"Thanks for driving me home. You sure won't come in?" she said as she unclipped her seatbelt. "For sure Tala is cooking something delish at this hour," she rolled her eyes at the idea of her sister's cooking.

"Your sister's food is actually good. I had pancakes the last time I came here."

"Then come inside," she insisted.

"Sorry, Stellar, but I have to return to the office." He ruffled her hair and added, "next time," when she pouted.

He watched her get out of the car with a scowl on her face.

He sighed and shook his head, "I don't think it's a good idea." he murmured as he drove back to his office.

He was still on the road, driving when he received another notification from his bank.

"Motherfucker, don't drive if you don't know how!"

A man driving a Mazda that was behind his car yelled at him as he abruptly stepped on the brake when he saw the number of zeros he saw.

"I'm sorry!" He yelled back to the driver of the Mazda that raised his middle finger for him. He can't blame him. It was his fault.

He speed-dialed Antonio's number, to find out what happened.

"Antonio, care to explain this whopping $18.4 million single purchase from Harry Winston?" he asked the moment Antonio answered his call.

"Oh!" was the first word that came out of his mouth with what Noah said. He grinned widely when he heard the amount. Miss Zimmerman deserved more than that, he thought inwardly.

"It was for a jewelry purchase," he told him. He just realized why Noah got the notification from the bank. Noah was temporarily using one of his work phones for he locked his own phone in the office safe.

One of the weird things that Noah has been doing these past two days.

"It was obviously for jewelry! It's from Harry Winston's! What I wanted to know is, why did you purchase a piece of jewelry there and for whom?"

"For Miss Zimmerman," he answered firmly. 'How odd?' he thought as he listened to Noah huffing on the other line. He doesn't understand why he was angry about the said purchase.

It could be because it was way more expensive than the other parting gift he purchased for Noah's previous women, but they are talking for Miss Zimmerman here! He couldn't believe his boss was being stingy. Little Miss Jessie deserved more if his boss would ask for his opinion.

He rolled his eyes as he waited for Noah to speak because he appeared to be stunned and speechless when he said the purchase was for Miss Zimmerman.

His phone was still firmly pressed on his ear when Markus strode into the office. He motioned him to sit down in the receiving area as he pointed that he was on a call.

"Noah?" he asked.

He nodded with a crease in his forehead for Noah was still quiet on the other line.

"Boss? Sir?" he called to check if Noah was still on the line. He went quiet for about five minutes now.

"The jewelry purchase was for Jess," he asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes," he confirmed.

"Fuck!"

The lines on Antonio's head deepened as he heard Noah cursed at the other line.

"Do not leave the office!" Noah screamed on the phone.

"Sir?" Hello?" he scoffed thinking Noah's weirdness was escalating to the point of him screaming at him over the phone.

"What was that?" Markus asked when he saw the indignation in Antonio's face.

"Leave us, Miss Garcia. Thank you," he said to his assistant secretary as he sat down on an armchair across from Markus. "Good thing you are here. I am very worried about Noah."

"Why? What happened to your boss?"

Markus, despite working as a paid employee, never treated Noah as his boss but as an equal.

"Well, he has been acting strangely…"

Markus laughed, "Noah has always been strange. Here, print these, please."

He handed a USB to Antonio. He furrowed his eyebrows when he accepted the USB absentmindedly.

'What could Noah have done this time for his secretary to be acting like this?'

He pulled his phone and called Noah and got startled when he heard a hollow ringing, coming from the wall-mounted safe on the wall.

"That is one of the strange things that Noah has been doing." He put down the thick file that he printed on top of the coffee table. "Noah locked his phone in there," he cocked his head to the office safe.

Noah has a file safe in his office where he keeps important documents that he does not want lying around. It is just him and Noah that can open the said safe and that's where he put his personal phone.

"Why would he hide his own phone in there?"

"I have the same question and I don't know the answer. You can ask him —" he said as Noah arrived.

"Hi, Noah!"

"Explain this purchase," he threw the phone to Antonio who barely caught it.

He ignored Markus and went directly to the file safe to retrieve his personal phone that he hid there because Stellar told him that he should not contact Jess until he could explain the damn dream that has been on repeat in his head.

He had tons of missed calls and messages on his phone but he scrolled past them and looked for a particular message — the ones from Jess. He just found one missed call and two messages.

The first message was from the same night that they were together in her house. She sent him a goodnight message. He couldn't help the smile that escaped his lips remembering what happened that night.

But his smile was replaced with a frown with the reason why he wasn't able to reply to that message. It was at that moment that he collapsed on the floor of his kitchen.

The next message was a good morning. His heart ached with the idea that she must have thought he was ignoring her on purpose. She called him once, later on, the same day she sent the second message. And after that no more.

He understood why she didn't send or call him anymore after that unanswered call. She already sent two messages that were unanswered.

"Shit," he cursed under his breath as he quickly typed a message for her, asking them to meet for he has a lot of explaining to do.

"Antonio!" He called his secretary who hasn't spoken a word, and when he glanced up from his phone he saw Markus, casually sitting on the couch of his office receiving area. "Oh, you're here," he said as he sat down next to him.

He scoffed, "I was here before you and even greeted you when you came in." he shook his head. "I now understand why your secretary thought you are being weird."

Antonio sat down on the opposite couch and handed him a piece of paper. He saw a note in his usual scrawl. "Take care of Miss Zimmerman." he read out loud his own writing.

A coldness crawled at his spine when he heard his own note. He looked up at Antonio and an understanding dawned on him.

"Did you…?" He asked with an ashen expression on his face.

"Yes. This morning I placed the order. From the time-stamped of notification from the bank, Miss Zimmerman picked up her gift at around noon."

"Shit! Shit!" he pulled his hair as he put his elbows on his knees.

"I don't understand what is happening. Can you explain what is going on? I mean, I'm here to make a report for the successful acquisition of a new laboratory and pharma company in Mumbai…" he said.

Markus glanced back and forth between Noah, who was hunched on his knees, and Antonio, who was perched on the couch like a statue with an expression of pain on his face as though he was suffering from constipation.

"Who is this Miss Zimmerman?" he asked when the two didn't answer him.

"Okay, you bought her a gift," he looked at Antonio who went pale when he spoke. "That is a good thing. Especially since I was unreachable for two days."

"I will write my resignation letter now, sir," he replied. His voice was quivering and he couldn't meet Noah's eyes.

"W-wait -- what is this resignation? Why would you resign?" Markus turned his body to face Noah, who had a murderous expression on his face.

Noah looked at the three piles of documents on top of the coffee table in front of him, then looked up to Antonio's aghast face.

"I assumed that — I - I mean… the note that you had written was the usual message you'd give me —when you— I - I thought you were…asking me to buy Miss Zimmerman a parting gift."

"Fuck me!" he grunted as he heaved a deep breath.

"Well, I would love to if only you would let me in with what's happening."

"Shut up, Markus! This is not the time for your tasteless jokes!"