"Are you okay?"

After they made some excuses telling the security officials that they had a flight to catch and offered Noah's ex-wife an insincere apology, they made their way to the airport. Jess has been sullen ever since. She was too quiet inside the taxi.

He couldn't blame her. Seeing Noah's ex-wife acting like she has still some hold over Noah, he could understand that Jess would feel awkward about it. Since the start of summer vacation, the two of them have been flirting heavily.

Jess hasn't been drinking and complaining about Noah for a while now, so he knew that the two were doing okay.

"Just thinking," she answered with her eyes outside the taxi's window.

"What are you thinking?"

"What is his ex-wife doing in his apartment while he is in Berlin with their daughter? I'm just assuming that Noah didn't inform her."

"Probably. Maybe, they are no longer in the kind of relationship where they have to talk about their schedule."

"Well, she was still wearing her engagement ring, and when I saw her in his apartment she looked comfortable there. And I highly doubt that Noah would not inform her about his schedule when it also includes their daughter."

He just stared at the back of her head and didn't answer. He has no answers to all the questions that she has. Only Noah could answer those for her. But, with Jess' attitude, she would never ask Noah those questions.

"You and Noah are flirting but those things aren't really your problem - unless you and Noah date officially."

"He wants me to meet his daughter." she smiled melancholically.

He knitted his forehead, "Well, that's a good thing, right? I mean, he must be considering things seriously if he wants you to meet his daughter."

"But I don't want to… or I'm scared to have any form of relationship with his child." she turned diagonally to face Luke, "I have nothing against meeting his daughter, I just don't like the idea that I would be a passing relationship in her life." She sighed when she saw the confusion in Luke's eyes. "It's difficult to explain. Just forget about it." She returned her gaze back to the view outside their speeding taxi.

"I'm confused but I get it. I mean, you aren't thinking that you and Noah would be in a steady relationship, hence, you are thinking that - why build a relationship with his daughter when one day you would disappear from her life. Am I correct?"

"My parents screwed it up for me. Mostly, my father - he would introduce these good women into our lives, then they would break up, and I could no longer talk to the woman who acted like my mother. I would ask, but no one would explain why suddenly I am motherless again."

"Maybe, Noah wasn't thinking that way." he smiled gently. He has no idea that behind Jess' strong facade, she was holding in these kinds of pain in her heart.

"I'm pretty sure, my father didn't think of breaking my heart that way too. He was sincere with those women. It is just that he kept on screwing up all his relationships. But, I know he wasn't a bad person. He just doesn't know how to be a good partner - or a father." she scoffed softly. "He isn't bad, but he is not good either."

"I know, I'm being irrational. As you said, Noah and I were just flirting. Also, it is unfair for him if I would judge him on the basis of my childhood trauma. I just don't want to involve a child in our shit. I was just like Lucille and I don't want to break her heart - I don't know if that makes sense."

"It makes sense. It makes perfect sense." He patted her knees.

"Thank you for being on my side. I just hope you were like that when we were dealing with Lucille's mother!" She clicked her tongue on him, which made them both laugh and break the gloomy atmosphere.

"I mean, be honest. She does look so heavenly. She looks like a Goddess, oozing with sex appeal. Her amazing figure betrays her angelic face. It's a sin to have that face with that body! Hot damn!"

"I'm pissed off, but I would agree. When I saw her for the first time, I thought, 'Here is a Goddess that walks on Earth'. This Goddess blessed me with her presence. Then she acted bitchy - and I don't like her anymore." She chuckled.

They laughed and threw shade at Noah's ex-wife all the way to the airport, like high school kids.

--

"Yes sir. Understood sir."

The head of the security in Noah's building nodding vigorously was giving her a headache. She was here to snoop around but she didn't expect that Noah no longer used the usual passcode combination.

She felt a pang of pain in her heart. 'Does that mean Noah has moved on already?' She couldn't blame him. She had betrayed him in the past. Noah probably would have destroyed her, if it weren't for their daughter.

"Can I speak to Mr. Tiefenbancher himself?" she asked the security. She was trying to call Noah but he didn't answer any of her calls. The security gave her an odd look. She no longer cares. She badly needed to talk to Noah so she could ask him to let her stay in his apartment.

To keep the vultures from her back and her daughter, she needed some information - any information that would help her.

The head of security reluctantly handed her the phone.

"Hello, Noah."

She was ready with her whiny and pitiful voice but was taken aback that it wasn't Noah who was on the other line.

"Hello, Miss Lui Xichen, this is Antonio, Mr. Tiefenbacher's secretary. Mr. Tiefenbacher wishes me to inform you that if you would like to stay longer in the US, you may stay at the Crown Hotel. The company will pay for it."

Her blood boils from what she heard. He let his secretary take care of her! He didn't bother doing it himself. She took a deep breath and in her most neutral voice said, "Thank you Antonio, but that won't be necessary. "I didn't know Noah was back in Berlin, I was just stopping by before returning to Shanghai."