Grace looked into her son's smiling eyes, then shook her head softly in amusement. However, while showing no sign of agreement, she didn't say anything in outright refusal either. Alex's smile deepened, and he pointed to the side with his spoon as he added:
"And it will be good for Leyna too, Mom, so you have no reason to refuse."
The one in question was startled at suddenly being pulled into the topic and she raised her head with the confusion written on her face. Grace glanced at her assistant, and lowered her head to her dessert while replying with an interested smile:
"Tell me about it."
Finally getting a true reaction, Alex capitalized on his mother's curiosity with enthusiasm:
"With someone to help you with errands that don't necessarily need Leyna, won't she have more time for herself? She will be able to rest a bit more, have more time to take care of herself, and finally get the opportunity to think about the big milestone in her life she has been procrastinating on."
Leyna paused, then thought about the matter Alex had brought up more than once earlier, and asked in confirmation:
"You mean, getting married?"
She got an affirmative smile in response, and even though she had been expecting it, she had to take a deep breath to calm down. Now she could be certain that Alex had a scheme, something aimed at her and her spinsterhood.
Alex's lips curled up higher at the edge:
"See, it is all for your good, sis."
As Leyna exhaled, Alex turned to Grace:
"What do you say, Mom?"
Grace looked at her son for a while with her calm eyes seemingly seeing beyond his façade, then smiled slightly:
"Alright, I will be looking forward to having a new driver."
That answer satisfied Alex, as could be seen on his face. But before he could enjoy the feeling for long, Grace glanced at her assistant, and looked at her son with a deep, small smile:
"Still, after what Leyna said, I am also finding myself intrigued. You would not be trying to find her a husband, would you?"
"No way! Why would I do that!?"
Alex's startled exclamation was so sincere as he looked at his mother with an innocent look of astonishment that he was just short of looking hurt by the thoughts she was having about him.
The lake-green eyes remained on him for a while, before their owner calmly nodded:
"That's good, then. Because of you, I am still waiting for Ga-yeong's 'long' maternity leave to be over so that she can return to work. If there is another loss, I will have no choice but to retire for you to take over."
"Cough~ Cough~!"
The emphasis Grace put on the length of the leave that bothered her more than the leave itself didn't affect Alex's composure. If anything, it made his smile deepen a tad further, until the last sentence. That sudden spear point had him chokingly clearing his throat and finding the plate before him much, much more appealing than before.
But speaking of Ga-yeong, her mention suddenly made something occur to Leyna and she inquisitively looked at Alex:
"You would not be thinking of making Mark the chairwoman's driver, would you?"
Because Mark indeed had a big change coming up in his life. And she could not think of any other friend of his he would be trying to make into his mother's driver. Moreover…
"If that is the case, are you trying to have him fawn over the chairwoman in advance for his yet-to-be-born son?"
"Am I that kind of person, sis, or are you looking down on my mother? She has watched Mark grow up since his birth. Do you think she would remain indifferent to his son? That is her grandnephew we are talking about!"
Putting the last piece of his dessert in his mouth, he put his cutlery down and raised his head to drain the rest of his drink and incidentally shift his gaze away.
Looking at his appearance that screamed of guilt without showing it, Leyna gave him a sidelong glance, while Grace smiled.
*Pa*
Putting the glass down, Alex wiped his mouth and said with an earnest look:
"I'm done and you two are also done. Let's go, let's go. The day is too short, we should not waste any time."
He spoke as if the previous subject had never existed. With a thick skin that seemed unable to blush, he stood up and came to offer his arm to his mother with a confident smile that made Leyna shake her head in amusement.
Grace looked at her son, then linked her arm with his, the lingering glow of the entertaining lunch still swirling in her softened, almost smiling expression. With that, the two led the way, and Leyna followed behind them. Arriving outside, Alex took a deep breath, or at least, he had intended to at first, only to stop midway and wrinkle his nose in disgust and furrow his brows slightly at the traffic-laden road not far away.
The action was fleeting, but Grace caught it, as she had been looking at his profile. Turning to the road, she could not feel what Alex had felt, but she did not need to, because he was different, and she knew it. She knew it deeply.
"We have been talking till now, but I didn't get to ask you how you have been doing. Can you tell me?"
Alex glanced at his mother, and flashed his trademark confident smirk:
"I have been doing good, Mom, lazing around or having fun here and there, and also…"
He threw an amused smile in Leyna's direction, and continued:
"...thinking about when Leyna will get married, without having her cause a loss, of course. Overall, nothing new, just enjoying life as it comes."
Leyna shook her head in helplessness, and went to open the door of the car that had arrived for her superior. Grace made no comment on Alex's words, and nodded, as if she accepted them. But as she sat down at the back of her sedan, she calmly choked her son again with her words like only a mother would know how to:
"Don't worry. Even without a loss of that kind, I will be able to find another reason to retire."
Alex froze, speechless. One had to hand it to his mother for being able to remain elegant while being unapologetically roguish. And it seemed, she was not done with her soft blows:
"Since we are talking about marriage, when will you stop gallivanting and bring someone back for me to see?"
Turning back after buckling her seatbelt, the mature redhead took her purse from Alex's hand, and continued in a light tone that seemed to be talking about the weather:
"It has been ten years already, since that accident. You are not getting any younger, are you?"