[This chapter is dedicated to Angela_Douglass for taking the second spot for the top fans of our book. Thank you for reading.]

---

'I helped Papa choose those flowers.'

Lucille's message keep on echoing in her head, as she sat on the bathtub with her knees drawn to her chest, overwhelmed with emotion.

Receiving flowers from Noah that had such a strong message already sent her heart into overdrive. Getting a message from his daughter added to the confusion in her mind.

She knew she was being unfair to Noah when he already became upfront with his feelings. She could ask him the question that stopped her from admitting hers.

However, it was not easy to lower one pride.

She leaned back in the tub, stretched her legs along with the tub's length, and rolled her neck side-to-side to ease the tension in her shoulders. She had just returned from vacation, but already felt she needed another one.

She closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath. The familiar scent of her favorite flower assaulted her nostril. She had lit a Ylang Ylang candle, put on a song by A Fine Frenzy — one that expressed her current feelings, and a glass of wine sat on the edge of her tub.

She mentally reviewed what she needed to do at university before the start of her internship at ANAT Pharma and Co. She couldn't help but wonder if she could see Noah at work.

She shook her head to rid herself of the thought of Noah. It's not her priority right now.

She would be doing her research in a real laboratory - not like their lab at school is not a real laboratory, but this time she would be part of a pharmaceutical company's research!

Not just any pharmaceutical company, but one that ranks among the top three in the world. She was thrilled about the idea of joining brilliant minds in a laboratory without labmates like Alice and her shadow who giggled at everything the other girl did.

In two days, she needs to return to school to find out when she can defend her research to her panel. After that, she can devote all her time to her internship.

She has to help Luke with his apartment, too. Even though he kept on saying that he has everything he needs, there will always be something missing when you moved in a new house.

Luke is a workaholic like her, thus, before starting their internship, he should fix his house because if he doesn't do it now, he won't have time to do it later. He will just consider it as something that is unimportant.

She added on her mental list to call Florence to ask for help in finding an interior decorator to help them fix Luke's apartment and also to re-decorate her house.

She has been contemplating turning her useless dining room into an open office and library, and her current workroom into a mini-laboratory. There wasn't enough space in there to be both an office and workroom because it was just her walk-in closet that she turned into a workroom because she doesn't acquire tons of clothes to fill an entire room!

She ended up still having her office in her bedroom. But ever since she saw how Noah's interior designer fixed his living and room to be one big open space, she has been thinking of doing something similar in her house.

The dining room across the living room has never been used since she moved here, because other than Luke, no one has the privilege to stay inside her private space.

She combines her living room and balcony seamlessly into one room, which is the only part of her house apart from her bedroom that she actually spends her time.

She barely cooked, and with her upcoming internship, she knew she had no time to prepare actual food. She would survive on pasta, sandwiches, and fresh fruits alone. The dining room would be a forever wasted space.

She heaved a deep sigh before she got out of the bathtub. The moment she stepped out of the tub the sensor activated and drained the water from the tub.

She picked up her glass of wine and finished it in one go. She then wrapped her hair into a towel and proceeded to dry her body, then applied lotion on her entire body before stepping out of the bathroom — stark naked.

She saw her phone blinking on her vanity table as soon as she got out of the bathroom. Someone was calling her.

When she picked up her phone, she noticed that the same number had been calling her. There were three miscalls and multiple messages.

Seeing Noah's name, she did not open any of the messages. She scoffed and scrunched her nose as she threw the phone on her bed.

She went to her drawer and pulled out a tattered t-shirt of her favorite band, put it on the shirt before removing the towel on her head. She returned to the bathroom to hang the wet towel, then sat down in front of her computer.

The messages and miscalls from Noah were soon forgotten as she got buried with a week worth of unanswered emails.

***

"Daddy," she whined with tears glistening at the corners of her eyes. "Uncle Luke and Little Miss Jessie forgot me."

"No, Schatz. I'm sure it wasn't the case." he sent a short message to Jess again, [Please, just for Lucille. Reply] He wiped the tears that rolled down on her cheeks.

"I sent a message to Little Miss Jessie," she sobbed, "...Papa, I just told her that I helped you choose the flowers. But she didn't reply."

Noah's heart throbbed with pain, he just found out that Lucille has no friends in her school. She got too attached to Luke and Jess because she considered them her only friends.

He pulled the garden chair closer to her side and pulled her to his chest. "I'm pretty sure they didn't forget you. Maybe they are still on the plane."

Lucille encircled her arms to his neck as she buried her face on his shoulder, "Don't be silly, Papa. Their phones were ringing. Your phone won't ring if you are on air — except for special phones, like your business phone," she stifled her cries but her voice quivered with disappointment.

Noah was left with nothing but simply caressed her back as she cried in his arms. It's difficult to lie when you have a smart kid.

Just like his daughter, he also wondered what had happened to Luke and Jess since both of them weren't answering their phones.

It was just eight o'clock in the evening over there. They flew back home from San Lucas in the morning. He's pretty sure that both are night owls and won't be sleeping at this hour.

He has no excuse on what to tell Lucille why her new friends weren't answering her messages. He was torn apart by the fact that his daughter experienced these kinds of emotions in her life, but he was unaware — until today since they live apart.

He now questions whether agreeing with Nicole to raise their child in this part of the world is a good idea.

"I think Little Miss Jessie not answering my message is okay. I think she doesn't like me that much," she stifled another sob, "...but why uncle Luke forgot me, daddy?

"Princess, I swear to God," he cupped his daughter's tears-stricken face, "none of them forget you. Right now, we don't know why they weren't able to answer our calls or messages, but listen to Papa, okay? They like you. Little Miss Jessie likes you more than she likes me."

Lucille stopped crying when she heard the last part of what he said. She craned her neck to look at his eyes, "You are silly, daddy,"

Her tiny hands cupped over his ears as she glanced over at the house, "I think Little Miss Jessie likes you better, daddy," she whispered.

Although it was only a child's perspective, Noah laughed joyfully at what his daughter said. He was about to say something to Lucille when his phone vibrated inside his jeans pocket.

He fished out his phone from his pocket and when he saw the caller was Jess, he had never been so happy his whole life.

He showed the phone screen to Lucille and put his fingers to his lips, tilting his neck in the direction of the house.

Lucille's eyes widened with joy seeing Jess' name on the phone screen, she nodded eagerly and put her fingers to her lips too.

She understood that this matter should not be brought to her mother's attention.

"Hello, Jess," he tried to keep his voice steady and was startled when Jess answered.

"What happened to Lucille?" she asked, the worry was visible in the tone of her voice. She didn't even return his greetings.

"You can talk to her— " before he finished his sentence, Lucille took the phone in his hand.

"Little Miss Jessie, do you not like my papa anymore?"