"What do you want me to say?"

"Are you dating Tiefenbacher?"

"No."

They had a staredown over their pina colada. Jess held her ground, putting a lid on her annoyance. She couldn't understand why she was interested in the man that she likes. She isn't even dating Noah, for fuck sake!

"You may be thinking why I'm giving you the shit about Tiefenbacher. You see, crushing, flirting, fucking or even falling in love with that guy is not a problem - "

"W-what -"

"Let me finish Jessica. And I hope that what I will tell you is not something that you will use to decide your feelings about the poor guy. As I've told you before, I haven't met him, but I heard a lot of stories about him… and his ex-wife."

"I'm not really interested in knowing those things. I feel like I'm preparing for a situation that I'm not sure if it's going to happen."

"Well, that's why it is called precaution. I don't want to tell you about this but I remembered not talking with Dana before and she gave me shit about not being an honest friend, quote-unquote. So, I will tell you about the things I know, and it's up to you what you will do with the information."

Jess swallowed the lump that suddenly formed in her throat. Why does she feel anxious about what Ellise was saying? When she gave her a look questioning if she was ready to listen about what she has to say about Noah, she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

'What other things she could say that Siena hasn't already told her?'

"Noah is a genius in his field. I'm not sure if Siena told you that Noah has a Ph.D. in the same field of study with you?"

When she didn't react to confirm her question that she already knew about it. Noah told her personally about that piece of information. She didn't get it from Siena's scouring the web.

"He was once called a prodigy. He had this research about a promising cure for cancer. There was a lot of noise about it, the black market was ready to buy ANAT Pharma and Co shares. Remember, this one was all talk - it was never confirmed, however, the buzzing was loud and a lot of people thought it was real. Then suddenly it all went quiet."

"How long was the study? You can't have a buzzing about this drug even if it was in the early stage of research and be quiet about it. They aren't going to claim that it was promising unless they already have the data to prove otherwise." she knitted her forehead on why Ellise was telling her story that was clearly hearsay.

"It happened when I was a teenager, and I don't really know shit about these things. I mostly blend in the shadow during those years so I heard some of it. And that story, just like what you think is merely bullshit. Or so I thought…"

Jess widened her eyes, do ANAT Pharma and Co really have this ongoing research about this drug in their laboratory? It was the questions that came on top of her mind with the gist of what Ellise was saying.

"This miracle drug story blew up again, a few years after - within the same year Noah divorced his wife. Mind you everyone at that time was more interested in the drama of the divorce since it involved another man on the side of his ex-wife and the said man happened to be Noah's best friend. I couldn't blame the morally pretentious high society if they were shocked.

However, they talked about this miracle drug resurface in the black market. According to the hearsay, Nicole - Noah's still wife at the time, who was also a huge name in your field, assuming you didn't know yet, and Noah's best friend according to this rumor, stole this miracle drug."

She didn't know that Nicole was also in the same field. Her insecurity over the woman takes shape once again into a higher level. Given, she has a terrible personality but with Goddess look, and her brain - no wonder she was Noah's wife. She sounds amazing!

"I still don't know why you are telling me a rumor about this miracle drug."

"Well, in the first time this story of miracle drugs came to the black market, and how it suddenly disappeared was the same timeline when Noah became an alcoholic. People who are waiting for this so-called miracle drug believe this shit as real because Noah spiraled into alcoholism when it was rumored to disappear."

"Still sounds all bullshit to me." her face was covered with a cold, indifferent mask. For she honestly believes that it was all bullshit.

"It was to me too, however, I want you to be aware that Noah had a scandalous fall out from his wife and you should be careful."

Her jaw dropped off when she put it that way. She went into the roundabout rumor of Noah and her ex-wife and yet in the end she would just tell her to be mindful of Noah because he has an alcohol problem. What a load of bullshit!

She doesn't understand why she is putting it in a way that sounds so secretive when in fact she can hear the bullshit from thousands of miles away. She doesn't believe any of the shit Ellise told her.

"Noah doesn't drink." she scoffed.

"He doesn't because he can't."

"Fine! The man is an alcoholic. Had a scandalous fall out from his wife..." she threw her hands in the air, "..but what does it have to do with me?" she asked in exasperation.

"I actually don't know," she said, sipping her pina colada.

"What the actual fuck, Ellise!"

"I just don't want you to go crazy on me in the near future when you get your heart broken."

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened in disbelief with words that just came out of her friend's mouth.

"Why would I get my heart broken? I'm not dating Tiefenbacher!"