Jacob frowned at the loud commotion Lance had made and narrowed his eyes, signaling his friend to quiet down.
Even this subtle shift in expression was sufficient for the other man to realize what he had done.
"My bad," Lance mumbled his apology and lowered his voice while sneaking a peek at Aaron only to find him unconscious as he had been until now.
This sight made him sigh and grimace at the same time as it was both a good sign and a bad one.
He was glad that his abrupt outburst had not disturbed the patient but at the same time, he felt uneasy when he saw his friend in a comatose-like state.
However, recalling the doctor's assurance about Aaron being out of any danger helped him let go of the uneasy feeling that had bubbled within him.
He then patted his heart while reverting his attention towards his silent friend whom he had just addressed as Jake.
Reclining on the couch placed on the other side of the room, the man he had called out to was now looking right at him.
With a single glance, Lance could make out the exhaustion apparent on his friend's expressionless face and knew what the cause for this must have been.
His friend, Jacob, had been in the middle of a conference when he had been asked to join them on their search mission.
Unlike Boston, who had been enjoying himself at a lavish dinner party, and Lance, who was lounging in the comfort of his own home while watching a movie, Jacob had been working diligently despite the late hours.
They were spending time in leisure but the evergreen workaholic was busy overexerting himself at work.
The slightly wrinkled black suit he was now wearing was proof that Jacob had not even gotten the chance to rest from the moment he had headed out of his home this morning.
Now, it was past midnight and in a few hours, this man would once again be off to his office instead of heading home to rest as any normal person would.
Thinking of this, Lance frowned but flattened his lips when he realized that he had been lost in thought about his unfeeling best friend who was currently glaring daggers at him.
Jacob, as Lance had assessed, had been busy from the moment he had stepped out of his home.
However, not everything had gone according to his plans and things seemed to have gone off track today as well.
'Seems to be happening quite often these days.' He added as he had made this observation after considering what he had been experiencing until now.
For someone with as rigid a personality as his, he disliked not being in control of his schedule but that was exactly how things had been turning out these last many days.
This thought caused his eyes to darken since he did not find it pleasing in the least bit.
At the same time, getting called out of his conference for his friend's sake was not the source of his frustration as he would have done it regardless of where he was or what he was doing.
It was something else that had been on his mind, distracting him from what he was supposed to be doing all day, every day.
Even earlier when they were standing outside while the doctors were treating Aaron, he had been lost in thought of a certain hazy memory that he was trying to recall.
Sweaty bodies, lascivious moans, and the images of a lithe figure writhing under him plagued his mind at random times of the day.
It was as though a mirage of what seemed to have been an endlessly passionate night was stuck in his mind.
However, as vivid as those images were, a lot more was left hazy, making it hard for him to find any useful information from those memories which came and went as they pleased.
Earlier, when his friends had been arguing about something useless once again, his mind had gone back to those memories he wished to learn more about.
This was when his unfocused eyes which had been peering out of the window had somehow managed to land on a figure that just so happened to be passing by.
The slender back of the woman who strode next to the man he was familiar with had thus caught his eye before his friends had come forward to sneak a peek as well.
Though they had disturbed his train of thought, this wasn't an entirely unfortunate situation as Lance seemed to know something that he wasn't aware of.
Therefore, he had been interested to know about it but was interrupted by the appearance of the doctor and the nurse.
The glare he had shot at them for their mistimed entry was a subconscious response that his body had initiated before he could even realize what he was doing.
Though he was surprised that he had wordlessly lashed out at the medical professionals who had come to treat his friend, Jacob managed to regain control over his fierce glare which seemed to have frightened the older nurse.
Thankfully, they did not hold it against him and did their job of reporting the patient's condition before taking their leave.
The conversation between the three friends had thus come to an end as there was something more important for them to deal with.
They had then moved into the room which now belonged to Aaron, one of their other best friends.
As silence overtook them, Jacob had been mulling over everything that had taken place until now but paused when he heard the unhappy grumblings of his other two friends.
Thus he had shot them a disapproving glance before returning to his thoughts.
He had been at work all day and for the last few hours, at this hospital.
Therefore, he had not gotten much time with his thoughts and was using this opportunity to focus on what was on his mind.
However, once again, he had been disturbed but this time, Jacob wasn't averse to this outcome, especially when he heard the words coming out of his friend's mouth.
He did not know why he was behaving this way but he could not deny that he was interested in knowing what that file in the assistant's hand contained.
Despite noticing how uncharacteristic this nosy behavior felt to him, he continued to gaze at Lance, waiting to hear what his friend had to say.
However, all he received was silence as it appeared that his friends had fallen into deep thought.
Jacob had no way of knowing that his friend was worrying over his unhealthy habit of overworking but even if he was aware of it, he would not have been too appreciative of the concern being directed towards him.
For someone who disliked being kept waiting, these few seconds were unpleasant.
Hence, his deep blue eyes darkened as he glared at Lance, who though had called for his attention yet spoke nothing and only kept staring at him with a dazed look on his face.
Now it wasn't just Jacob who was annoyed with Lance's behavior as even Boston was busy glaring at him which worked wonders in snapping the dazed man out of his thoughts.
"Ah, right…" Lance mumbled in embarrassment, scratching his neck as a sheepish smile formed on his face.
Noticing their glares, he hastened to disclose what he had discovered when they were sneaking peeks at the group they had seen exiting the hospital a while ago.