Chapter 145 Crisis Awareness

Eric felt a bit sullen. He had no clue as to what Jack meant. In addition to that, the man besides him
had been staring in a specific direction ever since he came in.

Eric couldn’t help himself but have a quick look in the direction where the man had his eyes fixated.
Much to his surprise, he found Lea, who appeared quite uncomfortable with the constant gaze of the
man on her.

"Excuse me?" With a tap on the table, Eric continued, "Why do you keep staring at her?"

Rachel was unaware of what was happening. She sat down next to Eric and didn’t see Henry standing
right behind Lea, who was standing right beside the window, talking on the phone with her back against
the group.

‘What’s going on? Why is Henry here?’ Rachel wondered.

After Lea hung up the phone, Henry stood up and walked toward her.

Henry’s actions left the onlookers speechless as he grabbed Lea's wrist.

"What’s wrong with you?" Eric protested. He was about to spring into action when Rachel grabbed his
arm and said, "It would be better if you eat your cake rather than interfering in their business."

"Who is that guy?" Eric asked. Rachel and Jack watched in silence as Henry heaved Lea out of the
living room.

Eric was worried and confused. He threw a glance at Rachel and asked, "Rachel, why are you still
sitting here? What’s the matter with that guy?"

Jack said, "Rachel shouldn't indulge herself in someone else's affairs."



‘What could have possibly happened between them?’ Eric wondered. He finally caught up the
happenings as he asked, "Is he Lea’s boyfriend?"

‘Boyfriend?’ Rachel wondered to herself. She pondered as to how fast their relationship developed. In
the past, Lea had asked her about Henry’s relationship status.

Apparently, things had turned sour pretty quickly between them.

The group sat in silence for a while. Suddenly Lea stormed in.

Before Eric could ask Lea about the man, Lea said, "Rachel, I'm leaving." She threw Eric a quick
glance. "I’ll visit you the other day."

Henry was right behind Lea. His face darkened when he heard how soft Lea's voice was. He gave Eric
a dirty look.

Eric could cut the tension in the room with a knife. He anticipated that the couple would start quarrelling
again.

Before anything could happen, Rachel stood up. "Let me walk you out."

"Alright," Lea agreed. She picked up her bag and casually drifted towards the door, ignoring the man
standing next to her.

Henry tried to grab her hand but was greeted by a cold expression on her face.

"Lea," he pleaded.

But Lea ignored Henry as if he was invisible. She walked past him as he watched her making her way
towards the door.

Rachel followed Lea as she walked out. When she passed Henry, she gave him a sympathetic look.



Henry had a somber expression on his face as he saw the pair leaving the house.

Lea’s face was filled with vexation as she made her way downstairs.

Still infuriated, she tugged on to the piece of rope that tied her bag. Rachel cautiously walked towards
her and asked, "What’s the matter?"

"I just get in a sour mood when I see him," Lea said with disgust.

Rachel understood that she was talking about Henry and chuckled, "How did he offend you?"

"Never mind," Lea blurted out. "I don’t want to talk about it."

"Are you guys dating now?" Rachel asked curiously.

Lea’s facial expressions changed. She passed a weak smile and said, "We broke up."

‘Broke up?’

Rachel realized that it was just recently that Lea had asked about Henry’s relationship status. How
could they break up so quickly?

This surprised her. "Lea, love is not a game," she stated.

"It's not my fault," she snarled. "He lied to me."

Rachel was perplexed. "Did he? What did he do?"

Not knowing how to react, Lea gave up. She put on a long face and said, "Well, if you’re free tomorrow
or the day after tomorrow, we can go for a drink and talk things over."



A pin-drop silence greeted Rachel as she returned to the living room. Eric was the only person sitting
there, his undivided attention towards his phone.

The mousse cake on the table remained untouched and melted slowly. Rachel turned around and
asked, "Where are the rest of the people?"

Eric pointed towards the stairs. "They went upstairs."

Rachel nodded.

She looked at the cake on the table, which was untouched. "Why didn't you eat the cake? Didn't you
like it?" she asked.

"I love it,"

Eric said and was about to stand up and get it. But Rachel picked it up and give it to him.

He clearly had a liking for sweet food but was way too embarrassed to admit it. Eric took a small bite
from the delicious mousse cake. "What’s going on with that man and Lea?"

Rachel replied, "I don’t know either."

"Are they a couple?" Eric inquired.

Rachel hummed vaguely as she went to clean the kitchen. Jack seldom visited this place these days,
and she wasn't aware that he would visit her today.

Eric had it all figured out. As soon as Jack stepped foot in this place, he’d ask Jack to do his chores for
him.

Earlier, he asked Jack to bring him some water and napkin.



Eric had a clue that Jack wasn’t a kind man. Whenever Eric felt that Jack had ill intentions towards him,
he always let Rachel know about it.

As a result, Jack could only pretend to turn a deaf ear towards Eric’s orders, and he dared not hurt Eric.

Eric was quite pleased with himself these days, but he knew that things were working according to his
wishes only because he was injured.

He knew that Jack might come and have his revenge as soon as he recovered.

Although he was self-willed these days, he dared not to cross the line from the fear that Jack would
make life miserable in the future.

Eric could only describe himself as a timid fella. He was deep in his thoughts when Jack and Henry
came downstairs.

The sullen expression on Henry’s face was gone. When Rachel told Eric that Henry was Lea’s
boyfriend, his heart sank.

Eric neither liked Jack nor Henry. The former had a liking for his cousin, while the latter was the
boyfriend of his dream girl. The thought of Henry being Lea’s boyfriend made Eric quite jealous.

Eric wondered how life turned out to be so difficult for him. Before he could avoid the pair, they were
making their way towards him.

Jack glanced at his watch and said, "Let’s have dinner together outside. Tell Rachel not to cook
anything at home."

Eric mumbled in a low voice, inaudible enough for anyone to hear him. Jack raised his eyebrows and
asked, "What did you say?"



"Nothing," Eric stated. He had no intentions of letting Jack know that he was speaking ill of him under
his breath.

Henry scanned Eric's face, and a sense of familiarity crept up to him. He then remembered where they
first met.

A few months ago, to avenge Celine, Jack had caught several people what had offended her, including
Eric.

Rachel had come to rescue Eric in person. Henry was deeply impressed at the thought of it. And when
he thought of Eric and the way Lea had cared about him, he couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.

Eric was sensitive to others' stares.

Seeing Henry stare at him, Eric stared back without any hesitation as if he was manlier between the
two.

Henry’s mouth curled as if he didn't give damn about Eric.

He was confident in himself, and there was no way that Eric would win Lea over him.

When Rachel came out of the kitchen, she saw them all gathering in the living room. Jack said, "I have
some work to finish, and I'm leaving. We’ll have dinner outside this evening."

"Will you come back tonight?" Rachel asked.

Jack nodded, "Yes."

"Okay," she said.



When they reached the end of stairs, Henry asked jokingly, "Since when did you and Rachel become
so close?"

Jack opened the door of the car. "I want to start anew with her."

Henry was shocked by Jack's answer.

After they got in the car, Henry asked, "So how come you and Rachel are so close? Teach me a few
tricks as well."

Jack put the word straight and said, "Lea and Rachel are different. I cannot teach you any tricks,"

Not to mention that Jack's methods of pursuing a girl were totally different from that of Henry's.

And besides, Jack’s words made sense; Lea and Rachel were indeed different.

After they left, Eric could no longer control his emotions. The unprecedented awareness of a crisis
enveloped him. Jack was coveting his cousin, while Henry was trying to win over the girl of his dreams.

'Oh my God! You've got to be kidding me. Neither of them are kind-hearted,' Eric thought.

He sighed and slowly approached his cousin. "Rachel,

What do you think of Jack these days?" he stammered.

Rachel stopped in her tracks. She thought for a while and said conservatively, "Just okay." She thought
that he was neither good nor bad for her.

Jack let things as they were in this relationship; similarly, Rachel didn't pay much heed to what he was
up to.

Eric complained, "I don’t think he’s good."



"Why?" Rachel asked.

He looked at her, suspiciously. "Are you rooting for him?"

"Just tell me the truth, why do you think he isn’t good enough?" she quizzed.

Eric pondered for a long time and came up with the fact that Jack had no positive traits. Besides, he
loathed Jack.

To be fair, he never adored Jack, but Jack’s father gave him a good impression.

That day, after Rachel went out with Jack, Jonathan had a friendly chat with him, which made him
wonder how a father and a son could have conflicting personalities.

Well, all that mattered was Rachel’s happiness. But Eric just couldn't bear the thought of Rachel and
Jack being together.


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