[This chapter is dedicated to nabong_pie. Thank you for choosing this book. I hope you are enjoying the book.]

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"Why do you need my birthday as an extra passcode to your house? I already have mine."

Jess was taken aback that Ellise called her the moment she had some changes in her security system. The reason why she called Nina and not Ellise was because she doesn't want to let her know about the new passcode that she had generated specifically for Noah.

Now she was torn between lying and telling the truth. Both choices would end being bullied. She heaved a deep sigh knowing that even if she lies, Ellise will be bound to find out the truth. Hence, it would be better for her to just tell the truth and suffer from her mocking.

She couldn't blame her because when Dana was being crazy over a guy, she was very adamant about her disapproval. She was vocal in saying, in a relationship, one must always keep a rational mind. But there she was... doing cheesy and stupid things for a guy.

She cringed inside as she stared at Ellise's face on the computer screen. She doesn't have the courage to open her mouth to tell her the truth of her cheesiness, choosing to give Noah his own personal passcode to her apartment, using his own birthday.

"Jessica?" Ellise asked when five minutes had passed and Jess just stared at her face on the screen with an unexplainable expression on her face. As though she was being asked to choose between life and death.

"Is it for Noah?" she asked as if she had no idea. She watched Jess's face constricted in pain. Her pride must be suffering, she thought to herself. She was having a difficult time controlling the laughter that was about to escape her throat. "I'm only asking because Nina sent a message, asking me if she should override my previous passcode to your apartment."

"Thanks," she mumbled in embarrassment. What's the point of calling Nina when Ellise found out the minute it happened.

"Sure, no worries," Ellise grinned knowingly. "I didn't know that Noah and I shared the same birthday."

Jess averted her eyes. She knew that Ellise would use this information to annoy her, possibly — forever! "I have something to do, thanks for calling."

Ellise's grin grew wider, "Give my regards to Noah… and Jess, you don't have to attend my birthday party next year."

"Shut it!" she snapped at her teasing.

Ellise roared in laughter and ended the call to her annoyance. How could she end the call first? She wanted to be the one ending the call!

She abruptly stood up from her swivel chair. She was too annoyed to return to her reading. She grabbed the thermos of coffee she prepared and her phone before she stepped out of her study to go to the balcony. She needed some fresh air to calm herself.

When she stepped out of the balcony, the first thing she noticed was the sunbeds line next to each other at the left side of the balcony. On the right side was a garden table with two chairs. Her balcony was fixed for two people. Her and Luke.

Seeing that there wasn't any comfortable chair to lounge down on, she took a mental note to ask Noah where he bought his nest chair. She wanted one for herself, she thought inwardly as she dropped herself to one of the sunbeds.

She lied down, put her arm over her eyes, and heaved some deep breath to calm her nerves that had been strung in annoyance from Ellise mocking eyes.

She was holding that position for only about five minutes when she scrambled to stand up. She was too pissed to calm down.

"You should be grateful to that passcode because I had to suffer Ellise's gloating for the rest of my life." She spat in the silence of her balcony. If someone would see her, they might think she was crazy talking to herself.

She wanted to say those words to Noah but then, if she did, he would also tease her. She wondered why people around her were such bullies. Luke was not an exemption. Ever since he found out that she spent the weekend at Noah's apartment, every morning in the lab, he would ask her about her personal flask.

Other people in the lab would think that Luke was asking for a flask that they use in the laboratory but Luke wasn't asking her about those. He was asking about Noah's flask!

The double meaning of the stupid joke was getting under her skin. She wanted to smack Luke's face every time he would ask her about the damn flask.

And speaking of the bully Luke, she pulled out her phone and gave him a call. Her eyebrows knitted when her call wasn't answered. She checked the time and knew that it was still early for him to sleep.

It is work night and she knew that Luke won't go out on a night where there will be work tomorrow. He's too dedicated to his work to do that.

She dialed Luke's number again, a tad bit worried about him. She was still calling him when she received a text from him saying,{Busy. If it's not important, talk tom.}

The crease between her eyebrows grew deeper when she read his text message. She knew that Luke only do this thing if he was dating a guy. She knew that he had a new boy toy but there wasn't anything new about it. Luke likes having pretty boys on the side but he never took them seriously.

Ignoring her only happened when he was being serious with the guy he was playing with. And he hasn't told him about him dating. She would definitely be going to talk to him tomorrow!

She called him because she wanted to ask for a favor from him to take care of her sisters since she would be outside the country, and also to tell him that Dr. Sison would take her to the new laboratory of ANAT in India.

She hasn't told Luke because she wanted to tell Noah first. Another cringy thing that she ended up doing even when she used to mock Dana about doing the same thing in the past.

"How the table turns," she murmured in the dark, sipping her coffee.