4 || An illusion

When Shane woke up, it was already a bright sunny morning. As he didn't need to attend his office today, he sat up lazily before getting out of the warmth of the comforter.

Getting freshen up and after taking a long shower, he made his way to the kitchen. As always, he found the fridge was filled with his favourite items.

Taking his breakfast, he got ready. Finding nothing else to do and being a workaholic, he didn’t like the idea of idling a day. So, he made his way to his office which was an unpleasant surprise for the office staff as he was supposed to leave for his hometown today.

Seeing him, someone from the office staff thought of sending an alert to others and wrote in the group chat of official staff.

Code Blue: Dragon is out here today also..

Notifications hit the office staff hard and they got all busy with nothing but work only. Getting fired or facing the wrath of the Dragon whose name was Shane Lockwood was the last thing they wanted to greet.

Seeing everyone engrossed in work, Shane smiled a little as he made his way to his cabin. As today he wasn't supposed to be here, his PA Mack wasn't present there with a cup of coffee. Finding no meeting to attend and all, he thought of going through for some random inspection of the branches to find whether everything was going smoothly.

After letting it know to one of the staff, he went out for it half an hour later. It was another shock for the staff as Shane was infamous for nitpicking and thriving for perfection only. The day became very much hectic for them to meet the demands of Shane.

~~

Getting back from the office, Shane took a warm shower. Getting dressed in a warm brown blazer with a denim button-down shirt, dark slim-fit jeans, and custom-made sneakers, Shane got out of the penthouse and made his way to the elevator to reach the ground floor.

He was surprised that his grandma didn't call to yell at him for not attending her calls like she had been doing for a while. What is she planning now? He thought for a moment.

When he caught the sight of Lilian, he made his way to her as he checked the time on his phone and shoved it back into his jeans pocket.

"The girl is on time?" Shane seemed surprised. He always saw his sisters and cousins' girlfriends being late for any party or something.

Well, she isn't here to party, Dude!

His mind snapped at him.

Lilian seemed to be leaving already which confused Shane. He stood in her way, "Hey?"

So, he really came! Lilian didn't expect it.

"I thought you won't come. Anyways, thanks for coming but.." Lilian stopped as she looked at the hall room.

She wasn't in a mood to go in anymore. Simon looked happy. It's just the woman beside him wasn't her. But what can be done now? Even if she wrecked the wedding and Simon came back to her, she would never be able to trust him again.

So, what's the point?

Like Shane could read her thoughts, he spoke up, "Snap out of it, Lilian. Love is an illusion. It just doesn't really exist."

Lilian turned to him. If it was a few days earlier, Lilian must have tried to change his thoughts on love but going through it, she nodded as she smiled sadly.

Lesson learned.

"Let's go and meet the asshole" Shane walked forward towards the hall room. The hindrance of the invitation card was long forgotten as Lilian trailed behind Shane lost in some other thoughts.

Right then Shane's phone rang off. Shane took out the phone and saw his grandma's smiling face flashing on the screen.

Expected, he thought and turned to Lilian, "You go ahead. I need to take the call."

Nodding at him, Lilian walked further and Shane pressed the accept button and hold the phone against his ear, "Granny.."

Karen Lockwood sounded worried as she inquired, "Shane, you okay?"

Shane smiled feeling her concern, "Yeah, I am alright. What will happen to me?"

"You were supposed to be back already, my boy. Why aren't you here then?"

Shane expected her Karen to yell at him but when she didn't, he got even more confused. Shrugging off the thought, he explained that he got stuck with some work and all excluding the thing with Lilian. He still was wavering at his decision.

~~

The guards were totally pissed off when they saw Lilian again. "Which part of 'you can't enter without an invitation card' was hard to understand that you came back again to try?"

"Look, I.." Lilian tried to say but the guard at the door interrupted in a stern voice, "A party is going on. No unpleasant scene is wanted here. If you don't leave on your own, then we are calling security."

Like Simon cheating on her wasn't enough, she had to listen to all this. Fate really preferred joking with her like this! She wondered sadly as she turned to leave but got bumped into a hard yet comfy chest.

"Lilian, You okay?" Lilian looked up at Shane. She didn't want to get Shane humiliated for her. Obviously, she wasn't okay but she nodded without glancing behind at the guards who were standing with faltered eyes now. With the tone Shane used for that girl, it was clear to them that he knew her pretty well.

And if she said to Shane what they just said to her, then..

Their chain of thought got interrupted and turned into reality as they heard Lilian, "Shane, let's go from here. We won't be able to enter the party anyway without the invitation card and I don't have one."

The two guards exchanged looks as if asking each other..

Will we be able to make it today?

Hearing Lilian, Shane turned to them, "What's going on here?"

One of the guards replied gulping fearfully, "Sorry, sir. Actually, we are told to stop any intrusion without an invitation card."

Shane shot them a glaring look, "So, I can't enter, right?"

Guards exchanged worried looks once again and one managed to utter immediately, "No. Rules are not for you, Sir."

One of the guards gave Lilian a confused look only to get Shane uttering, "She is with me."

"Sorry, Sir. We didn't know Ma'am is with you."

Before Lilian could process what was happening and why the guards were behaving like that to him, Shane got hold of her hand and pulled her inside the hall room.

"Why they.." Lilian trailed off as he caught the sight of Simon, smiling brightly as he was talking to Evana.

Simon caught Lilian's gaze only to get the smile vanishing immediately from his face. Not just seeing Lilian but Shane who was firmly holding Lilian's hand.

Who is he?

The thought got crossing his mind and a few moments later he panicked as he recognized him.

To get him, even more, faltered, his father_in_law rushed to him, "Sir, you here? What a pleasant surprise!"

Why is Lilian with his boss that too holding hand? What's happening actually?

His question immediately got answered as Shane shook hands with his father_in_law and introduced Lilian as his girlfriend.

Simon stood in his place frozen. Anticipating what was happening and what actually was upcoming to him.

Lilian was smilingly talking to Shane and James. He was well aware of Shane's nature and could feel everything was just a matter of time.

Lilian saying about him to Shane and he won't hesitate for even a moment to fire Simon from his job and knowing Evana's family, he got considering whether their marriage would survive even a day!

Simon could see his dream shattering into pieces already when he again turned to Lilian only to find her walking toward him with a glaring look solely rooted on him....