Chapter 5

Lucas held my hand as we walked into a hotel together.

"Why is your face so red? Did you catch a cold in the rain? Do you have a fever?" I asked.

"N-no fever," he said.

His face was bright red as he avoided the receptionist's eyes. The hand I was holding was drenched in sweat.

"So, I'll book a room then," I said, also feeling nervous. "Should I get... two beds or... or one big...?"

Steam seemed to be rising from his damp head as he looked down in a panic: "Y-you choose! I... I need to step outside for a bit!"

With that, he ran out like a startled rabbit.

He was still such a naive, easily fooled boy when it came to love. As an upstanding person, I certainly wouldn't take advantage of him.

So I took a deep breath and righteously told the receptionist:

"One king bed, please. If he asks, make sure to say it was the only room left!"

The receptionist gave me an "ok" sign with a knowing look.

...

After showering and changing into a bathrobe in the room, I lay on the bed feeling a bit nervous.

But over an hour passed and he still hadn't returned.

Damn it! I knew I couldn't trust men's lies!

But I still couldn't help sending him a message: "Where did you go?"

A second later, he video called me.

On the screen, Lucas was clearly in a hair salon.

His hair had been dyed back to black, revealing a pure, sunny face that looked quite youthful.

"Lucy, do you... do you like me better this way?" he asked shyly.

He kept his head down, his face still flushed.

He was just... illegally cute!

I nodded vigorously.

"Then... then I'll head back now," he said, brushing his hair to reveal a glimpse of his pale neck. "What's the... the room number?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he got too embarrassed and quickly ended the video call.

I wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth, rushed out to check the room number, and hurriedly sent it to him.

Lying back on the bed, I started examining the little items on the nightstand, debating whether to try one out first.

Yes, I, at the ripe old age of 26, was encountering these for the first time.

How embarrassing.

But before even 10 minutes had passed, there was a knock at the door.

I jumped up and ran to open it with a giddy smile:

"How did you get here so fas..."

Halfway through my sentence, my smile froze on my face.

Why was it... Gabriel?

"I was in the area and got your message, so I came over," Gabriel said with a cold smirk, looking down at me. "Why aren't you smiling anymore? Is the cancer flaring up, making it hard to smile?"

His icy gaze looked like he wanted to kill me.

I gulped and silently picked up my phone.

A string of new message notifications with red dots lit up the screen.

Help!

I had accidentally group messaged the hotel room number!

To a list called "One Big Happy Family"...

With exactly seven people in it.