[This chapter is dedicated to Love_Muiru. Your support motivates me to do my best! Thank you!]

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"How does it make you feel?"

Jess was taken aback by Luke's question. She knew that Noah had tons of experience when it comes to relationships compared to her who has him as first - which he wasn't even aware of since he didn't remember their first night.

"Well..." she said with a shaky voice, "I mean...there wasn't really anything I could do about it. It's already a part of his past. I just hope that I wouldn't be included in his past but rather a part of his future," she bit her lower lip and averted her eyes.

It was the first time she verbally acknowledged her wants and expectations with her relationship with Noah.

"You are hook, line, and sinker, Little Miss Jessie."

"I guess that's the magic of pizza!"

"And the guy who didn't blink an eye to purchase million-dollar diamond rings."

They both snorted in laughter.

In no time, dinner was done with annoying jabs on each other's while giggling like kids in between consuming the pizza, fried chicken, and mojos with their amazing dip. A girl's night was made perfect by the food that put them in a good mood.

After dinner, Luke volunteered to make the coffee for them, while Jess washed the dishes.

"Bring the coffee in my bedroom, let's talk there because I have to do something," she told Luke who was pouring the steaming coffee in tall coffee mugs.

Jess didn't wait for Luke to finish preparing the coffee, she went ahead to her bedroom. She was pulling her suitcases when he entered her room carrying the two cups of steaming coffee in a wooden tray.

He put them on the table nook under Jess's bedroom window. He scanned the room because her room has a lot of changes. Not just the table nook under the window with two armchairs, she also moved her bed vertically giving more floor space on the foot of the bed that was pushed at the end of the room, far from the window.

Luke knitted his eyebrows since Jess loves the morning sun, hence, she always has her bed nearest to the window, but now it's not.

He was about to ask her about it when Jess, struggling with the huge suitcases, caught his attention. His questions about her new room arrangement were forgotten.

"Why are you taking out your suitcases? Are you planning to move to Noah's place?"

"Stop being silly. It has something to do with my big news for you!" She was smiling broadly as she dropped the last suitcase on the floor.

"Oh, yes! Your news! If you are moving to Noah's apartment, can I have this apartment?"

"I'm not moving to Noah's place! I am going to India!"

"Oh, the senior researcher in our team is going to India too…" Luke stared at her, his jaw slacking while his eyes widened, then, he shrieked so loud that Jess won't be surprised if the building management would file a noise complaint.

"You are one of the researchers that would go to India!! Oh.em.gee! I'm so happy for you!" He took her in his arms and gave her a tight hug.

"Yes, and I want you to help pack my clothes because I'm panicking about what to bring. Dr. Sison told me we are going to be there for a minimum of two weeks up to a month."

Jess pushed away Luke's arms around her body, walked to her closet, and pulled out random clothes, hanging them on the clothes rack that she took out from the linen closet.

She wanted to bring enough clothes at the same time she didn't want to overpack.

"You will be mostly in the lab so I think the normal clothes you wear to work would be fine."

"I've never been to India. Should I worry about proper clothing?"

"Well, as long as you are not going outside naked, I think you'll be fine. Besides, you would be mostly in the lab, probably joining Dr. Sison on her meetings?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking about that. I don't want to overdress if I will join those meetings. I don't have time to go shopping for new clothes since we are flying the day after tomorrow."

"Poor Noah," he mumbled as he picked a navy dress with pearls accent around the neckline. "Bring this one. You can wear it at the lab, and if Dr. Sison will drag you outside, it's fine too."

Jess hung the dress Luke chose on the rack and she continued to take out items from her closet, showing them to Luke for approval.

They were into pulling clothes out of her closet, Luke checked and approved the outfit then repeated. The clothes that he doesn't approve of were thrown on the carpet while the approved outfits were hung on the clothes rack.

In between the chaos of choosing outfits, Jess asked, "Are you going to tell me about this guy you are dating?"

"There's nothing much to tell...yet." He turned his back to Jess who was giving her an eye, he pretended to be busy with the clothes that were already hung on the rack.

"Are you sure? I mean this guy makes you do things that you don't usually do, like not answering my call and being late for work."

"He's not the usual guy I date too," he mumbled under his breath.

"Luke, do I happen to know this guy?"

Luke snapped his head in Jess's direction. "Why would you even think that?"

"Because you won't tell me who he is! Ever since we became friends, you always tell me the guys you are with. Even when you don't introduce them to me, you would tell me their names, or something about them. But this guy, I haven't heard anything about him, so I wondered...and yeah, a bit worried too."

"He's straight."

"WHAT!?" Her eyes bulged out of its socket. She was more than shocked by what she heard. "Are you sure about this one, Lukey?" She gently asked Luke, using her stupid pet name for him.

Luke didn't answer but hugged her.

She returned his hug and stroked his back. "I just want you to be happy. But be careful okay?"

"Thank you," he murmured and kissed the top of her head. "Okay, enough about me. What's the reason why you called me last night?"

"Well, you already know about it." she chuckled lightly. "No, not this trip to India. My sisters."

"Oh, yes. They were supposed to stay here in your place. What's the plan now that you won't be here for a month?"

"That's why I called you." She picked up her purse that was on her side table and took out her wallet. "I wanted to ask you a favor. If you could somehow take care of them for me. They are not kids to be taken care of but," she handed him one of her credit cards. "You can also use my car."

Luke stared at the credit card that Jess handed her. It wasn't just a credit card. It's a black one! "Girl, I can babysit the hell of your sisters! Leave them to me!" he laughed merrily, clasping the black credit card in his hands.

"Thanks. They will be checked in a hotel. I told my father I had to fly outside the country because of work, so he stopped pestering me to have a bonding with my sisters," she rolled her eyes. "You'll like them."

"Are they bitchy like you?" he grinned, stroking the black card, embossed with a gold logo he wasn't familiar with.

She chuckled at Luke's question. "No, they aren't bitchy like me. They are nice kids. Sweet. Just that according to my father, they had some boys' problems, so, use the card to mend their broken hearts."

"No boy's problem can't be cured with good retail therapy. How much could we spend?"

"You really have to ask that? I mean, that's my black card," she laughed. "I let you hold the card because I don't trust my sweet siblings to be the ones holding it for they may end up buying something that would fill an entire plane."

"Oh, the sky's the limit then," his eyes twinkle with the prospect of shopping. Luke won't exactly shop for himself but he enjoys the process of shopping. Which she hates, so letting Luke accompany her sisters would be a win-win for the three of them.

"When can I meet your sisters?"

"They were flying from another city to here on Friday evening. The hotel will pick them up. You can probably meet them the next day for brunch. They will stay here just for the weekend."

"Is there anything that I should watch out for while babysitting them?"

"Nothing really. They are nice kids and no longer minors. Just keep them out of jail."

"And here I thought, you don't have anything in common with your sisters."