CHAPTER 394: UNWANTED GUEST

Annoyed, Lane closed the browser and turned off the screen of his phone, hiding what he had been up to, before getting up from the couch. Since the annoyance was already here, she probably couldn’t be easily dealt with, but the least Lane could do was to let her know she was not welcome.

"What are you doing here?" he snapped, stepping out into the entryway, where Damien and the guest were huddled.

Or the guests, to be precise. Aside from Clara, whose voice was naturally the reason behind the souring of Lane’s mood, Samantha and Eloise were also present. The two of them looked like unwilling participants of this scene, though - Lane could tell from the looks on their faces that they had tried to stop Clara. Which ultimately failed, because the woman was a stubborn menace in every wrong way possible (at least according to Lane). Thus, they decided to tag along to at least try to ease the situation...

They had enough common sense to know that even if they were siblings, it wasn’t exactly appropriate to drop by Damien’s place unannounced late in the evening, after all. Especially when their brother and his beloved boyfriend had just gotten back home from a hard day at work.

That’s not to say that Clara lacked social awareness. If she had, then she would have been stopping by Damien’s apartment all the time to keep an eye on Lane. It was just that she was under the impression that the societal norms and basic consideration could be overruled if she had a good enough reason (or a reason that she considered good enough), apparently.

The moment Lane appeared in her field of view, she stopped talking in the middle of the sentence, and threw him a sharp glare. "I’ve heard that Elly and Sammy stopped by last night."

...Was that what it was all about? Lane quirked his brow.

"I don’t know, I didn’t see them," he answered plainly. Of course, he actually knew - not only he had heard them chat with Damien, but he had even been the one to arrange their visit - but that was none of Clara’s business.

However, Clara was evidently convinced otherwise. "How come I wasn’t informed that they would be coming here?"

"How should I know?" Lane shrugged his shoulders. Judging how Clara was ASKING him, rather than straight-out jumping at him with accusations, Eloise and Samantha must have given her some sort of excuse, taking all the blame and hiding Lane’s involvement...

Since that was the case, Lane was just going to take it. If it were the two of them who excluded Clara, then the woman would just let it slide, rather than blowing it out of proportion and turning it into a huge argument as she would probably have done with Lane. So, it wasn’t bad to let her two sisters take the fall. Besides, it was their fault in the first place - if one of them hadn’t accidentally said or done something to expose their visit, how would Clara even know about it?

Clara stared at him intensely for a while longer, as if trying to see through him. She had no doubt in her heart that Lane was at fault for her sisters not including her in their birthday visit. Even if Lane hadn’t explicitly asked them not to bring Clara, the only reason why Eloise and Samantha would hide their plans from her was out of consideration for Lane...

But in the end, she had no choice but to drop it. She had no proof, after all. A few months ago, that wouldn’t have stopped her from arguing with Lane... But ever since the incident in the reactivated C-rank dungeon and their scouting mission together, she toned her hostility down a lot. Although she still believed that Lane was nowhere good enough for her brother, and she harbored some suspicions, at the very least, the man was not a complete good-for-nothing. He was better at their job than she was, and even if just for that fact, he had deserved some respect.

Plus thanks to him, her brother was finally living in a decent apartment. And he no longer had to endure the lengthy daily commute. That was... certainly an advantage.

And Lane made Damien happy, at least for now, even though Clara would never admit it out loud.

All of that made her drop the issue, even if unwillingly, with a long, exasperated sigh. "Since I wasn’t able to stop by yesterday, I came today," she explained. "It’s Damien’s birthday, after all, I also want to give him birthday wishes in person."

"Ah, is that so?" Although Lane doubted that it was all, he didn’t argue. Instead, he said, "Well, then are you done now?"

"What? We’ve just come!"

"And we’ve just come back from work. We’re both tired, so you should go. How long does it take to say ’happy birthday’, anyway?"

"You-!" Clara took a sharp breath, almost losing her temper. She stopped herself in time, though, at least in part thanks to the glances her siblings were giving her. Technically speaking, she was intruding, visiting without any prior notification, and it was getting late...

Of course, that didn’t mean she was going to leave just yet. She had a secret weapon prepared.

"I’ve brought cake," she announced, lifting up a large paper box.

Lane eyed the box hesitantly, his attitude softening without him even realizing it. "What kind of cake?"

"Chocolate cake." Clara opened the box a crack to show the contents. "With strawberries."

Lane involuntarily gulped. The cake looked good. And smelled even better. Super sweet and delicious, with bright red, plump, shiny strawberries on top...

Almost as if the cake was chosen with his taste in mind, rather than Damien’s.

Which it had been. Damien never cared much about sweets, so if it was just to celebrate his birthday, a simple vanilla sponge cake would do. That’s what they would usually have in the past. And Eloise and Samantha weren’t all that big on sweets either. Clara had the biggest sweet tooth among the elder siblings, but she was more fond of cheesecakes. Her preference also leaned more into tropical fruits, especially mangoes and passion fruits... Strawberries were just alright.

So, all things considered, the cake was half an excuse, half a peace offering.

Lane stared at it for a while longer, before letting out a loud, theatrical sigh.

"Fine. You can come in for a moment..." he said reluctantly. "Only to have your slice, though. After that, scram."