Chapter 318 - Flirting Over Sushi

[This chapter is dedicated to Angelina_Deloso. Thank you for your continued support. Much love!] 

---

Noah swallowed the painful lump at the back of his throat. Seeing Jess trying to act normal while asking him about Stellar—about his lies—pained him as it should. If it was possible, he wanted it to hurt more because he deserved it. He hurt Jess, again. 

He heaved a deep breath and caressed the back of Jess's hand. "Baby, I'm sorry I lied…" He kept his eyes on hers. "I lied because I don't want to explain, meeting Stellar. I thought you'll never know about it and it's not something that would hurt you." 

Jess kept her gaze on Noah. She kept the accusative words that she wanted to say. She wanted to tell him that his direct response to everything that he doesn't want her to know would be lies. But a part of her knew that if she met Noah's explanation with angry words, they won't go anywhere and they won't be able to fix the problem. 

"Being lied to would never feel good and you know that it wasn't an excuse that you thought, I won't get hurt with it just because I don't know." 

"I know." He lowered his head in apology. He was regretting it. He was also guilty as hell that he can't tell Jess the main reason was why he was seeing a therapist in the first place. Changing his habit of checking people's background or his distrust wasn't why he was seeing Stellar. 

He was seeing Stellar because he needed to make sure that he won't be 'forgetting' some of his memories again. He can't tell her yet about it, especially now that he has to go back to Berlin to take the CEO position of ANAT.

"Noah, we had been having these issues…"

He grabbed her hands into his. "I know, baby. I'll tell everything--"

"You already told me about it before. And, yet, here we are." She said, sadly. 

"Do you have time tomorrow?" 

Jess looked at Noah's dead serious expression and nodded. Even if she's busy tomorrow, she won't have the opportunity to hear what Noah would say. She doesn't want the lies in their relationship to continue and be a normal occurrence. 

The lies that we have now may be small, but if we face a different situation in the future, it would become a bigger problem. 

"I can make time tomorrow. You can pick me up here."

Noah knitted his brows. "You're going to stay here in the lab the whole night?"

"Yes. We need to finish everything up so we can do the next step."

Noah pulled her into his lap and circled his arms around her. "Eat well if you're going to stay late. We can talk tomorrow after lunch. You sleep first." He said, thinking that he has to tell Antonio to clear his schedule tomorrow afternoon. 

He was thinking of talking in his apartment so Jess won't have a place to escape. He needed her to listen to everything he had to say and he wasn't really sure if he could tell her everything. 

It would be difficult to explain everything to her and at the same time, he's scared that she might end up angrier than understanding. After all, he hid something important from her. 

"And, Stellar…"

His thoughts were jolted back to the present and his gaze fell onto Jess's pouting lips, asking about Stellar. 

He smiled inwardly. "She's a great help."

"You have been seeing her for a long time?"

"Yes. Not only because I seek counsel but also because I'm friends with her older sister. Stella's older sister is a friend who married another friend of mine and when they had kids, I became the godfather of their daughter."

"That kind of friend, huh!" She nodded and understood the kind of friendship Noah was telling her. Her Aunt Joy also has those kinds of relationships with her friends. And she, with Dana and Ellise. 

"Baby, I'm truly sorry. I never had any thought to hurt you...but, I know that sorry it's not enough." 

"Hmm, it's good that you know. And, Noah --" 

"Hmm," he replied, nuzzling her neck as he embraced her tighter. 

"Please, let it be the last time that you'd lie to me. If you have to lie...I mean, if there are times that you can't tell me the truth, yet. Let me know." 

"Macao." He said, cupping her chin and steering her face to face him. 

"What happened to Macao?" She furrowed her eyebrows and got distracted because Noah started to run his tongue along the seam of her lips. 

"If I talk about Macao, it's a signal that I have to lie to you due to the circumstances. And I can tell you the truth later." 

She sighed against his lips. Her breath hitched as Noah took her mouth into a deep kiss. 

"Mmkay," a soft sigh escaped her lips as she ran her fingers through his soft locks. "Macao would be the keyword of some sort." 

"Hmm--mmm, baby, you think Luke would kill us if I steal you away tonight?" 

"I don't know about you but I'm quite sure that he won't kill me. So, don't use us." She giggled when he crocked his brow. 

"I don't know about your confidence but you two would definitely get killed in my hands if you don't stop flirting in front of the sushi that I still want to eat." 

Jess slid down in Noah's lap in surprise when she heard Luke's annoying voice behind her. 

"Why are you going to kill me too?" She asked as she slowly turned around to face Luke who was carrying his empty plate. He was clicking his chopstick in the air as he walked to the table to get more sushi. 

Luke smirked. "Why not? We are working but you're flirting right after bawling your eyes out." 

Noah, whose chin was resting on her head, cupped her chin and pulled her face up. "Did you cry?"

"You wish, Tiefenbacher!" 

While Noah slumped down and went crestfallen, Luke snickered.