Chương 24: The Truth

While Allison was in deep thought about her discussion with her father, suddenly a voice was calling her.

"Allison…"

"Allison!" Lucas frowned as he called her, then waved his hand in front of her eyes. Suddenly, Allison broke from her memories. When she saw him, her pupils became dilated. Her hands tightened around the school bag, then she nervously responded.

"Lucas."

"Sorry, I was just thinking of something." Lucas looked at her suspiciously, then asked,"Are you alright? Something seems to trouble you." Allison shook her head, then smiled and replied,"I'm fine, just spacing out a little." Lucas' senses focused, then he heard her heartbeat rising rapidly.

'It seems she's still troubled by what happened that night.' He shook his head helplessly as he thought of this. He then took a step closer to her and leaned his head slightly, staring deeply into her eyes.

"You're not lying by any chance, are you?"

"No…" Although this was her answer, when she said it, Allison briefly broke eye contact, looking down.

"Alright," Lucas responded, not wanting to press any further. Allison looked relieved, seeing him not focusing on this matter.

"Let's go eat, I'm starving." He then signaled her to follow him. Allison nodded, then both of them walked towards the school cafeteria. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. After arriving, they both chose their food and then sat down. As Lucas started eating, Allison was looking at him hesitantly, then asked,"Lucas, can I ask you what your family business was?" Lucas, who was eating, was stunned by her question. Then he focused his attention on her.

He saw that although she was trying to hide it, she was still nervous.

'Smart girl,' Lucas chuckled inwardly. Then he responded with a smile: "By coincidence, my family was in the firearms business, like yours." Allison was bewildered by his answer. How could there be such a coincidence? And even more strangely was her family's attitude towards Lucas.

"Could it be that our families knew each other?" Allison asked again, trying to get something from him.

"Maybe… who knows?" Lucas replied. By now, his smile widened, and he leaned closer to her. Then he continued: "But from your parents' attitude towards me, it seems that the relationship was not friendly." He spoke as he emphasized the word friendly. Allison was staring deeply at him, trying to decipher his meaning. She realized by now that he liked giving her hints about the situation.

But even if her parents had a bad relationship with his family, it did not make sense for them to be so serious about her staying away from him. Lucas watched her struggling to find out what was happening. Then he saw her looking at him, her eyes clear, as if she had an idea.

"Could it be…"

"…that they don't want me to find out something from you?" She stared at him eagerly for an answer. Lucas was genuinely surprised this time. Her getting the right question in such a short time was astounding. His expression was brief, but it was enough for Allison to get an answer. She smiled with a proud expression on her face. Lucas then, relaxing his riddles, asked: "Then what do you think they don't want you to find out from me?"

"Could it be an embarrassing secret, or something darker?" His smile left his face as he uttered the last word. Allison's smile faltered, noticing his obvious hint, then nervously asked him,"Could it be… that my parents did something bad?" She was eager for an answer, but at the same time unsure, afraid the answer would be positive. Lucas looked at her, thinking about how to phrase the answer more carefully.

"Well… from the Argent family, your parents didn't do anything bad."

'At least to my knowledge, that's it,' Lucas added in his mind. Allison breathed a sigh of relief before frowning and realizing what he meant. Seeing Allison wanting to ask more, he continued, not giving her a chance.

"You guessed it only half right." She was stunned by his answer and looked at him, waiting to hear more.

"Your family doesn't worry about what negative things I may say about them; they worry that you will learn the truth about this world."

'And that I will hurt you,' he thought amusingly, knowing that the Ashford family and the Argents were not exactly on friendly terms. Allison was stunned by his answer as she muttered, confused, "the truth about the world." She then looked at him, now even more confused than she was at the beginning. Her proud smile from earlier vanished. She looked at him with pleading eyes, wanting an explanation. Lucas smiled as he watched her struggling to put things together.

To be honest, there were certain benefits if she learned earlier; her not being brainwashed by her psychotic family would be one of them. Then he spoke again.

"The truth about this world…"