"The other girls on your team have been talking about how Tiefenbacher went missing. Do you think he got scared with your voicemail?"

They are having lunch at the hidden garden that's not really hidden. It's just that few people gave attention to the back of Building D since most rooms in this building are storage, there are not a lot of students who hang out in this area.

Jess found this place when she needed to get some beaker and test tubes. The student assistant who has the key for the storage room took a long time to arrive she ended up roaming around and found the place.

She found this small ground with three picnic tables where bougainvillea grows abundantly. A gold medallion tree is thriving beautifully alone in the middle.

What Jess loves about this place, other than there are only a few people who came to this place is that at noon it doesn't get direct sunlight. That made it the ideal place to take a nap.

"Don't ask me about Noah, I wish to God he stays where ever he is right now and not come back!"

"Don't be like that. I really want to know what he did with the voicemail you left him." Luke giggled. Her stupidity has been the source of his joys nowadays. He didn't let a day goes by without teasing her about that damn, 'I'm not terrible in bed' voicemail.

She was slapping Luke with the clipboard she was holding when she received a call from the man that they were talking about.

Luke fell laughing from the bench. She swears to god she will kill him one of these days.

"Aren't you going to answer it?"

"No." she curtly answered. She put her phone in silence mode, draped her arm over her eyes to take a nap.

--

Since his plane landed, Noah's eyebrows furrowed, leaving a line on his forehead that seemed to deepen the more he dialed her number. He has been calling Jess, but his call all went unanswered. It is lunch break, why can't she take his call, he wondered. 'Is she with that guy again who is stuck to her like glue?'

The guy that according to her rumormonger classmates was the reason why Jess got accepted in the research team under professor Boa. He didn't believe that Jess got on the team because of a nobody like him.

Well, he is a smart one, he could give him that. According to the file that he has in his hands, other than Jess, he is one of the top five interns that are recommended by the school.

He really can't wait to get the report that he specifically asked from Antonio. Maybe he should ask him to prioritize it.

He stepped on the accelerator to reach his house. He needed to change his car so he could visit the University. If he gets lucky, he might catch Jess at the laboratory without her nosy classmates.

--

"Hey, Little Jessie. Are you seriously going to ignore Noah?" he asked the girl leaning on his shoulder pretending to sleep.

"I think you should decide on what you would do with him. You can't run away from him forever." he nudged his shoulder to shake Jess. She pinched his thigh in return.

"What do you suggest I should do?" she asked annoyed.

"He doesn't look like he would leave you alone. I mean look at him still calling you even though with how many times he called and you are not answering it, it should be obvious to him by now that you are not interested."

"Other men would have given up. But not Noah," he explained, waving his arms in the air like he is a conductor of an orchestra. "How are you going to run away from that kind of man?"

"I heard from professor Boa that Noah was just tasked to check the interns that are applying for ANAT and Pharma Co, he isn't really going to stay, you know." She shrugged her shoulder nonchalantly. "And even if I start working at ANAT and Pharma Co, it's not like I'm going to work under him. We might not even see each other. It's a huge company after all."

"That's up to you. I'm just reminding you that things could go wrong. It would be best if you approached him straight to the point."

"Yeah sure. Like I should tell Noah,-- who doesn't remember the shit that happened to us," She stood up, then faced Luke. "How do you expect me to tell him? … Like, hey I know that you don't remember it, but I just want you to know that we slept together," she exuded sarcasm when she asked him.

"It is awkward indeed. I can't find a situation where you could open up such a sensitive topic. If a man doesn't remember a woman, it only means one thing. He isn't interested." he tried to hold her hands in his hands.

"Don't treat me like I'm fragile," she said, slapping his hands. "Though we are teammates right now, I can avoid him easily, since no one knows my schedule on the lab. I could just pop up in there and no one will know."

She turned her back away from Luke, and have her eyes on the gold medallion tree that is now wearing green shiny leaves, a few more weeks and its buds would bloom into beautiful flowers.

Like this gold medallion tree, she would bloom on her own even when no one knows she exists. She doesn't need any accolades. She doesn't a man to acknowledge her existence -- especially one that doesn't recall how he healed her broken soul. She used to survive on her own. She can do it again.

A solitary tear runs down on her cheek. She had a lot of regrets in her life, the one night she spent with Noah is something she would never regret.

Just that it angers her that she was the only one who thought it was special.

Luke's probably right, she's nothing but a naive woman.