Chapter 72

Henry's cheeks were still red as he, Joshua and Penelope made their way to Archer's car. The Lore heir had a cheeky smile on his face, mirroring his younger sister's face, Joshua was also amused but his expression was more tepid.

"Nice work on your impromptu segment. The group's kid got you good."

Just at the mention of what happened in the final ten minutes of the seminar was enough for the young man's face to melt with embarrassment. What had happened was that Reynold Gwane, who had sobered up relatively well, had made a show of Henry by asking a specific question that only Henry would be able to give the full answer to. This meant that the final speaker just handed things over to the young man, who was entirely unprepared to speak before the conference. Thankfully, he remembered his own research well and avoided embarrassing himself, which was now a much bigger risk with him being a public figure.

Obviously, the 'plot' against Henry was just a guise, the environmental geek just wanted to hear the opinion and reasoning of his academic idol, regardless of discovering their enmity.

"Alright, enough teasing," Archer said once he got his fill of amusement. "Penelope, I can see you staggering, so come sit down. I've got milkshakes for the three of you too." As Archer spoke, he opened the front passenger door for his younger sister. It came as no surprise to any of them that the long day had taken a toll on the injured teen, unfortunately even the protective eldest brother could say nothing, Penelope's entire essence was beaming with joy. 

No matter how much he wanted Joshua to have made the wrong decision to make a point, right now the man just found himself glad that both his brother and Samuel had been right, which unfortunately was not a surprise regarding the latter. 

Penelope sat down but had her legs dangling outside the car, wanting to stay facing everyone else. She watched has Archer then went to the back seat and pulled out a cup holder with four milkshakes, illegible black writing scrawled on the side that only Archer seemed to be able to read. 

"Peach for a little missy here, along with your pain killers." 

The girl made a face as she was handed her drink. On the lid was a cut out section for a leaf of her medication. 

"Salted caramel for you," the next drink was handed to Joshua. 

"Henry, according to your brother you are the fun one so you get a choice. Sweet potato avocado swirl or vanilla with caramelised not-bacon?" Archer was met with looks of disgust by his younger siblings as the obscure flavours were presented, but they turned into shock when they realised Henry was really considering the options. 

"Hm, well the vanilla is pretty basic, good but basic. I'll go with the first one, I've never tried them combined before." Archer was beaming as he handed Henry over his chosen drink. The only other person in his family who had taste that was not boring was his mother but they had not gotten milkshakes together since he was in his first year of university. 

Henry was clearly enjoying his milkshake, leaning against the car, head bobbing side to side a little, which left Joshua with a slight conflict. There was the discovery that Henry had the same eccentric taste as Archer, which may not have been surprising but did make him question the other man's sanity. On the other hand, watching someone glowing so sincerely over their food made his heart warm. 

"We've got paps on us," Archer suddenly said, not acting any differently. None of them reacted outwardly, but they did all subtly glance over to the other side of the underground carpark. There was a man taking pictures of them while trying to hide behind a random car. "Why don't you two give them a show?"

Henry choked on his drink, Joshua turning to his brother with a horrified expression. Immediately, Penelope started cackling, Archer also joining in. The two men shared a look of helplessness, but both of them were biting back smiles. It might have been at their expense, but it was nice to see everyone so lively. Things were always a little mental when they saw their family but something about the atmosphere made it a lot more endearing than it usually was. 

In the end, instead of letting the photographer keep on their watch, the Lore heir turned in his direction and waved, all four of them watching the bewildered man scarper at an impressive speed. 

Of course, the photographer had gotten more than enough shots of them. Which photos would have a higher price, the shots of the oldest and youngest Lore sibling laughing with their godly looks or the ones with the engaged couple sharing a warm look, eyes smiling. 

The two siblings slowed their laughter after what felt like an eternity to the other pair. Archer turned to Penelope and asked, "So, did you enjoy the seminar?" 

He did not understand the appeal this event had had on his younger sister, she was still in school, why would she want to throw herself into more academics in her free time. Sure, he also was as conscious as many other young people on the impeding climate crisis, as well as what that would mean moving forward within his work. However, unless told to do so by his parents, he would never even consider coming to this seminar. He might not hate academics on the same level as his brother, but the lectures and academic talk were a thing of the past, and that is where he would like to keep it.

"Yeah, it was so good. Plus, Reed was there as well and we ended up thinking up an awareness event to run at school. Sorta like a comp…competition…" As she watched the usual cheeky smile drop from her eldest brother's face, she had realised her own mistake. She had gotten so excited that she forgot about Archer's overprotectiveness. 

"Who the fuck is Reed?"

Before the young girl could even open her mouth, Joshua jumped in with a bitter tone, "Some brat upperclassman from school she got acquainted with at the hospital. Remember the kid she would talk to non-stop next to her."

"That little sh-, brat? What's a kid doing here? Why'd you let her talk to him? What happened to watching her like a hawk? Did he know she was coming? Have you asked Rin to do a background check? Something seems fishy." 

Of course, in reality, there were no bad intentions at play.

"God, Archer! He's just a classmate who happens to be a genius. He came because he's obsessed with Henry's work, it was nothing to do with me." Archer did not seem to believe her, especially after she jumped at his defence so quickly. She was sweet on this Reed kid and that meant trouble.

"You two really are brother," Henry commented with a hopeless laugh. "Why are you two getting so worked up over Penelope having friends? What, you think a 14-year-old child is trying to trick and use your little sister?" The look he received from the two overbearing brothers said it all, and he could guess why. "It's just a school crush, the girl is allowed to crush on people."

"No. No she isn't."

"Archer, I want to keep it civil, so do you really want me to ask what you were getting into at 13?"  Henry smirked at the bewildered expression on Archer's face, his skin visibly paling.

Joshua and Penelope just looked at their brother in shock, because neither had any idea what he had been doing at 13, but clearly it was not something that should see the light of day. 

"No way, did Sam spill on me?"

"Now, why would I ask my brother? You're forgetting which parent I inherited my skillset from."

"H-how much do you know?" Archer was starting to get scared. If Henry knew, Samuel would kill him. 

Meanwhile, Henry was debating whether he should come clean or not. He felt like having the upper hand on Archer would be so sweet while it lasted, but at the same time, he knew he would feel bad for lying to him. In the end, his conscience won, not that he did not have fun with his decision. 

"Nothing," he sang, wearing a ridiculously innocent smile before sipping on his milkshake. "Just an educated guess based on rumours. But my point stands, if you can get up to unspeakable acts at 13, I think your more down to earth sister can handle a crush on a budding academic. You agree?" 

Archer could say nothing, he suddenly felt not so lucky over his brother's fiancé, it would be like having three Samuels in his life, as if the original and his wife were not already enough. And with that, the disagreement was put to rest.

"Anyway, Reed really only went because he's obsessed with Henry's work. He spent most of the time gushing over it and I didn't even think he was someone to gush, and when he wasn't gushing about Henry's work he was gushing over how lucky I was to have Henry as a brother."

"I still don't like the kid," Joshua couldn't help but comment. In return, he received a dirty look from Henry.

"You two seriously need to chill, not only is he a sweet kid but he also handles your sister better than either of you."

"He does not handle me!"

Henry just nodded with a knowing smile. "My point was, he's a good kid. Adam wouldn't tutor him if he wasn't."

"Fine, if we are going to talk embarrassing, should we go back to my brother's obsession over your looks again. Or how about Reynold Gwane practically drooling over you once he realised you were his academic idol." And just like that, the teenager successfully turned the conversation away from herself.

"Did the Q Group act up again?" Archer asked, voice worried. The boy around his sister was an easy enough threat to deal with, especially after he had Haerin run a background check. But the Q Group were the more imminent danger.

"Daniel Gwane and his little posse tried to publicly humiliate Henry again," Joshua answered, his voice serious.

"No, they were trying to get a rise out of you, and in terms of that, they succeeded. The idiots only ended up making fools of themselves for showing up at the conference without even reading the programme."

"Well, I mean, they called you ugly. And they said you had no reason to be there."

There was a moment of silence, Penelope breaking it with a snigger.

"What has all of this got to do with Reynold Gwane? Was it his plan?"

"No, that is the funny part," the young girl eagerly shared what happened just before the seminar started. "He was standing on the side with Melissa Kwon and came to find out that Henry was the student pioneer on sustainable environmental studies who he was obsessed with during university. And then he heard his cousin trying to make Henry out as stupid and it was like his brain just stopped working. Then Henry called him out on staring but he was so lost for words, and it was hilarious to watch. I wish I had recorded it."

Archer was the one now lost for words. He knew how capable Reynold Gwane was, it was not just Joshua and Henry looking into the Q Group; to think that the most budding threat within the group was left in shock like that felt like a ridiculous turn of events. The young man truly had the potential to not just down their families combined but also take the Q Group to new heights if he were to beat out his older generation in the race for succession, and somehow his young brother-in-law was someone to leave him with no words with nothing but his prior academic achievements. "You two should be careful in case he has acknowledged you two as a threat," he warned the couple, voice serious. But he did not entirely ruin the mood, then looking at his sister with a smile. "I'll talk to Caroline and see if she can dig up any possible footage of the whole thing. Maybe we can all watch it at our next family dinner." Penelope giggled in response, liking what she had heard.

Henry turned to Joshua, both silently agreeing that they would be unavailable for the next family dinner.