well, since you insist, I guess I have to tell you then. It so happened in my dream. I was walking along the seashore, and then this beautiful lady dressed in a white dress appeared from nowhere and walked up to me. And she said, 'Hello! I'm your twin's secretary, and I need you to show concern for my wellbeing and ask her how I'm doing,' and then before I could respond, she disappeared. Hence..."

　　"Hence you are asking me about her," Lucy finished dryly, and Lucas chuckled. 

　　"It has been a while since we did that, hasn't it?" Lucas asked with a nostalgic sigh, remembering how he and Lucy used to joke over everything and come up with silly made-up dreams and tales. 

　　All that had changed when Rachel came into the picture. After Rachel they only talked when it was necessary or important and hardly had time to hang around with each other because Rachel was always stuck to him like his shadow, and then thanks to Sonia, Lucy didn't really mind.

　　"Let's not dwell on any of that. So you're seriously not going to tell me why you asked about Amy?" Lucy asked curiously.

　　"Well, I just happen to know her best friend. The one who is ill," Lucas said, knowing that one way or the other, Lucy would eventually get to know about it.

　　"You do? How? Don't tell me she is one of your patients?" Lucy said with disbelief, thinking that she no longer believed in coincidences. 

　　"She is not. It's a long story. Maybe I will tell you about that some other time. What's the plan for Anita? Have you guys come up with something?" Lucas asked, and then he listened as Lucy brought him to speed with all they had found out and their plan.

　　"That's cool. Let me know if there is any way I can help. I tried to see if I could find anything useful in Rachel's phone, but I couldn't."

　　"Rachel's phone? You have her phone?" Lucy asked, surprised.

　　"Yeah. She came to find me yesterday. I didn't know she had a tracker on my phone this whole time. I seized her phone," Lucas explained without mentioning Miley.

　　"And you're still with the phone?" Lucy asked as an evil idea began to form in her head. 

　　"Yes. Why?" Lucas asked when he heard the excitement in her voice. 

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　　"I think I just figured out a way to make Rachel pay for everything," Lucy said thoughtfully. 

　　"Really? How?" Lucas asked curiously.

　　"Don't worry. I will tell you more about it after I've given it much thought. Have you made up your mind on what you want to do now?" Lucy asked, changing the subject.

　　Lucas paused when he remembered Miley asking him that same question. He shook his head. He wasn't going to think about her. 

　　"I will start by going home to see mom and dad, and once I've been able to convince them that I'm fine, I will go on a vacation. I need a change of environment. After I'm well rested, I can decide on what next to do about my career," Lucas said, thinking about the offer Tom had made him. 

　　"Alright. Do whatever you need to do to make sure you're fine. I've got your back," Lucy assured him.

　　"Yeah, I know that. I will do a better job at having your back going forward, I promise."

　　"Why don't you start by telling me about what you discussed with Tom?" Lucy asked hopefully, and Lucas chuckled.

　　"Nice try. That's between Tom and me. Sorry, I can't tell you. I need to go now, Lu. My regards to Tom. Love you," Lucas said before hanging up. 

　　Once he hung up, he looked outside the window to see where they were, "Where did I tell you we were going to?" He asked, and the driver smiled at him sheepishly.

　　"You didn't say, so I've just been driving around," the driver said, making Lucas look at him incredulously.

　　"I suppose I'm expected to pay for this directionless ride?" Lucas asked, and he nodded.

　　"Yes. You got into the car and sat there without saying anything. I couldn't just stay there waiting for you to tell me where you were going when you were so busy on the phone. Time is money, you know? Every moment lost can not be recovered," He said, and for some reason, his words evoked a feeling of sadness in Lucas.

　　Time was money, yet there were people like Miley who had money but didn't have time. No. He wasn't supposed to be thinking of her. 

　　Forget about her, Lucas. You've got to forget about her. 

　　"Nice one. Let's go then," Lucas said as he called out his parents' address to the driver.

　　He was confident that once he traveled to somewhere far away, he would forget all about Rachel and Miley. They were both distractions that he needed to get rid of in order to move past this chapter of his life.