[This chapter is dedicated to nasteho_muhammed for bestowing our story power stones throughout the week. Thank you for your support!]

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"Wh-what are you doing?"

Antonio straightened his back up and heaved a deep sigh. His guilt won't be easily eased but apologizing would help him sleep better at night.

"My boss --"

"Yo!"

Markus strutted into Noah's office, waving his hand in Antonio's direction. He didn't bother to give a look to the stunned Jess who was still stiffly standing next to Antonio.

She looked back and saw the elevator they came up with was already closed and there were no arrows blinking on the wall next to the elevator door nor a red number flashing on top of the elevator door.

She scoffed. 'A private elevator, huh.'

She gazed at the end of the corridor where the arrogant man who just entered the sliding door came from. She could assume that another elevator was in that area.

"Please," Antonio said, standing in between the automatic sliding door.

Jess has plenty of questions at the back of her mind, and she knows that for her to know the answers to those questions she has to face Noah.

She took a deep sigh and walked inside the lair of the future CEO of ANAT. The man who keeps on breaking her heart.

"Jess," he was stunned to see her. He hadn't expected her to show up. Upon sending Antonio to fetch her, he expected her to give him a difficult time.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Tiefenbacher," she said in a formal tone. She saw the arrogant man, leaning against a desk on the right side of Noah's desk that was facing the door of the inner office.

The first sliding door was just a receiving area of Noah's office where a pretty woman was sitting behind a desk in front of another glass door, which was Noah's actual office.

The inner office was a smaller room compared to the one outside. But it has a small receiving area on the left, a desk on the right, that she could conclude as Antonio's working desk, and Noah's desk was in the middle of the room, facing the glass door.

When she and Antonio entered the room, Noah was sitting on a leather chair behind an enormous oak desk. His name was engraved on a glass nameplate and the bold letters COO were written under his name.

Noah stood up rather clumsily from his office chair the moment he laid his eyes on Jess. He cleared his throat and stepped away from his desk.

"Jess, uhm-- Antonio get Miss Zimmerman something to drink, please." His eyes were locked on Jess who was standing in the middle of his office, wearing a poker face.

Jess heard a slow whistle from the man who was leaning against Antonio's desk when Noah called her in her family name. The end of her eyebrows twitched ever so slightly.

"I was hoping not to stay for a long period of time, since my lunch break is almost over, and I still have tons of documents to read and file for Dr. Sison," she said in a formal tone.

"Oh-okay. Mind sitting down," he opened his hand, motioning her to sit down in one of the couches in the sitting area of his office.

However, Jess remained standing and asked, "I was wondering if you called for me for personal or for work reasons."

Noah glanced at Markus who has his arms crossed over his chest and grinning as though he was watching an entertaining show.

"Personal," he swallowed the lump at the back of his throat. Jess being this formal was scaring him off.

"Okay. Then there is no reason for me to sit down. You can tell me now, so I could leave."

"I would like you to sit down," he gave her a small smile. He cocked his head to Markus urging him to get out of his office, but Markus just grinned and shook his head.

He was about to open his mouth to tell Markus to step out of his office when Jess said, "I know you are my boss, Mr. Tiefenbacher, however, this is so unethical. I have work to do. If you have something personal to talk to me don't use your authority to call for me during working hours," she said and turned around.

"But, you won't answer my calls!" Noah called out to her that stopped her on her track.

She slowly turned around and crossed her arms under her breast. "I wonder why I didn't answer your calls," she said, her tone laced with sarcasm.

"I'm sorry, Jess. I can explain. Please, hear me out." He saw the distrust in her face and he felt like punching his own face.

Jess with her arms crossed over her chest, stood motionlessly and waited for Noah to give his explanation.

"I would really like it if we could sit down."

He saw Antonio put two cups of coffee, a slice of chocolate cake, and a small plate full of pineapple tart on the coffee table in the sitting area.

"Please," he cocked his head to the sitting area.

"No."

Noah gritted his teeth when he heard Markus snickered with the one-word refusal from Jess. He knew it was not going to be easy to ask for Jess's forgiveness but Markus's presence was making it more difficult.

"Markus, why don't you step out and ask Miss Garcia to make you some coffee," he said, narrowing his eyes on his friend who was clearly enjoying his discomfort.

"Well, Antonio can make better coffee than Miss Garcia," he chuckled.

"Why don't the two of you take care of your lover's dispute and just let me return to my work?" Jess said, rolling her eyes.

"I can now see why Antonio likes this girl," he laughed softly. He walked forward to approach Jess, but Noah moved faster and grabbed Jess's elbow, pulling her to his side.

"Listen, Jess. I know it is my fault and calling you here in my office is ---" he cocked his head from left to right.

"Is a jerk move." Jess finished his sentence for him.

"Yes, yes! Definitely a jerk move." He eagerly agreed. He would do and say anything just to get her forgiveness. "I'm truly sorry for what I did. I - I would kneel down if you ask me and if that is what it would take for you to listen to my explanation."

Jess twisted her body to face him and in a serious tone, said, "Then do it."

"Wh-what?"

"Kneel down."

Noah stared at Jess's face, trying to find any indication that she was joking. When he said he was going to kneel just to be forgiven, it was just an exaggerated word.

'She doesn't mean to make him kneel to her in front of his employees, does she?'

'She does!'

When he saw the blank expression on her face, he knew she meant what she said!

He swallowed a painful lump on his throat when Jess arched her eyebrow, clearly snickering inside. Disbelief was on her pretty face, taunting him that he was nothing but empty words.

He bit his cheeks and bent his knees to kneel when Antonio beat him to it. He dropped on his knees in front of Jess.

"I am so sorry, Miss Zimmerman. It was my fault, that all the misunderstandings happened. It was because I didn't do my job properly." He said with his hands on his knees, his head hanging low.

Jess shifted her gaze to Noah who was just like her and was stunned by Antonio's action.

"Antonio, stand up at this instant!" he ordered in an icy tone. "And you," he shifted his gaze to Markus, who was no longer wearing a goofy smile on his handsome face. "...get out. The two of you — get out!"

Antonio stood up from kneeling on the floor, gave Jess a slight bow, and scampered out of the room, followed by stunned Markus.

"Jess, can we please," he heaved a deep breath and slowly released the air from his lungs through his mouth, "...take a seat, now?"

Jess, shocked by what happened, nodded. She walked slowly to the sitting area and took one of the armchairs.

When she asked Noah to kneel down, it was because of her anger. She didn't think about the implication of those words. She forgot that they weren't alone in the room and Antonio and that other guy named Markus were both Noah's employees.

She didn't think of Noah's position and just focused on her anger. With her hands shaking, she picked up the coffee that Antonio prepared for her.

"Baby," Noah broke the suffocating silence in the room.

Jess, hearing Noah's endearment to her, put down her coffee on the coffee table and heaved a deep sigh.

"Noah, I hate lies."

Noah bravely met Jess's eyes. When he saw the pain behind her beautiful eyes, he cursed himself.

'The lies are for a good reason,' he said to himself.

He reached for her hands, and with his eyes staring straight on hers, he brought her hands to his lips, and said, "No lies, baby. I Promise."