章節 17: Burning Desires

She glanced at the face of her wristwatch showing a picture of Howl and Sophie embracing each other on the balcony of their moving castle. It illuminated the hands of the clock showing ten-forty-three.

She slowly walks to her designated laboratory. She passed by the laboratory Luke and his team using. At this time, Luke is probably sleeping soundly in her guest room.

She likes the eerie silence of the laboratory under its bright lightbulb. This was one of her preferences that Luke thought weird. According to him, most girls would feel scared to be alone at the laboratory at night. She has never considered herself to be like most girls. She prefers to work at night.

Because, if she does her part of the research late at night. It is less likely to meet other people in the lab where she would have to pretend to interact with them. It's not that she dislikes people on a personal level. She simply isn't good with casual civility.

Most people think she is being a snob, that she looked down on them, which she isn't! She just doesn't see the use of spending emotion or time on someone or something that she doesn't like. If she likes it, she likes it. That's it. Why people like to complicate things, she wondered.

The laboratory door creeks when she pushed it open. She grinned, thinking the sound of the door made it like a set of a horror film. Bright lights flooded the whole room when she turned on the lights. Nothing scary in there. Just a bunch of specimens that could save people's lives.

Another advantage of working at night for her nowadays would be, is that she could comfortably hide away from Noah. She heard from Luke, who heard it from the other students that Tiefenbacher has been looking for her.

She smirked with the notion that Noah would be asking around for her whereabouts. He is a proud man, that she knows. He wears a friendly mask, but she can see through it. He is also the type of person who prefers to be left alone.

"A dashingly handsome man, with a touch that could breathe life into dormant souls," she said rather loudly in the deadly silence of the room.

Speaking to herself is another reason why she likes working alone late at night. People would think of her as a cuckoo if they know. "What's wrong with enjoying a conversation with yourself," she scoffed.

"Nothing. Except people would think you have a loose screw on your head."

She dropped the test tube tray and the silence of the laboratory was shattered by the breaking glass. She watched the glass pieces of the test tubes scattered on the floor like pieces of diamonds, shining brightly on the white floor.

She sighed in relief that those test tubes were empty. She slowly turned her back from where the voice came from.

"Tiefenbacher," She acknowledged his presence by saying his family name in an icy tone. Colder than the negative degree freezer where she kept her specimens.

His eyebrows furrowed with how Jess didn't even flinch when he suddenly talked behind her back. 'Doesn't she get scared being alone at the laboratory at this time of the night?'

"It's been a while," he said, not liking her cold tone.

"Mmnn," was all she said, before kneeling on the floor to pick up the test tube tray.

"Don't touch them…" he reached out her hand to prevent her from touching the glass shard on the floor.

She was startled at how sudden he grabbed her hands that she fell down on her butt on the cold floor. In the process, she dropped her right hand trying to catch herself and had it landed on a piece of glass. She winced when she felt the glass pierced her skin.

"It's dangerous to touch those, you know better than that." his voice raised a bit in worry.

"You think I didn't read the safety manual?" she sarcastically asked him. She shoved her hand on her lab coat pocket. She didn't know why she had an impulse to hide from Noah that she got hurt.

Noah narrowed his eyes on Jess. "Show me your hand," he said in between his teeth.

Jess turned around, blatantly ignoring him. Noah gritted his teeth, grabbed Jess' shoulder, and in one swift motion picked her from the floor. He set her lovely ass down on the silver stool away from the broken glass.

"I'm saying it one more time, Miss Zimmerman. Show me your hand." his nose flared in annoyance with how she acted so tough when she was clearly hurt.

He observed blood staining her lab coat pocket where her hand was.

She glanced upon an infuriated Noah that was towering her. As far as the Asian standard of average for women is concerned, she was not short. Right now, however, she felt like a midget with Noah hovering all over her.

She took out her hand that was cut by a piece of glass and stretched her arm towards Noah.

She needed to put a distance between them because at that moment she has the urge to grab his neck and kiss him senseless.

She was shocked at how her body reacted when Noah reached out to remind her to be careful of the shards of glass on the floor. When she caught a whiff of his musky scent, she got thirsty like a wife whose husband has been at war and has not been home for three years!

She screamed inwardly in shame. As Noah's piercing blue gaze locked on her face, she discovered a longing that she had forgotten existed that made her quiver with shameless desires.

"It was just a small scratch," she said with a surprisingly steady voice. She creased her eyebrows when a strange emotion flashed across Noah's eyes.

"Stay here," he told her in a voice with no room for complaint. "I will get the first aid kit."

Jess covered her mouth with her unhurt hand as soon as Noah stepped away from her. She released the breath that she has been holding in.

'Fuck! What is happening with you, Jessica!' She questioned herself.