"Do you think I should just ask him, Luke?" she grabbed Luke's elbow and yanked it.

He replied between clenched teeth, "I don't know what the cause of Noah's selective amnesia is -- or if it's really amnesia. Which I highly doubt, since you said he remembered meeting you in that hotel. That what he forgot was just the part of you two sleeping! So, I don't think you should ask him that."

She threw herself into Luke's chest and weep.

"You know with yourself that you aren't going to be comfortable with Noah ever again if you ask him that question. And I'd admit as difficult as it seems because I honestly believe that Noah is a good person, but girl, you are so screwed!"

"I know! And, I'm confused as fuck! I wanted to get revenge, but I ended up falling for him. How could I possibly forget him when he kept on appearing everywhere? "Every time I see him, I forget how much I hate him." she cried. "Why am I this pathetic? I swear I have a high IQ."

"Your IQ has nothing to do with it. Your heart has its own logic when it comes to this matter."

"But that's just so stupid! What does the heart know? Scientifically, the heart's job was to pump blood! Why won't the heart just do its fucking job and stop meddling with the matter of a brain?"

"Sorry, I'm not the one who made it that way? Should we ask for a refund? Malfunctioning item. Request for return."

His face hurt trying not to laugh. The conversation started off dramatic but gave it to Jess to turn it into something so hilariously funny.

Jess' current situation is just as complicated as all of his previous relationships, but the flow of their conversation made it seem like a shitty joke.

"So, what should I do?"

"You already gave him your answer, didn't you?

She nodded, "yeah, I told him that whatever we have, we should just let it run its course."

"Did he agree to it?"

"No, he got mad." She clicked her tongue. "The nerve to even get mad."

"Him getting mad is a good thing." When Jess looked at him with hopeful eyes, his heart sunk. 'Oh, Little Miss Jessie you are bound for a heartbreak,' he smiled bitterly at the back of his mind.

"Unless he was faking it?"

"How do you mean?"

"Well, Noah could be just an honest-to-goodness scumbag," he shrugged his shoulder, "And him being a good daddy to Lucille is nothing but a pretense."

"He is a good father to his daughter. That is something that I would never question about Noah."

She wiped the tears from her cheek and released a deep sigh of frustration. "However, he could be a jerk, that's for sure. You see, not all good fathers can be a good lover or husband."

He raised his eyebrow in question.

"I'm just talking from experience." She left the window and climbed to her bed.

"Let's leave this conversation for another day. It's just a waste of time and tears when we both can speculate everything but we won't get an answer. And I refused with the choice of directly asking Noah about it."

"Well, you made your decision. I'm just here -- if you need me. Because to be honest, I like you a lot too!"

She snorted as she scooted to the side of the bed so Luke would have more space. "I know that you don't like me all the time! Certainly, there were times when you were so annoyed by me that you wished you could put me inside a sack, tie me up, and throw me somewhere." She giggled.

"How did you know that?" He opened his eyes wider, feigning surprise as he asked the question. "Little Miss Jessie, you must be a witch!" He elegantly covered his agape mouth with his hands. Also, he switched from his normal speaking voice to his special one, making Jess laugh.

Jess can make her own sound decisions and he can't really - or rather must not interfere with whatever decision she would come up with. As she said, she has a high IQ, but she is naive when it comes to matters of the heart.

Little Miss Jessie should learn from her own mistake. As a friend, all he can do is just be there with her, make her laugh, wipe her tears, pour her wine, and pray to whoever is listening in the universe to spare her with too much pain.

He pulled the blanket up to her chin, held her in the crook of his arms, and whispered, "Goodnight, Jess."

***

After sending Briare out, he went inside the house to check on Lucille and how her conversation with her mother was going.

He was surprised to find Antonio standing outside his daughter's room, standing still like security personnel, guarding the door with his life. He slightly nodded when he saw him.

"Why are you outside?"

"The young miss requested privacy to speak with her mother," he reported.

"You are too formal sometimes, Antonio." He stood next to him and waited outside his daughter's room to finish her phone call.

Antonio said nothing and kept a serious expression. He has no comment about his boss's observation of him being too formal since it's the truth.

They leaned on the door and stared at the wall in front of them. They could hear some sudden burst of words inside the room, then it would turn into a series of murmurs, that was hard to follow or even eavesdrop on - not that he has a plan to eavesdrop on his own daughter's private call.

"Even though she had just moved to China not so long ago, the little Miss Mandarin was quite good."

"Hmm," he agreed. His daughter's proficiency in the language is good. Must be because she's still young and can learn a new language easily. As of now, she speaks three languages fluently.

Noah cocked his head and pressed his ears on the thick oak door, why does Lucille taking a long time talking with her mother. Most of the Lucille couldn't wait to end the call whenever she calls her mother.

Inside the room, Lucille was inside her bedroom. She knew Antonio was standing guard outside the door. She doesn't want him to hear anything that he could tell her father.

Thus, she speaks in Mandarin for she knows Antonio doesn't understand the language.

"Are you listening, Lucille?"

"Yes, Mama. I heard you," she said in a distressed voice.

"Tell me who are the bodyguards your father is employing to be with you once you are back here."

"I have Soraya. Papa told me she would be my piano teacher and my nanny until things changed. For how long I do not know. Uncle Jin might also come, but I'm not sure. Only Soraya I'm sure."

"Okay. That's only two security. Why is your father just giving you two security after what happened." She mumbled angrily.

Lucille was trying to catch all the words her mother was mumbling on the other line and she was confused why her mother has been insisting that she should ask her father for more security. Didn't she use to hate having them around?

"But don't tell your father that it was my idea, you understand."

"But Mama, how can I do that?" she whined. She is getting scared of how her mother was being so insistent about security. She doesn't like them because there was once a bodyguard before that took her away. '

Uncle Jin was okay, and uncle Markus. Other than that she doesn't really like them that much.

"Okay, okay. I will talk to your father about it next time. Now, tell me what happened to you? Did you get hurt?"

"No. Only Soraya and Little Miss Jessie got hurt."

"Little Miss Jessie?"

"She is Papa's neighbor in Palo Alto. Her villa here in the resort is next to us, and she was with us in the tube thingy thing together with uncle Luke."

"This uncle Luke was the one traveling with Jess, am I correct?"

"Yes, mama."

"Does your father spend a lot of time with her?"

"No, Papa, spend time with me. Little Miss Jessie spent more time with Miss Ellise." She gripped her panda stuff toy as she answered her mother.

Her heart was beating too fast. She doesn't know why she feels the need to lie to her mother when she asked about Little Miss Jessie and her papa.

On the other line, her mother did not say anything. Her hands trembled as tears filled the corners of her eyes. 'Does she know she lied?'

"Where is your father now?"

"Outside."

"Outside?" She asked, probing.

"He is talking to someone I don't know. An old man in a wheelchair."

"Okay. Be safe and I'll see you soon. Don't forget what we talk about."

"Yes, Mama. Goodbye," she hastily dropped the call and got out of the bathroom.

When she came out of the bathroom, she was startled to see her father sitting on the armchair next to her bed.