A few women in the restaurant stole glances at Lucas. Serenity was starting to regret bringing him here.

Maybe she should have taken him to a restaurant with private compartments so that they could avoid prying eyes.

After ordering, she told Lucas. "I heard you helped look for me after I went missing yesterday. Thank you."

"But I wasn't really any help, was I?" Lucas said softly.

"Still, I appreciate it. But..." Serenity paused and looked straight at him. "Yesterday, you said you would wait for my answer. I'll give you my answer right now. I don't love you, so you should stop wasting your time on me."

Lucas' eyebrows raised slightly. She was the first woman to reject him so thoroughly.

She rejected him once when he mistook her for the little girl, and once again now when he fell in love with her.

"Is it because of Jackson?" he asked calmly, seemingly unaffected by her rejection.

"No," she replied, shaking her head.

Even if Jackson never said anything, she would have rejecte