"Do you always work this late?" he asked as he waited for her to lock the laboratory.

It was already three-forty-five in the morning. Jess had to recheck her data multiple times before she got satisfied and call it a day.

"Let me take you home," he said, trying to start a conversation. He would love to find out where she lives. Antonio hasn't gotten back to him with the information he was asking about Jess.

"I brought my car, and my house is just a few minutes away from here. You don't have to worry about my hand. I took a painkiller. It won't get in the way of my driving."

She doesn't want Noah to find out where she lives. Luke and the school registrar are the ones who know her address. And she intended to keep it that way. She hates it when people get into her personal space.

Thus, she shot down every possible reason he would use to offer her a ride home.

"Well then, if I can't take you home. Let's go out for dinner sometime."

Jess furrowed her eyebrows. She doesn't want to move in the same circle with Noah. She was having difficulty controlling her petty behavior whenever he was close. 'Damn this guy for being so persistent.'

"Tiefenbacher, do I really have to spell it out to you that I don't want to go out with you?"

When she had double-checked that the laboratory door was locked properly, she put her ID card back in her purse.

"Come on, Jess. Don't be like a stranger." he cocked his head towards her, stepping in front of her, walking backward.

"We aren't strangers to each other, that's true. That's the reason why I don't want to sit down to dinner with you. I'm afraid, I may end up stabbing you with a knife."

Laughing, he ruffled her hair, "Miss Zimmerman, I'd take my chances of getting stab if that meant you would accept my dinner invitation."

"No." She snapped at him, sidestepping to dodge the bastard who kept walking backward in front of her.

"I promise you dinner to make up for not remembering our first meeting." he grinned at her, stepped in front of her again after she dodged him.

"I wouldn't want you to remember that meeting anymore. So, you are already forgiven. No need to buy me dinner." She stopped on her track and gave him an annoyed look. "Would you please walk properly? You are giving me a headache!"

"Only if you agree to dinner." He smirked at her.

"Honestly now, Tiefenbacher? Are you going to do it this way?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest. About now, they are in the parking lot. Seeing her car, there was nothing she wanted to do other than drive home and slip beneath her blanket.

"It would be easier to agree to dinner with me than to keep avoiding me. Don't you think?"

"Then, yes!" she snarled at him and briskly walked to her car. She hurriedly got into the driver's seat before Noah could say another word. She jammed the key into her car's ignition and backed it out of the parking lot.

From the side mirror of her car, she saw Noah standing with his hands in his jeans pockets, watching her leave the parking lot. She said yes to his dinner invitation but she has no plans to go. She smirked at herself in the rearview mirror.

"Don't be a stranger, my ass." She wiped the tears from her eyes. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel, hard enough that the wound on her palm hurt despite the painkiller she took.

She stepped on the accelerator and her car flew on the empty streets as she took a u-turn away from her way home. She needed space to breathe.

She drove aimlessly for more than an hour and end up in Mountain View. She parked her car in an empty parking lot overlooking the valley. She watched the sky changed its hue as the sun rises up high in the sky to start a new day.

When the sun high up in the sky, she got out of her car and walked to her favorite cafe to grab some breakfast. She didn't bring her car for there will be no parking lot at the small cafe.

A fifteen-minute walk was all she needed to stretch her leg muscles and clear her head. She cannot change what happened in the past. But, she still has options on how to proceed with what's in front of her.

She was about to enter the door of the cafe when her phone chirped an alarm. Something that hasn't rung since she had it in her phone. A frown appeared on her face. She turned around and abandoning the idea of getting breakfast from her favorite cafe.

She hurriedly returned to her car. She had to be home to make the call.

She did a breathing exercise in the driver's seat before starting the car. She needed to calm her mind and not go into a panic. The alarm must be a mistake. There is no reason to call her father back home.

She has to be sure before making the call for she doesn't want to be like her specimen in the laboratory, that has to be under the microscope twenty-four seven.

She slowly eased her car out of the parking lot that has started to fill out. It's the parking lot of a government office after all. Office workers are arriving and taking their usual parking spot.

She wondered if Luke was still at home. She doesn't want to explain to him why she didn't get home last night. Luke can be a worrywart when it comes to her. His maternal instinct kicks in when it involves her.

She smiled by herself, despite the worry that is sitting at the back of her mind because of the alarm she received so early in the morning. Whoever did the checking had it done professionally for them to find out information about her that no one was supposed to know.