Chapitre 39: Hello, Neighbor!

She was never a religious person, but right now, she is fervently praying that the man behind her is not Tiefenbacher! But her prayers fell on deaf ears.

"Jess, I am truly sorry," he said in agony. He softly put his head on her shoulder.

Her knees buckled with carnal desire when his warm breath fanned her ear. 'He didn't remember sleeping with you, Jessica Joy. Take a hold of yourself!' she mentally scolded herself.

She cleared her throat, then pushed Noah's head off her shoulder. "Let's talk inside," she said in a steady voice. A complete opposite of her shaking knees.

She pressed her thumb once again on her door keypad and let herself in with Noah trailing closely behind.

"Would you like some coffee?" she asked, gesturing him to go, and have a seat in her living room while she prepares the coffee.

Noah's brows furrowed in confusion. He was expecting Jess to be angry. He slowly walked to her living room, but he halted in front of the photo wall covered with black and white photos of different alleyways.

Some of them are familiar, for example; a cobblestone alley with a view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

The photos were beautifully taken. He was still engrossed examining the photos on the wall when Jess came to the living room with two cups of steaming coffee.

He noticed that she changed her clothes. She is now wearing comfortable drawstring sweatpants and a loose-fitting t-shirt with the band Franz Ferdinand. He creased his forehead, thinking not a lot of girls like the band or even knew who was Franz Ferdinand.

"Thank you," he said as he accepted the cup of coffee from her hand, "Did you take those photos?" he asked, mentioning the black and white photos that covered one wall of her living room.

"Why do you have to ask? Is it not in my dossier?" she asked, sitting down on the couch. She was smiling, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.

"I could explain that," he told her in a serious. His heart is beating wildly in his ribcage, and his mind is a mess. Also, he doesn't like how Jess was acting in front of him.

He pretended that he didn't understand what Jess said when they were in the restaurant. He let go of it in passing thinking that Jess has no idea that he had her investigated. Clearly, that was not the case.

"You see, I didn't come to your uni just to simply check the students who were applying for an internship for ANAT and Pharma Co," he said, waiting for her reaction but seeing none. Her eyes were still fixed on him with an empty stare.

"Our company was actually headhunting. We aren't interested in interns. We want someone who will be part of our company," he continued explaining when Jess still didn't say anything, and just sip her coffee.

"I apologize for the discomfort that it caused you," he said, swallowing his guilt. He was thinking that it was impossible for Jess to find out that he had someone did a background check on her which was more than what was necessary.

He wanted to come clean to Jess, but he has no valid excuse to justify what he did.

Jess sipped her coffee that suddenly felt too bitter at the back of her throat. 'So, he wasn't going to come clean, even with the chance laid in front of him. He would still choose to lie.' She hid a bitter smile thinking, Noah is a man that could lie through the skin of his teeth like it was nothing.

She now realized how wrong she was to put him in high regard just because he is a good father. He is just another scumbag, however, if he is thinking that he can simply walk away from his lies, he was wrong.

No one can take her for a fool, and get away with it. Noah has no idea who he's dealing with, she thought, smirking. Just because he knew her grandfather, her parent's name, and probably some of her childhood, and those hateful news headlines with her name on them, doesn't mean he knew her.

She put down her cup of coffee on the table for her hands suddenly start shaking. She held her hands on her lap and smile at him. She felt a burning pain in her chest as she stared into those blue eyes that reminded her so much of home.

'She has no home. She has nowhere to belong,' she swallowed a bitter smile.

When she felt her tears threatening to escape from the corner of her eyes, she bit her lower lip.

'Tiefenbacher, I will drag you down.' she screamed inwardly while wearing a bright smile.

"It's late and I want to sleep for I have an early meeting at the laboratory tomorrow. Professor Boa asked all of us to be there at ten," she said, faking a yawn. She had already lost her sleepiness. There is no way for her to sleep after what happened.

"Uhm, about what happened today..."

"Let's forget about it," she blurted out in embarrassment, stopping Noah from finishing his sentence.

Noah creased his forehead. He wanted to clear the misunderstanding about what happened in the penthouse, but if Jess doesn't want to talk about it he can't do anything but let it go -- for now.

"I have your purse in my car, I'll bring them tomorrow," he said as he stood up, "Thank you for the coffee, neighbor." he flashed her his dashing smile.

"Speaking of us being neighbors, when did you move?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Last month," he answered as they walked to the front door.

"I see," she nodded absentmindedly. She fell into deep thought on how the freaking universe keeps on playing a joke on her.

"Good night, Jess," he said, clenching his hands for he wanted to pull her in his arms.

"Good night, Noah," she answered back.

Noah lifted an eyebrow hearing Jess calling him Noah. He has been asking her to call him in his name, but all this time she has been calling him Tiefenbacher. He scoffed with the irony that right now, he wished she would call him in his family name.

He doesn't like the stifling atmosphere between the two of them. He wanted the usual way Jess acted around him. So, when she opened her main door to let him out, he bent on her ear and whispered. "How about your t-back, do you want it back?" his tone was full of mischief.

Jess smiled brightly at him, then said, "No, you may keep it," and slammed her door in his face.