36: it hurts

A knock from the door brought Ariel and Gracie back to their senses. Ariel found herself in the bathtub and looked around in a daze.
"Messing with my dreams and reality again," she mumbled, and within twenty minutes they were out of the bathroom.
The other maids helped her dress up in a forest green dress that fell down to her toes. Her hair was braided sideways, thereby revealing her flawless back. Black rings adorned her fingers, and her lips were painted black. No make-up, just mascara and a black lip shade. 
"These are the things you should not do when you go out there." Gracie took a book from the maid and flipped through it. 
"You must not take any drink apart from the one specially prepared for you." 
"You must not leave Dino's side."
"You must not argue back during the introduction." 
"You must not ask random questions."
"Is that all?" Ariel asked,
"For now?" Gracie replied. 
"Dumb rules," Ariel scoffed and walked out of the room with the maids.
\~~~~Escavor Pack~~~~ 
"Did you find her?" Athonio asked.
"I can't find her anywhere," Lucas replied with his jaw clenched together. 
No one knows what's going on in his mind, but he looked deranged, frustrated and emotionally drained. 
"Do you think she went back to her ex?" Athonio asked again, and Lucas shot him a dreadful glare. 
"What makes you think she will go back to that bastard after she came looking for me?"
"She came looking for you but left you. What do you think that means? " Athonio asked with his brows creased up. 
"She left because she had always wanted to leave. I brought her here against her own wishes, you know, but I thought she was joking when she said she was going to leave. I never knew she would leave unexpectedly. She didn't even leave a note. Athonio, it hurts so much." Lucas gritted his teeth as he fought hard to fight the tears burning in his eyes. 
"Chill, bro! You can get another mate," Athonio said with a comforting voice, and that pissed Lucas off. 
"What about my child? She's the one I fucking want," Lucas growled and walked away.
"Another glass." Lucas placed the empty glass of liquor on the counter and signalled the waiter for another shot. 
"Sorry, sir, this is the tenth glass you're drinking," the waiter said with concern lacing his voice.
"What's your job here?" Lucas asked calmly while toying with the lighter in his hand. 
"To serve customers," the waiter replied cautiously. 
"Who am I?" Lucas asked again, and the waiter frowned his face in confusion.
"How am I supposed to know who you are when we haven't met before?" The waiter replied with his own question, and Lucas let out a bitter smile.
You can tell that he is not annoyed by the young man's question.
"Your IQ is quite low." Lucas sighed and pushed the glass forward for the waiter to fill, and he did without fussing.
"What does this have to do with my IQ? You must be drunk," the waiter mumbled and put a lollipop into his mouth. 
"What's your job here?" Lucas asked again. This time around he was sipping from his glass and no longer gulping the liquor down.
"My job here is to serve customers," the waiter replied bluntly. 
"And who are your customers?" Lucas asked again.
"People like you," the waiter replied.
"Then who am I?" Lucas asked for the tenth time.
"My customer," the waiter replied, and Lucas nodded his head.
"Next time just tell your customer you don't have any liquor left," Lucas enunciated and gulped the remaining liquor in the glass.
"Even if you have been drinking, you don't look like someone who's drunk. Your words made sense to me, and I wondered why a cute guy like you would be drinking," the young man said with a tone of curiosity and admiration. 
"Who said cute men can't drink? Mind you, I'm straight." Lucas flicked his lashes at him as a sign of warning. A warning: he shouldn't have any lustful thoughts towards him because he doesn't want his ass to be fucked. 
"I know you're straight. You don't need to remind me." The waiter waved his hands in the air in a bid to hide his embarrassment. 
"Come here; let's talk man to man." Lucas gestured for the waiter to come closer, which he did. 
"How do I find a runaway mate?" Lucas asked calmly, hoping to get a helpful answer from the waiter. 
"By using the mate mark to track her," the waiter replied calmly. 
"Nah, she's not marked yet." Lucas pressed the bridge of his nose with his fingertips.
"Then it will be difficult to find her."
"I should have marked her," Lucas mumbled in a tone of regret. 
Lucas walked out of the bar and returned to his quarters, where he saw Clarissa standing outside his doorstep. She wore a baggy sweatshirt and baggy pants, and that look reminds Lucas of Ariel.
"I brought midnight snacks for you," Clarissa said while plastering a smile on her face. 
"Does my mother ask you to give them to me?" Lucas asked while pushing the door to his bedroom open. 
"No, Luna is already asleep. I made them myself." Clarissa tried to act as well as possible.
She read in a book that when a girl prepares midnight snacks for a man she loves, the man will reciprocate her feelings and show appreciation.
She hopes this works out for her now that Ariel is out of the picture. Besides, this is the best time to be with Lucas because he's hurt and needs someone by his side to comfort him. 
"Thank you, but I don't need those." Lucas threw the words over his shoulders and walked into the bedroom with a part of him hoping to see Ariel waiting for him on the bed.
"Is there something on your mind?" Clarissa asked and pretended as if she didn't hear Lucas reject her snacks a few minutes ago.
"Yes, but it has nothing to do with you," Lucas replied and closed his eyes to take in the disappointment of not seeing what he expected. 
"A problem shared is a problem solved, so do you mind sharing?" Clarissa walked forward, wrapped her hands around Lucas's waist while pressing her soft boobs on his back, and mumbled on his back.