"Seriously, sis? Just a polite smile and a 'let's talk later'? Don't you want to stop being single?"
Leyna only smiled at Alex's speechless question.
"I said when there is a chance."
"Yeah, a chance that you certainly won't help create."
Alex rolled his eyes, making Leyna chuckle. The amusement remained on her face until they met Grace on their way back to the office of Dr Miranda Robin, and it softened, before she went to stand beside the elder. Grace held her hand like she would hold a daughter's, and questioned with affection coloring her tone:
"What were you talking about?"
Leyna responded with her smile deepening, as she glanced at Alex. The latter met her gaze, then shook his head at his mother, his helplessness shining through his sigh without any subtleness at all:
"Sigh, mom, this goddaughter of yours you have almost adopted is hopeless. She will remain single for life."
"Is that so? That will be a pity."
Grace glanced between the two youngsters, and chuckled softly.
"Yes, that is so. Let's go."
With the firm, unequivocal reply, Alex turned around and led the way, refusing to look back at the source of his disappointment.
The group arrived outside where Mark was standing guard beside the two Mercedes and the Bentley. When they came close, he threw the key that had been thrown at him earlier back to its owner.
Alex caught it and waved without looking back:
"Mom, get home safe, and take your goddaughter with you. She can come to the office when she is done keeping you company. You might also help her think things through for her future. So long."
Unlocking the door of the car, Alex stepped inside. He didn't pause at the folder that had not been on the passenger seat before, as if he did not notice it, or rather, as if it had always been supposed to be there.
He started the car, and with the same, almost silent smoothness he had come to a stop with before, he moved once again and left the hospital under the gaze of the three left behind.
Grace took a moment to see her son off, before she turned to the door Mark had already opened for her.
"Let's go."
Leyna nodded, and went around the car to get in from the other side. Taking the wheel, Mark also left the front of Arland Hospital to take the same path he had taken to arrive, only in the opposite direction.
Leaning in the soft seat designed for comfort, and to be worth the money the car had cost, Grace broke the silence in the car with a calm voice while Mark kept a serious gaze on the road:
"So, why do you think Alex intends to organize a party at the company, Leyna? Any ideas?"
Leyna thought for a moment about the meeting of the board at the Group just earlier, then shook her head:
"I didn't get to participate in the meeting he chaired, so I can't be sure of what his purpose might be. However, I think that the reason he gave is one part of the truth. Beyond that, I can only suppose that he might want to find a chance to integrate himself with the power holders of the Group."
Grace listened in silence, a calm smile playing at the corners of her lips, then turned to look outside. Leyna looked at her, a thoughtful light in her eyes, as she thought about what she could have missed in her analysis of the situation.
She casted her gaze downward, going through her knowledge of Alex to try to draw better inferences, only for her eyes to widen slightly, because she seemed to not know the young man as deeply as she had thought. He had always shown himself as intelligent, very capable, but only now did she feel like the fog of mystery shrouding his frivolous self was thicker than she had ever truly perceived. It gave her the illusion that she had only ever seen his frivolous smile full of charm and unshakable confidence almost to the point of arrogance, from beyond the foggy shroud.
Maybe, there were only a few who truly knew Alex Lenner in this world, a few could recognize him for who, or maybe even what he truly was. And with his grandfather now dead, there was one less person amidst such people.
Before Leyna could embroil herself further in the gradually deepening confusion in her mind, she was pulled out of her thoughts by another question from her godmother:
"How is your new post in the Group?"
Leyna snapped out of her thoughts and took a breath to help her mind settle down. She adjusted her posture, straightening her back for a more elegant display of her shapely figure, before calmly considering the question, and replying with a small smile:
"Madam–"
"Now that I think about it, that title sounds quite distant."
Grace's interruption made Leyna pause, before her smile deepened with the affection reserved for a respected elder, a parent even, and she changed her words:
"Godmother…"
She paused, and read the satisfaction on Grace's face, before continuing, her smile deepening:
"Alex has made me the Logistics Inspector. I'm still easing myself into the new position that did not exist before. Still I think the task will be arduous."
"But it will be rewarding. And I don't doubt your ability to handle the challenge."
"I won't let you down, godmother."
Grace simply shook her head slightly:
"Not me, your brother."
Leyna paused, then nodded in acknowledgement:
"I won't let Alex down."
Though, a faint, thoughtful light made its way into her greyish blue eyes because, it seemed, Alex had deeper plans for her in the chess game he was playing, and his mother might have already caught on to it, knowing her son so well.
The soft, affectionate curve of her lips did not change, but a different kind of smile shone in her eyes, one full of interest at how things will play out going forward, and where they would end.
From the corner of her eyes, Grace took in the slight competitive edge emanating from the younger woman, and a smile rippled through her lake-green eyes, a happy one of a mother figure, of a life mentor, one with pride, and very faintly, at the very far back, of slight anticipation.