[This chapter is dedicated to Mercury_Drug. Your username is totally aligned with Noah being the CEO of a pharmaceutical company! Enjoy reading!]

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"Have you forgotten that it is your life they were after?"

Keeping her eyes away from Luke, she turned her eyes outside the glass window and saw the guy that had been following them. He was on the phone, standing next to a black SUV.

Jess squinted her eyes trying to see anything that would catch her attention about the guy. She was busy studying the man and the make of his car when he looked up and their eyes met.

Jess lifted her hand and gave the man her middle finger.

Luke followed her gaze and saw the man Jess was watching. "Do you know him?" he furrowed his eyebrows. It is the first he saw Jess flipping her middle finger to somebody.

"That's the guy Jerry —"

"Jerry? That wasn't my ex…"

"Who cares about your ex? I was talking about that rat over there. He has been following us since we left the house."

He spat the coffee he was drinking when he heard what she said. He grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the window. "What are you doing, Jessica?" he asked with his eyes popping out of its socket.

Before Jess could answer Luke, her phone rang.

When she checked the caller it was Ellise. She answered her phone, swatting Luke's hand that was gripping her arm.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing Ellise?" she asked in an icy tone that startled Luke.

Today, he doesn't understand anything at all. He leaned back in his seat, and a man sitting two seats away from Jess' seat caught his attention. The man that is staring back at him is someone he is very familiar with.

Asian-looking guy with a buzzed undercut, pierced brows above a pair of eyes as black as midnight.

'Jerry.'

And he was with a guy. He recognized the atmosphere between them for he could smell his own kind. 'Jerry was dating the guy he was having breakfast with!'

"Why would you have someone follow me?"

Jess' angry voice, cursing Ellise on the phone, pulled his gaze away from the jerk named Jerry.

"What happened?" He mouthed to Jess.

She didn't answer his question but dropped the call. She then looked outside the window to search for the man she was watching before Ellise called.

He was gone!

"Let's go!" She pushed the chair with so much force that it scratched the floor, which made the aluminum chair an irritating thin noise of metal scratching a flat surface.

"Jess, I'm telling you nicely. Tell me everything before I lose my patience with this game of cat and mouse that you are playing with Ellise," he said in frustration.

She stopped walking and twisted her body into a forty-five angle and stared at Luke's face that was filled with emotion.

She was about to ask him what had happened when two guys approached them and the short guy casually greeted Luke like they were acquaintances.

"Hello, Jerry," Luke answered in a strained voice.

Jess' eyebrows twitched as she heard the name. 'So, this is the infamous Jerry.'

"You are?" Luke asked the man next to Jerry that was staring at Jess with open admiration.

"Robert Stanson," he replied to Luke's question but his eyes were glued to Jess. He extended his hand to Jess for a handshake.

Jess got the gist of what was happening when Jerry's face contorted with jealousy when Robert stepped forward offering her his hand.

She smirked inwardly, tilted her head to the side, and gave Robert her smile that she rarely uses, "Call me, Jessica," she said in a throaty voice, accepting his sweaty hand for a handshake.

She grimaced when Robert gripped her hands too hard, and when she tried to pull her hand, the bastard ran his index finger in the inside of her palm.

She controlled the urge to punch his face to wipe off his sleazy smile.

Luke draped his arms over Jess' shoulder and pulled her next to his side, so they ended up standing with their hips glued to each other. The guy named Robert gave Luke an annoyed look like his prey was taken away from him.

"Honeybun, we should leave now. We are going to be late for our class," she slid her arm to Luke's waist as she coquettishly pressed her breast to Luke's buff arm.

"Oh, yes Sugarbun," he answered Jess' provocative move by pulling her closer to his side and squeezing her shoulder affectionately. "Jerry… Robert, nice meeting you but we have to go ahead."

They didn't wait for them to answer and just walked out of the cafeteria giggling like a pair of stupid lovers.

"That was the Jerry guy you dated?" She asked when they were outside the cafeteria door.

Luke didn't answer and pulled her in the direction of the elevator. He has no plan of taking the stairs!

"For a weekend, yes! He was a good laid. Nothing out of the ordinary." he said, full of bitterness.

Jessica was about to answer Luke but the elevator had arrived and already opened in front of them, and it was nearly full, so they don't have any privacy to discuss a one-night stand.

"What do you like about that guy, Jerry?" she asked when they were already in their building. There were no people loitering in the hallway that Jess found it safe to talk about Luke's dating life.

"Nothing much. I thought he was cute. Apparently, I was just drunk."

She snickered at how adorable Luke was sulking over his ex.

"Aren't you the one that told me that those summer affairs are best only for memories? There is no reason for you to get pissed off over a guy who would date a sleazy bastard named Robert." she shuddered as she remembered the feel of his skin in her hand.

"That's true. I'm just irritated that he said, ``he never dated a guy before me and he just slept with me on a whim and now he was strutting over campus with a guy."

"So that jerk was claiming that he was straight when in reality he was as colorful as all gay flags combined?"

"Yup. It appears that it was like that."

"Well, consider it as a compliment."

He scoffed and gave Jess a quizzical look.

"You were so good, you recruited a self-proclaimed straight guy into your tribe, sister." she snorted loudly trying to contain her laughter.

"Yeah, I'm good in bed — unlike someone I know."

Jess punched Luke's good arm. "You are no longer wearing a sling over your arm, would you like me to break your other arm?"

Luke threw his head in laughter, "You are turning into a barbarian, Little Miss Jessie."

He stepped away from Jess before she could hit his arm again.

"How about breaking Jerry's arm next?" His voice was laced with amusement.

"Gladly. Remind me next time we meet him." she laughed.

They reached the corridor where their respective lab was located. He was about to enter his lab when he remembered something, "Hey, before I forgot, what was that game you were playing with Ellise."

"It was Ellise who was playing a game. She had someone follow us to check if I could still spot a tail." she pursed her lips recalling the annoyance she felt when Ellise called her and told her not to raise her middle finger to her employee for he might ask for additional compensation.

"Oh! She was testing you?" he asked in incredulity.

"Yes," she answered curtly.

She was unhappy that Ellise was throwing shade at her skill for it took her more than twenty minutes before she realized they were followed.

"Sorry about that." She suddenly felt guilty for dragging Luke all over campus trying to shake the man that Ellise tasked to follow her.

"Don't be. I think Ellise was just looking out for your safety."

"What did Ellise feed you that you are always taking her side?" she feigned jealousy.

Luke laughed, cupped her face in his palms, and squeezed her cheeks, "Ellise is filthy rich. In the future, I would need a rich sponsor for my research."

"What an opportunist!" she giggled.

"Not everyone has a fallback, Little Miss Jessie."

"Sorry, I'm not filthy rich like Ellise. I can only offer to break your exes' arms for you," she said, teasing.

Luke laughed and playful bit her nose. And that was the scene that Alice and her minion saw when they came out of the lab.

"Some people truly have no shame!" she sneered. "She was just taken for a vacation and she already forgot the man who gave her an internship."

Luke and Jess gawked at Alice and her minion.

Luke nudged Jess with his elbow, "I think they were talking about you," he giggled.

Jess folded her arms under her breast as she walked to the laboratory door, "Some people are shameless while others will just be useless," she grinned at Alice as she walked by.

"You — you!" Alice's face contorted in anger, but Jess had already slammed the door behind her, leaving Alice and her minion furious.