"Little Miss Jessie, why did you leave us?!"

She could hear them murmur then a fit of giggles would follow. While it's great that they get along for there is nothing more stressful than friends from different circles not liking each, however, the two of them were too much!

"Please, Noah…" she was still gripping his arm.

He looked at Jess and saw the panic in her eyes. He cupped her face inside his palm and gently stroked her cheek, "Only if you promise to tell me why… I'll do - "

Before he could finish his sentence, Jess turned around and left him on the balcony.

"Hey...wait up!"

She heard Noah but she acted like she didn't. She got pissed off that he had to make a deal out of her asking for a favor. Why can't he just help her out? Can he see that she was in a tight spot?

It seems like she would be on her own, this time too. She released a long sigh and met Luke and Ellise in the foyer. The two drunkards had their arms linked to each other.

"It seems like the two of you had drunk a lot." As soon as she saw them, she commented on the state they are in because she doesn't want the two of them to start nagging her once they realized Noah is in their villa!

"Well, I had too much sex on the beach because you left us. What do you expect me to do with all those alcohol?"

"We had to share your drink because we don't want it to go to waste," she said, but her gaze was fixed behind her.

"Hello, again, Mr. Tiefenbacher."

When Luke saw Noah, he turned to Ellise, "Our Little Jessie must have refused the sex on the beach since she had real sex!" he cracked up laughing like he just said the best joke.

Her face burned up with embarrassment that she gave Luke an 'I'm disappointed with you' look with his tackless joke.

"Sorry, bad joke. Let me go to my room and reflect on my action." He stood up straight and stopped talking with his sing-songy voice. He threw Noah an apologetic smile before going to his room.

She took a deep breath that it was just the three of them standing in the middle of the living room. She jolted when she felt Noah's hand behind the small of her back.

"Just call me Noah." He smiled at Ellise who was giving Jess a questioning gaze. He wondered what was their relationship for Jess to be scared of what Ellise would say. Was her opinion really that important to Jess?"

"Noah then." she smiled amicably. "We'll have dinner at the Florante, would you like to join us?"

"Thank you for the invitation but my daughter got a stomachache after our lunch at the Mongolian restaurant. I have to stay with her. I just drop by to say hello to Jess." He tried to catch her eyes but she was clearly avoiding him. He now regretted not saying yes the moment she asked for the favor.

Now, he doubted if she would tell him what that favor was about that he turned down because he wanted to tease her.

"Is Lucille okay? Do you need to bring her to the hospital?" She asked but her eyes were on Ellise. She was trying to get a read on what was she thinking.

He stroked the back of her head upon hearing the genuine concern for his daughter in her voice. His heart did a happy thumping inside his chest. "A doctor already checked on her condition, and she was fine. She just needed some rest."

"That's good to hear that Miss Lucille was doing fine. Rest assured, I will personally check on the restaurant about this matter. My apology, Mr. Tiefenbacher."

Noah's brows furrowed with what Ellise was saying, "You don't really have to apologize. I'm mean, it was the restaurant's fault." Then a realization hit him and in his head, he went 'oh'.

"Do you own the restaurant?" he asked casually.

"Yes. And the whole resort too." she stared at Noah who was still standing too close with Jess who kept on twisted her hands, listening to her provoking Noah.

"I see. We all eat the same food and it was just Lucille who got a bad stomach." 'Damn, it looks like she doesn't like him for her friend.' He matched the professional smile that was on her lips. He wondered when she claimed that she owned the resort if she meant her family owns it. But from what he knew, the owner of this resort was an Italian family.

"I will just walk Noah out and then, I'll get ready for dinner." She pulled Noah's arm before Ellise could say something.

"Your friend doesn't like me." He put his arm on the door frame to stop Jess from slamming the door on his face.

"Ellise doesn't like everyone."

"She seems to like Luke though."

"Luke is special. Bye Noah. I hope Lucille gets better soon." She swatted his hand that was on the door handle and closed the door.

She leaned her back on the door and closed her eyes. She was doing a breathing exercise to steady her heartbeat before facing Ellise with her interrogation.

"Do you have any idea of what Miss Lucille likes?"

Ellise's voice startled her. She didn't realize that she followed them into the foyer.

"Uhm, I don't have an idea." she stammered in her response. "But I remember Noah telling me her daughter likes Ghibli films."

"Ghibli at the age? The kid got taste."

"Hey, why do you ask?" she followed her back to their room.

"I want to send the kid a get-well present," she replied while she was on her phone. "Do you want to get her something?"

"No," she answered in a snap.

"You are seriously giving the kid the cold shoulder?"

She stole a glance at Ellise who was observing her as she chooses clothes for dinner. "You won't understand." She returned her attention to the dresses she has in her closet.

"Yeah," she nodded absentmindedly. "I won't probably understand. We have different circumstances growing up. When I was a kid, I wished people around me would give me attention. I never like the feeling of being a ghost in the presence of the adults around me."

She put down the dress she had chosen and crawled to Ellise's bed. "Was it difficult?"

"Hmm, the memories were hazy now, but I remember feeling lonely." she looked over her shoulder where Jess was curled up like a cat begging for affection.

"In my case, all eyes were on me that I wanted to disappear in the shadow."

Having heard the exact opposite of what Jess wanted, she couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of life. Something you hate could be someone else's longing.

They fell into deep thoughts while enjoying the comfortable silence of the moment. Sharing personal childhood memories is something they rarely talk about. If at all, they avoid discussing the past. Their friendship has always been that way. They knew they had each other's backs, no matter what and that was enough.

"Where can I get some of those baskets?" she asked in a small voice.

"I already ordered some Ghibli merch and it would be delivered tomorrow before lunch, I believe. You can have them as your get well soon present, so you'll earn brownie points from Noah's daughter. I'll just send her the generic flowers and balloon."

"I don't want to earn brownie points from Noah's daughter!"

"Well then, you'll get brownie points from Noah."

She rolled her eyes at her as she got off the bed. "You have only been around Luke for two days, and you sound just as annoying as he does."

She has the cheekiness to laugh at her annoyance. "Luke isn't a good influence on you," she mumbled under her breath as she took off her loose tunic dress over her head to change into a white dress.

She picked out a dress with a combination of lace and cotton. It has a square lace collar, button in front of the dress, that falls about two inches above her knees. She loves the dainty crochet lace embroidery on the hem of the dress.

She examined her reflection in the mirror, checking how the dress fit. She grabbed her hair and turned around, asking Ellise, "Should I put my hair up or down?"

"I'd say, put your hair down. You don't want Luke to see that hickey on your neck."

She snapped her head to watch Ellise's face and horror registered in her face when she saw the seriousness on her friend's face. She dashed to the bathroom.

With her hands on her mouth, she stared at herself in the mirror. Her heart was thumping widely in her chest. 'Noah put a damn hickey on her?' Shaking she stepped closer to the mirror and slowly lifted her hair as she turned her head to see her neck.

And just like what Ellise said, -- a damn hickey!