Chapter 73 - Request To Follow

He stood in the middle of the room with his hands deep in his pockets. He has forgotten that Jess was never the type of girl he could tell or even slightly suggest what to do. She does what she wants and when she wants - and only she can decide how she wants it! 

Just like before he just screwed up a perfectly fine night. He kept his mouth shut. He knew that apologizing would just make everything worse than already is. And to think he wouldn't be able to see her for days!

He wanted to just grab her and kissed her pursed lips, but he knew the probability of getting a slap was high on that one. The last time he pissed her off, she threw him on the cold floor of his penthouse.

"Sorry," she averted her eyes after saying an unexpected apology. 

Noah just squinted his eyes at her. He didn't want to open his mouth just in case he said something wrong - again!

"I'm truly sorry!" She repeated the apology, widening her eyes to emphasize that she was really sorry, since he did not say anything and has been staring at her, leaving her feeling guilty. 

Her tantrum was set to start when he gave her a small smile and patted her head as he walked to the door. "It's already late. Let's call it a night." 

Noah taking the high road and didn't reacting to her outburst frustrated the hell out of her. She wanted to argue. No reason really, tonight she just felt like being immature and picking a fight. 

His invitation to meet his daughter threw her off. She couldn't believe Noah would actually think of including her in his and his daughter's life. She was happy and at the same time scared. She wasn't ready for it, that she took the route of being obnoxious and just went for an irrational fight. 

However, Noah refused to go on petty a fight with her. It irked her that he was being mature! She sighed in frustration as she followed him to the living room. 

She was expecting to see Luke in the living room but the house was quiet. She glanced at the kitchen thinking if it is a good idea to get drunk tonight. Her mind was in turmoil with Noah being too serious with things between them. 

She now understands why Luke laughed with her plan to take revenge on Noah. How could she do it when her insides turn into mush every time Noah invades her personal space. 

She was startled when her face hit Noah's back for she didn't realize he already stopped walking. Her mind was up in the clouds. 

"Is it okay if I text or call you?" he asked watching her rub her nose. 

"You could but I can't promise you that I would reply to it." 

"I'm okay with it" he whispered in a low tone as he grabbed her for a hug.

"By the way, Noah, does your secretary dislike me or anything?" 

He cocked his head to his side, ready to act innocent and throw Antonio under the bus. He has a vague idea of why Jess was asking about Antonio disliking her. Truth be told, he understood how Instagram works, - the first time Antonio explained it to him. But he doesn't want to be the one following Jess for he felt it would be so lame if she would know that he stalked her on social media. Hence, he acted ignorantly on how those things work so Antonio would do it for him. 

"Why do you ask?" He was watching the tone of his voice as he asked the question.

"Well, your secretary followed me on Instagram and I knew that I already accepted his request to follow, but then tonight, he was asking for a follow request. He unfollowed me?" she shrugged her shoulders, "I mean, it's okay if he would unfollow me, but I was wondering if he already unfollowed me, why would he follow me again?" 

He cleared his throat, "I have no idea. Do you want me to ask him?" he asked but his eyes were on her neck. He noticed the hickey he put on her and now his groin was stirring again. It's not a good idea to think how Jess whimpered and panted when he put those marks on her skin when she was asking him about the mystery of Antonio following her on Instagram. 

"Oh, no. I was just curious." she shrugged off the Instagram incident, "Not really a big deal. I just remember so I asked." 

"Did you accept his request to follow?" he asked, trying not to sound too eager about the topic. He doesn't want her to get the idea that he actually knew what was happening. 

"Not yet. I'm thinking of not accepting it anymore." 

He swallowed his saliva upon hearing what she said. 'Not a good idea.' He nodded pretending to be indifferent about Instagram.

A thought flashed his mind and decided to push his luck, "If it is me that would request to follow you, would you be fine with it?" 

"Do you have an IG?" her eyebrows wrinkled for she couldn't imagine Noah posting a picture online. 

"No, I don't have one. I was just asking a hypothetical question," he smirked. 'Hypothetical questions, my ass' was the thought running to his mind. 

"Get an IG first, then follow me. I will think about it if I would accept your request to follow or not." she giggled. There is no way that Noah will make an IG account. He has a company to run. Where would he get the time to do such useless things as using social media. 

"Okay." 

"Seriously?" She laughed softly. 

"Yeah, I could do that. I mean, how hard could it be to download and register for that App, right?" he smiled widely. 'Yeah, how hard could it be? Especially when he already downloaded the app and registered an account.'

"Crazy," she mumbled under her breath. She opened the door for him and bid him goodnight.

He hooked her chin with his index finger, playfully ran his tongue across her lips, and when she gasped in surprise, took the opportunity to thrust his tongue inside her mouth and kissed her deeply. 

"Goodnight, my darling," his voice was low and deep. That shiver ran down her spine.

She stared at the door with longing as Noah exited her apartment. She smacked her own head when she caught herself thinking of what just happened in her study. She has no plan to take another shower!

Since Luke already retired to his own room. She decided to just talk to him about her plan for their last summer vacation in uni tomorrow. She went to the kitchen and opened a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. 

She then took the wine glass to her room, leaving the bottle on the kitchen counter. She has no plan to get drunk tonight. She just felt like she badly needed alcohol in her body. The image of Noah kneeling in between her legs would give her a sleepless night tonight and many nights in the future!

She just put down her glass of wine and sat down in front of her vanity table to do her night skincare routine when she heard her phone chirping. Thinking that it was a message she opened her phone to check. 

It was not a message rather an IG request to follow from Noah. She couldn't help but laugh seeing his IG handle as she read the notification, {collecting_credits request to follow}. 

The corner of her mouth was tugged into a huge smile seeing his profile picture. It was a picture of her from the cliff where he brought her last time. Apparently, he took a stolen shot of her standing on the cliff watching the sunset. 

It made her feel giddy to think that she has photos in Noah's phone gallery. Seeing her photo being used as a profile picture, she accepted his request to follow and followed him back. She waited on what he would do now that they were following each other. 

She has been staring at her phone but Noah didn't do anything. She scoffed and went back to her skincare routine. 

Meanwhile, Noah had a grin on his face so wide his face was about to rip. He was having a good time checking Jess' photos in her account. He scrolled to the very first photo she posted and made his way to the latest photo she posted which was another empty street. 

She really has a fascination with empty streets. The photo was in black and white and it was taken at sunrise. He stared at the photo that looked oddly familiar for it was the street going to the marina where Stefan's boat was. 

He clenched his jaw thinking, what could be the possible reason for Jess to be in that place so early in the morning.