"You --"

She kissed him to shut him up. She knew he wouldn't agree with what she said, but she is cowardly and greedy. She does not want to commit and does not want to reject him at the same time. Thus, a relationship without a label, that they would let run its course was the only thing she could give him.

Jess was kissing him but he stood there numb and confused. He clearly said his intention, why would Jess choose an open-ended relationship. They are not high school kids for Pete's sake!

He let her kiss him but he didn't kiss her back. He knew he was acting like a jerk, but he does feel insulted that Jess didn't believe or trust what they have. They both like each other, they're compatible in bed, where is the problem?

His kid? Lucille is an adorable bean. Jess didn't have to say it, but she was enamored with his daughter too! Other differences, they could talk it out like mature adults. But no, she would rather have a relationship that doesn't have a label!

If she was just like his women in his past, he would be silently celebrating the fact that she wasn't clinging to him. But fcuk! This is Jess. She wanted him to cling to him. She wanted him to like him as much as he likes her.

He wants to hold her hand, and declare to the world that she is his woman! His and his alone.

But no -- an open-ended relationship is what she wants. And it irked the hell out of him, that the way she put it was, he could either take it or leave it. Huh? Just like that!

So, he let her kiss him and stood there like a frigid statue. He wanted to talk like an adult but he was acting like a brat because goddamn -- that hurts! He felt like he was suckered punch out of his guts. His heart was squeezed within his ribcage.

He didn't expect that from her!

Yet, he can't do anything but act like a sullen brat. Because he can't walk away from Jess. If she decided to throw him crumbs, he would abandon his pride and gladly take it. He had fallen in love with her too deeply to even think of giving her up.

Standing on tiptoe and kissing Noah, who blatantly ignored her kiss -- as if he could -- she smirked and tugged his lip between her teeth before running the tip of her tongue across it.

She pressed her lower abdomen against his lower region and heard him gasp before he grabbed her ass and pulled her closer to him. She smiled triumphantly, but it was short lived.

As if she weighed nothing, he bent down and picked her up, and took her to the bathroom where a bath was waiting for her.

"Hey, what are you doing?" she clasped the front of her wrap-style dress.

"Helping you out of your clothes," He picked up the plastic glove on the counter, "Hand," he opened his palm towards her to get her hand and put a plastic glove on her injured hand.

Once, done, he stood up from sitting on the edge of the tub and left the bathroom without saying a word.

She gawked at Noah's receding back and a certain kind of sadness that she was familiar with from the past clinched her heart.

She might regret her decision tonight, but she couldn't see a way to get out of it. How could she start a relationship with Noah when he has no recollection of their past encounter. Can she really ask Noah the question of, 'Do you remember the first time we had sex?' as if she could even ask him that! She would die in shame!

She shook her head to stop her self-pity. She was just unlucky that she fell for the jerk. All she had to do now was to let him disappoint her. With that, she could have her heartbroken and moved on.

She dropped her dress on the cold bathroom floor, stood under a warm shower, washed her body, and stepped inside the tub to soak. She bit her lip when she felt the throbbing of her wound.

She closed her eyes and ignored it. The pain from the cut in her palm is nothing in comparison to the pain in her heart. She submerged herself underwater and let the water wash away the tears from her eyes.

'Baby, there is us,' Noah's voice echoed in her head and a shadow of bitterness appeared on her lips. "How could there be us if I was the only one that remembered?" she asked the four walls of the bathroom.

She was still in a daze when a soft tapping was heard on the bathroom door, followed by Noah's voice.

"Jess, are you okay? Do you need any help?"

She sighed before she answered, and another heavy stone dropped in her heart. "I don't like your kindness," she whispered to herself.

She sat cross-legged in the middle of the tub and pulled the tub stopper. As she stared at the milky water ran down the drain, she muttered to herself, "If this feeling for you can be flushed away easily like this water, I don't have to go through this pain."

She stood up when all of the water from the tub disappeared and picked up the towel Noah had prepared. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and gave herself a tired smile.

"Let's fall in love and forget the world, shall we?" She cocked her head in front of the mirror and opened her hands that were holding the towel that was wrapped around her body.

In her birth suit, she heads out of the bathroom and found Noah with his right hand in mid-air and his left hand shoved deep in his jeans pocket.

"Hey Tiefenbacher, shall we fall in love and forget the world?" she asked with a quivering voice.