[This chapter is dedicated to DaoistFwfgbk. Thank you for your support. Lucille says 'hi.' :D]

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She wasn't paying attention to her surroundings when she entered the meeting room. She just saw there were four people sitting around an oval table in front of a projector screen.

When Dr. Sison went to the side where there was a row of chairs against the wall, she simply followed her. She sat down on Dr. Sison's right side as soon as she sat down.

From previous experience, she knew Dr. Sison would ask her to write down some notes about the meeting, so she opened her laptop right away.

Upon opening her computer screen, she noticed a cologne she was familiar with wafting through the air. She felt the hair stand up at the back of her arms, the base of her neck warmed up, and her eyes ever so slightly cocked to one side and saw a silhouette of a familiar face.

She doesn't have to face the man, sitting next to her to know that it was Noah! It took only his scent for her to recognize him. While she panicked, she wondered why he had failed to tell her that he would be attending this orientation.

She felt the muscles in her shoulders cramp, and she expected a stiff neck after this orientation. She was too aware of Noah's presence and the fact that all of the senior researchers were seated in front of her on the oval table.

And they were sitting on a chair, lined up on the side of the room. Her movements were visible to everyone. Her knees were shaking as she grabbed the laptop that she was balancing on her knees. She knew it was going to fall down any minute because her hands and knees were shaking so much.

She was still feeling confused when Noah bent over her side and reached out to offer a handshake to Dr. Sison.

"Dr. Sison, my apologies. I wasn't able to meet you after you returned from your trip."

Jess bit her lower lip when Noah moved in her direction. It must have occurred to the bastard that she was causing him trouble since he didn't return to his seat and kept on talking to Dr. Sison, leaning to her side.

She cleared her throat, and mumbled, "Excuse me, Dr. Sison. Would you like me to move?"

"Nonsense, Jessica. Stay there." She glanced at her as if she had just realized that they were together. "Oh, yes, Jessica, this is the COO of ANAT Pharma and Co."

"I didn't know you had such a gorgeous assistant, Dr. Sison," Noah told Jess as he extended his hand.

Noah's words made Jessica want to roll her eyes as she accepted his hand for a shake and tried to stay composed because everyone was watching them.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Tifenbacher." She smiled as politely as she could while clenching her teeth, trying to keep her eyebrows from arching up in her forehead at how Noah was acting like a sleazy boss.

Her attention was drawn to Antonio, sitting next to Noah. He had his eyes glued to the laptop screen, which he was also balancing on his lap. A small smile is formed on the corner of his lips.

She wouldn't have known that Antonio was smiling if she didn't know him personally and had interacted with him a lot ever since she knew Noah.

"Jessica, beware of him. I've given up trying to keep up with the beautiful women he discarded since I started working in the company."

She smiled at Noah who stiffened after hearing what Dr. Sison said. "That's something I will keep in mind, Dr. Sison. Thanks for the heads up." She pulled her hand from Noah's grip who had no choice but to let go of her hand as everyone in the room was watching them.

Noah chuckled nervously and tried to catch Jess's eyes but she kept her eyes on her computer screen and just lifted her head when someone started talking in front of the projector screen.

The woman who was standing in front of the projector screen introduced the four people in white lab coats, sitting on the oval meeting table as the team that would be deployed to ANAT's new laboratory in India.

The team consists of one girl and three boys. The only girl in the team introduced herself as Jung Soo Jung, and it didn't escape Jess's attention that the girl had her eyes on Noah the whole time she was speaking.

The other three were namely, Gareth Llano, Patrick Schull, and Jake Hale. Jess doesn't care about any of them. She just typed down their names for recording. The only one that caught her attention was the girl because she was openly ogling at Noah.

After the four researchers introduced themselves, Dr. Sison stood up and introduced herself and Jess to the team, and the orientation was discussed. The orientation mostly talked about things such as accommodation and other what Jess thought as unimportant things.

No one talked about the research that they were doing there. When the woman finished discussing the things they can expect once they arrived in India, she called for Noah to say something for the team.

Jess followed Noah with her gaze when he stood up from his chair until when he stood up in the middle of the room. She found a new thing to admire about Noah when she listened to him talk.

He was charismatic and quite pleasing to the eye. She wished she could peel off his three-piece suit for him and admire him even better.

When Noah glanced at Dr. Sison's sides, their eyes met for a fleeting moment but it was enough for Jess to blush, for she could tell Noah knew what exactly was running on her mind as she watched him speak to everyone in the room.

Noah must have known, she was undressing him in her mind at that exact moment.