"So what do you know?"

Noah heard the sudden change in Jess's tone when she asked the question.

He exhaled a deep breath, "I know the names of some of your family members -"

"Then how come you don't know my father?" her voice was laced with disbelief. She raised up from leaning against his chest.

She craned her neck to see Noah's eyes as if she could only trust the words that would come out of his mouth if she could see his eyes.

"I knew the names but no photos. There were just five photos in that file. One of your grandfather on your father's side, a photo of you - freshman in college, a graduation photo of you when you were in high school, and two photos were when you were a kid - around five or six years old."

She twisted her body on Noah's lap to have a better look at his face. She was very curious about why Noah had her investigated. When she asked him about it before, he said it was because she was a candidate for internships.

She always had a feeling that it was more than that. And she wanted to know the truth of it.

"I make sure not to ask for information about you that was too intrusive. As I told you I need to know some information about you, but mostly on your preference about - food, and if you and Luke… were in a relationship."

With his last words, he avoided her gaze. In addition, he lowered his voice to the point that she almost didn't catch what he said.

"You had it check if Luke and I were in some kind of a relationship?"

"Not proud of it, but it was kinda a force of habit...needed in the job kinda thing." He explained but his eyes still couldn't hold her gaze.

"That's so stupid, you know that."

"I don't approach women, Jess. They approach me."

She wanted to get angry yet the way he said those words was void of any emotion, just simply stating a fact, which annoyed her more. "You are just basically saying that women run after you, Noah."

"Yes," he answered curtly, holding her inquisitive gaze.

She clicked her tongue and curled up her lips in annoyance. "Jerk!"

"I'm sorry." He put his palm on the side of her head and let her lay down on his chest again. "I won't do it again, because I want to know you on my own. Not from those words in a report from some strangers. I want you to tell me about you."

"Yeah, I can tell you now that you are a pain in the ass, annoying freak, and an egoistic jerk!"

She was expecting to get a negative reaction from Noah with those words, instead, he threw his head, laughing, and embraced her tighter, kissed the side of her head, and said, "You like me anyway."

"There is something wrong with me. Totally wrong…" her voice trailed off. A memory of their first night together flashed right before her eyes. She heaved a deep sigh and tried to shove the memory at the back of her mind.

"But I promised myself to get to know you better, Noah. I have some whys that I need some answer."

"You can ask me now. I would answer them for you,"

"No. I want to have an idea of what happened first before I would ask you."

"So, you are saying, you will gather evidence against me first before you confront me about it?"

"Maybe. Something like that…"

"You are a formidable enemy, Miss Zimmerman."

"How so?"

"The one who holds the truth has -"

"- the advantage to negotiate." She finished his sentence for him. "I heard about that from Ellise."

"I'm not going to ask why she taught you those words."

"For jerks like you, I guess." she scoffed.

"I deserve that," he chuckled.

"That's good to know," she replied, carefully shifting her weight on his lap so as not to wake up a part of his body she didn't wish to awaken. "Now be quiet, I want to hear myself think."

He chuckled, put up his feet on the table in front of them, then he leaned back against the chair's backrest.

With Noah's sitting position, Jess ended up almost laying down on top of his body.

And just like what she asked, Noah kept his mouth shut. He just softly ran his fingers on her arms, gently caressing her skin.

Jess pressed her cheek on Noah's chest. Her ear was right on top of his heart. His heart has soft gentle beats in his chest that make her drowsy with sleep.

It could be that or because she was too drunk yesterday. The filing of Dr. Sison's files were also very tedious for her since she wasn't good at filing physical documents.

She always stored her papers on her computer, which enabled her to quickly search for the exact document she needed with a few keywords. She knew, however, that it doesn't work that way with hard copies.

She had no choice but to read most of the files. And reading research papers with a throbbing headache and thinking of Noah all the same time was not an easy feat.

She pulled her arms in her chest and folded her knees. She was like a fetus on top of Noah's body.

Seeing Jess's position in a dimly lit balcony, a chuckle escaped Noah's throat.

"I'm sorry," he said with a laugh when Jess hit his shoulder with her fist. "You're just too adorable," he whispered, kissing the crown of her head.

"Shhh," she said, closing her eyes, inhaling his scent. The gentle rise and fall of Noah's chest were lulling her to sleep.

She was about to succumb to sleep when she abruptly jerked up from lying down on Noah's chest. He was startled by her sudden move.

"I have a question," she twisted her body to face Noah. "I have to ask now because if I don't, I will forget about it or won't get the opportunity to ask later."

"What is it? You are making me nervous, Jess," he furrowed his eyebrows when Jess just stared at his face.

"I was thinking of how difficult it was to file Dr. Sison's file and the thought suddenly came to mind…"

"What?" He asked again because Jess stopped in the middle of her sentence and returned to staring at his face. "Jess?"

"Uhm, Dr. Sison offered me the position to be her assistant in the lab," she said with a deep sigh.

"Congratulations! Dr. Sison is one of our best researchers. You would learn a lot from her if she would mentor you."

"Did you have something to do with it?" she whispered.

"Do with what?"

"Me, getting that position."

He chuckled and pulled the back of her head to kiss her forehead, "Baby, I don't play that game. I just went crazy investigating you because I don't know how to approach you. You kept on declining my invitation in the past, remember?"

Jess swallowed the saliva that pooled up the back of her throat for Noah didn't let go, cradling the back of her head in his palm. The tip of their nose was touching up, and he was staring deeply into her eyes.

Jess felt her heart beat faster in her chest.

"I just want to ask...you know - I am just an intern and I know that being Dr. Sison protegee -- other people in the lab aim for that."

"That's why I am congratulating you! It was such an honor and a great opportunity. And don't worry," he gave her lips a chaste kiss. "I didn't pull any strings for you to get that position."

"Just making sure…"

"Baby, if I would abuse my authority and put you in a specific position in my company, I would fire Antonio."

"Why would you do that?"

She watched Noah's eyes slowly lit up with mischief, and she couldn't help but chuckle and wait for whatever silliness he would come up with.

"Miss Zimmerman, I would love to see you in a pencil skirt that would hike up in your thighs…" his fingertips graze her thigh as he speaks, " ...every time you bend whenever I ask you to pick something up."

She snorted, trying to keep in her laughter, and waited for what Noah was going to say next.

But he didn't say anything, instead, he slapped Jess behind. "That's enough. Let's get inside because your ass is getting cold here."

She rolled her eyes and circled her arms around Noah's neck. She crooked her eyebrow at him, silently telling him that she has no plan to get off his lap.

He stood up, cradling her in his arms like she weighed nothing, pretending he was annoyed. When he closed the sliding door behind them, he bit the base of her earlobe, and whispered, "If I will get you a position in my company, I'll make sure that it is something where I can see you all the time."