"Hold it RIGHT THERE!" Lucas held her phone tight in his hand, preventing her from typing a message.
"Yes?" She smiled sweetly, but only he knew the evilness behind this innocent face.
"I got it! Sheesh. I'll take responsibility. I was joking about it earlier. Haha..." He could only surrender whenever Chloe gets involved.
"Great! Then Chloe's location -"
Before she could continue asking, he raised his palm to stop her question. "I don't have that information. If I have all that information, do you think I will be standing here right now?"
"Hmm? You got a good point, but here's another question for you. Do you take me for a fool again? You clearly had our decoding device in your hand earlier. You even attached it to Chloe's computer. I suppose by now you should have retrieved the information you need to give me a satisfactory answer. Correct?" Her brilliant smile shone brightly as if she had won a valuable prize. It was one that glowed more than a rare diamond.
"Haha...What device are you talking about? I have so many that I don't even remember which one I brought out to play with." He tried his best not to blow his own cover, but all effort went down the drain when she further exposed him.
"You know, you're quite a bad liar. It's sad that you can't even lie properly for once, but great for Chloe to see through you." Ivy clicked her tongue and swayed her finger side by side.
"Am not! I am an excellent liar, okay? I can fool anyone I wish to fool." He argued back, feeling offended by her comment. He clearly had the talent to trick others if he set his heart to it.
"Oh! Then were you lying about the lab?" She crossed her arms with a crooked smile.
"Yes! And you believed me!" He replied, recalling her nods earlier.
"Wow, you're so great! So are you lying now about the device?!" She questioned him again.
"Yes, I am! In fact, I already knew-" He realized he had a slip of tongue and quickly blocked his mouth from spurting more answers.
Seeing how confident she appeared made his heart pump as if there is no tomorrow. "I I..misspoke."
"Oh, you misspoke. Okay! So tell me how you will be using binoculars in a lab. What is the use of binoculars to study microorganisms?" Her long lashes fanned questionably at him as if it was giving him a farewell.
"We will hang that microorganism slide thing all the way far enough until the binoculars discover it. This is a test for our observation skills and see what specimen we can find." He wasn't sure what terms were being used at this point. However, his desire to survive was really strong for him to come up with any reasons he could.
Ivy clapped and shook her head, acting as if she was amazed by his reasoning. Actually, she was quite impressed that he managed to make up such a unique response. Though it did not make sense, she gave him brownie points for effort. "Well, that is one big fat lie. Anyway, your device is still on Chloe's computer. As long as I go there right now, I can take the information without asking."
"Ugh!!! Just how the heck did you find out about this?! Is it my face?!" He rubbed his cheeks and pulled his skin down, revealing a vexed expression.
"Haha, well to start, you could've chosen all the devices in this world for decoding information. Yet, you chose my family's product. How could I have not recognized our own products?" She laughed at his goofy expression while replying to his inquiry.
"But you have so many products. My product could've been a fake one. It could be an enemy imitating your company's production!" He tried convincing himself that he was not the one who gave away his own lie.
However, Ivy only let him live a short dream. She responded, "my family's specially printed ink logo was stamped right on the product. How could I miss it? Now, let's go back to business. Where is Chloe?"
After a few minutes of silence, she attempted to head to Chloe's room. However, he blocked her path with his arm. "You do know that you are not allowed to know where Chloe is for her missions, right? This is the unspoken rule of the Clover family. You're not allowed to put yourself in any type of danger, at least not until your health is better."
"Oh? My family's unspoken rule? How come I've never heard about it? What? So you are allowed to always track down my sister and help her succeed in her missions and I, her biological sister, can't even know where she is?" Ivy was playing along until he became serious.
"Ivy, the last time you interfered with her mission, you ended up-" His sentence was cut off by her.
"Lucas. I know you two set a deal that as long as you find her whereabouts on your own without her directly telling you her location, you will be allowed to help her when she is in danger. I know she definitely left you some kind of hint after we upgraded our security system. As her sister, I have every right to know where she is located. As her family, I worry and have every right to protect her as well. So please, just tell me where she is. I will decide where I go and what to do."
Seeing that he would most likely not be able to get out of the villa today without telling her the truth, he sighed and surrendered to her request.
After they went back into Chloe's room, Lucas sat down in her chair and started typing on her screen. However, before he needed to start decoding for more information, Chloe's computer screen turned on and revealed her flight ticket information.
"Pfft." Ivy looked at the destination of her flight. She licked her lips and didn't let any chance of roasting Lucas slip away. "She really lacks confidence in your skills after our most recent upgrade that she left her ticket on her screen for you."
She patted him twice on the shoulder before turning around to head back to her room.
"Wait! What are you planning to do?" Lucas gritted his teeth and made his decision to not let her take action alone.
Ivy tilted her head back, raised a victory sign with her fingers and announced her plan. "To Sydney, Australia."