When Markus told them he had prepared a spread of local cuisine, she was expecting just the usual Indian food that she could eat in some restaurants in LA. She wasn't expecting a whole table covered with different food that she wasn't even familiar with. But everything was so delicious!

While everyone was busy getting their fill, she discreetly took a photo of some food that she had on her plate to send to Noah. She doesn't want to think of something to send to him later. While taking a photo, she suddenly thought of a way to tease him.

She took a photo of her food with Markus in the photo. She snapped the picture with Markus as a blurry background across the table, sitting next to Dr. Sison.

She was looking on her phone, checking the photo, grinning to herself as she imagined what Noah's reaction would be with her photo update that had Markus in it.

Jess suppressed her urge to giggle watching the photo on her phone.

"He does look kinda cute," June suddenly whispered in her ear.

Jess visibly flinched as if she got caught doing something she shouldn't be doing. She turned her head slowly to June and found her staring at her phone with the blurry face of Markus zoomed in on her phone screen.

She bit her lower lip when she realized that she thought she was secretly taking a photo of Markus.

"Do you think so?" She decided to ride on June's misperception of her taking pictures of Markus.

"Yes. He's a constant topic of the girls in the lab. According to them, he's close to the COO of ANAT. Both of them were notorious for playing with lots of girls, though." she scrunched her nose. "So, if you have a crush on him, I think you should reconsider."

She scoffed. With everything, June said, the one that registered in her brain was, Noah was playing the field with Markus. She huffed inwardly, thinking men who tend to get jealous easily, were truly the ones that have a lot of women hidden in their closet or—pants.

Jess knitted her eyebrows with annoyance from what she learned from June. She was thinking of not sending the photo with Markus on it because she was worried that Noah would get jealous and she doesn't want him to worry since she knew he had a lot on his plate at work.

However, with what she heard, she changed her mind. She didn't wait to send him the photo update for the day. When June returned her attention to her plate. She quickly sent the photo to Noah, and sent him a message, saying she was tired and would like to sleep early once they were done with their meal.

At Noah's office, he was busy working with Antonio when he heard his phone chirping. He knew it was Jess's message. He put a special ringtone for Jess's messages and calls, for him to know that it was her, and can check it even when he was busy.

He put down the folder he was reading, and with a wide grin on his face, opened his phone to see what was the photo update from Jess. He had a glimpse of the time on his phone screen and saw that it was still early for her to send a photo message.

The smile on his face turned into a frown when he saw a photo of a table covered with food and with Markus smiling on the far end of the table.

He could let go of Markus's face in the photo but when he saw the message that popped up right after the photo, his jaw clenched in annoyance. Jess was telling him not to call her because she was going to take a rest.

It was just her first day and she was already breaking her promise.

He quickly replied to her message, reminding her to take a rest but he was still going to give her a quick call later. After he sent his reply to Jess, he called Markus.

And the bastard declined his call! He was furious and couldn't focus on his task that made Antonio unhappy. He had to ask for a quick break.

Meanwhile, Markus was busy discussing some work matters with Dr. Sison when he got a call from Noah. He declined the call with the thought of calling him back once he was done with his discussion with Dr. Sison.

As soon as he refused Noah's calls, he began receiving a stream of messages asking him if he was doing his job correctly. As he read Noah's messages, his eyebrow knitted tightly together.

He was about to ignore his messages when he glanced at Jess across from him on the wide table. She was staring at him but when he glanced at her, she averted her gaze when his eyes met hers.

That's when he realized what Noah's messages were about. He laughed inwardly. Noah was asking him about his extra work of taking care of his girl in addition to his work.

[She's enjoying her meal. I was having a discussion with Dr. Sison. Shut up!]

When Noah received Markus's reply, he almost hurled his phone across the room. Now, more than ever, he regretted sending him over there. And he was on the brink of sending a message to the bastard to come home and he would fly over there in exchange when Antonio approached him with a grim expression on his face.

"What was it?" he asked before Antonio could open his mouth.

He didn't reply to his question, instead, he handed him a white envelope with a familiar logo on the front.

"When did it arrive?" he asked in a somber tone. He had forgotten Markus and Jess, for he has a bigger problem at hand.

"A few minutes ago."

Noah nodded and opened the envelope. His hands clenched into fists the moment he saw the logo on the white paper inside the envelope.