Mr Love: Dream Date Chap 5 His Secret
Having been introduced to Gavin, Kiro and Victor in this order, naturally this chapter would be devoted to learning more about the mysterious professor Lucien. You will need to hit level 17 to unlock this chapter. By this time, it will take quite a bit of daily grinding and completing of daily quests which gives about 100k experience on its own to level up.
Spoilers ahead!
As with every other chapter before, it starts with a dream. This was another dream of your childhood, of you sitting under a camphor tree with a young boy in a white coat. If the preceding chapters bore any pattern, then this young boy must have been Lucien, which means that you had known Kiro, Victor and Lucien as a child but have no recollection of them. The only person you remembered was Gavin whom you got to know during high school. I kind of feel bad for Gavin considering that I was rooting for him. The fact is he probably never got a chance since these other three guys had one up against him in terms of history with you. Whatever your past was is still shrouded in mystery.
It was yet another project with Loveland TV. You were assigned to produce a show about autism and this being such a nuanced subject, you needed to seek professional opinion on how to approach it. Lucien came to mind. However even though he lived next door to you now, finding him turned out to be such a difficult task. He was often gone early in the morning and did not return until late at night. After waiting up for him for several nights, you finally chanced upon him leaving for an evening appointment. Curiosity got the better of you and you decided to tail him to learn about what was keeping him busy after work.
You found out that Lucien spends his entire evening stopping at various places ranging from cinemas to gyms to food establishments to bars, each time staying only for a short while before moving on. After you lost sight of him, you coincidentally bumped into him outside the bar bidding farewell to a lady. You tried to hide the fact you were following him and he offered to walk you home. After dropping you off at home, he immediately set out again. Your curiosity got the better of you so you set off again after him. This time, Lucien decided to camp at an overnight theatre featuring old movies by Audrey Hepburn and you soon fell asleep watching them.
Before you know it, Lucien gently shook you awake because the cinema was closing. It was almost dawn. Thankfully he didn’t ask any probing questions (like duh, I think the professor is smart enough to know you were following him). As both of you walked home together, you discussed the movies and Lucien asked you if you had ever changed for someone you loved. To which I answered positively. He then asked rhetorically if you would be able to change him as well.
Back at office in a dreamlike state, having barely slept a wink, you realised you had forgotten to broach the subject of the show with Lucien. While you were taking a nap in office, Gavin appeared out of nowhere, having flown in from the 17th storey window, which startled you. He spied a photo of you and your dad and asked to borrow it. In a spur of the moment, he also whisked you out of the window, scaring you in the process in a bid to keep you awake. He cautioned you against following others as it could be dangerous. What the hell Gavin… that was really totally random.
Anyway you decided to go to the research centre to find Lucien. Upon arriving you saw him speaking cordially with a young lady. Instead of stopping to call out to him, you hesitated and continued to observe him. This time after picking up a call, he took off in his car and you decided to tail him once again to the chagrin of the cab driver. Lucien’s first stop was to pick up a bouquet of flowers from a flower shop and then to a fancy restaurant in the middle of town. You followed after him to the restaurant and saw him disappear into a private booth. As you sat outside eating by yourself, you wondered at the absurdity of your actions and the emotional roller coaster you put yourself through.
Just as you were about to leave, the waiter offered you a ticket for a fireworks festival. Feeling rather disappointed that Lucien was a first class flirt, you left the tickets on the table and went home. As you were walking towards the direction of home, Lucien suddenly pulled up next to you in his car. Speechless at his sudden appearance, he offered you the bouquet of flowers, the same flowers that the lead actress in the movies loved. At this unexpected gesture, you lashed out at Lucien, telling him as a friend, not to be so kind with every woman he meets as it would hurt the person who cares for him.
As you tried to walk away, Lucien pulled you back and explained all the interactions he had with the various women were purely at a professional level and he had never meant to hurt you. You tried to deny feeling hurt but he called you out. In fact, he also called you out for tailing him the whole of last night which was really silly of you. Come to think of it, I have to agree with him on hindsight. You were probably just a friend and I would be pretty annoyed if a random friend decided to follow me like this, interfering with my private life. But truth be told, I would probably have done the same thing as well and feel the same disappointment, the same bafflement being offered the flowers and now the same embarrassment.
You apologised for your behaviour and as recompense, he asked you to follow him somewhere which you couldn’t refuse. After a long drive, you arrived at a secluded spot near a lake where both of you could watch fireworks together and play with sparklers. This is like soooo romantic! Lucien, you should be arrested for being so darn smooth. Both of you talked for a bit as you tried to understand his various activities at night. Lucien tells you it is part of his research and admitted that you were also a target of his research. Before you could remember anything else, you awoke to find yourself in an unfamiliar room.
Apparently you had fallen asleep while watching the fireworks with Lucien and he carried you home to his apartment. Wild thoughts entered your mind to which Lucien assured you that nothing had happened though he still teased you about it. You left his apartment in a fluster but returned soon after when you remembered why you had been looking for him in the first place. Hearing your request, Lucien took you on an excursion to an orphanage outside of town which had a special programme for autistic children.
You spent the afternoon observing the children and interacting with them as the outline of show crystalised in your mind. Later while resting on a bench, you asked Lucien when was the last time he had slept, to which he replied three days ago. What? Is this guy some kind of superhuman who didn’t need rest? As if he didn’t seem mysterious enough, we now learn that he doesn’t sleep at all. In the spur of the moment, you pulled Lucien into one of the classrooms and encouraged him to take a nap. It wasn’t long before both of you fell asleep together at the desk, only to be awoken by the giggling of children who caught you in the act. Embarrassed and awkward, both of you quickly took your leave.
After the outing to the orphanage, you received a call from Gavin. He asked if you had visited an orphanage recently. When you told him it was for a show, he cautioned you against visiting the place often but refused to say more about it. Later you received permission from the orphanage director to film the place, so you spent the next few days putting together the documentary on autism. However, even before you had the chance to share the preview of the show with Loveland TV, an unedited version had been leaked onto social media. Your studio was lambasted for exploiting these children to up your viewership.
Meanwhile, we see Kiro surrounded by computer equipment and Gavin receiving an unwelcome reception at the place where you had taken the photo with your dad.
Since Lucien was probably an Evolver himself and have yet to revealed what his powers are, I have a huge suspicion he is a mind reader. This can only explain how he is always able to almost know what I’m thinking about or even spot me following him or leaving or even knowing the disappointment I felt. I won’t be surprised that it is not that he doesn’t need to sleep but rather he cannot sleep with all the voices in his head.
After having my first interaction with each of these characters, I am beginning to shift my preferences. Lucien was turning out to be a lot more interesting than I originally thought. Though all kinds of warning signals to stay away from him is sounding out, I find myself getting ever drawn to him compared to the other characters.