Chapter 97 - Call Her Little Miss Jessie

[This chapter is dedicated to Amber17 for being the top 1 fan of this book. Thank you!] 

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"The bastard!" she said, fuming, crumpling the paper in her hand. Her headache has gotten worse after reading the note Noah has left her. She looked down at the crumpled note and with a sigh smoothened the paper out. She really likes how Noah's handwriting is so neat but doesn't look girly. It is obvious from the curve of his cursive letters that the person who wrote them is a man. 

She stared at the piece of paper in her hands again before pulling the first drawer of her side table and dropped the note inside. And that's the only time that she noticed the aspirin next to the bottled water. Her heart felt warm like how her skin felt when it was kissed by the morning sun. 

Despite being annoyed and with her temple's painful throbbing, the corner of her lips stretched into a wide smile. Noah, the jerk prepared a medicine for her because he knew she would suffer from a headache due to a hangover.

And it made her happy. That sweet gesture from him was a better cure than any aspirin -- that's what her own heart told her- for it's a traitor! It skipped a beat with the simple fact that Noah prepared a hangover medicine for her.

She rolled in the middle of the bed after taking the medicine and gazed at the ceiling grinning like an idiot -- liking the idea of keeping his shirt. She wondered when did she become an imbecile when it came to Noah.

"Jess, are you up?" 

She heard Luke's voice accompanied by a soft tap on her door. She wanted to pretend to still be asleep but he had already pushed her door open. 

"Don't ever think of pretending to be asleep." he has stepped inside with a wooden tray in his hands, and the scent of her favorite Luke's special waffles floated in the air. "Oh my god! Did you make waffles?" she got up from the bed excitedly. 

"Go wash up while I set up your breakfast on the balcony, milady." 

"Yes sir!" She went to the bathroom, giggling and skipping, excited with the prospect of eating Luke's out-of-this-world waffle and black coffee for breakfast. It has always been the perfect combination. 

She splashed cold water on her face, brushed her teeth, and was about to go out of the bathroom when she realized that her skin looks a bit dry. She grabbed her moisturized and put some moisturizer on her face. 

The ocean breeze and the humidity of the island are causing her skin to become dry. She was not complaining though because she has always enjoyed the sea. She grew up on an island. 

As she was returning the bottle of moisturizer on the lavatory counter, she accidentally knocked down the candle that she lit up last time she had a bubble bath. She cursed under her breath as she picked it up and returned it to the counter.

She came out on the balcony still wearing Noah's shirt for she wanted to keep it so that she ignored Luke's questioning look on why she was still on a shirt when she was supposed to have already washed up. She wasn't in the mood to accept judgment today, so she lied. 

"I couldn't wait to eat your waffle. Changing clothes can wait. My tummy can't." she averted her eyes and began slicing the three stacks of waffles on her plate into bite size pieces. Since Luke knew that two waffles would not be enough for her, he would always make her three.

"Your waffles are the best cure for a hangover," she closed her eyes and savored her first bite. "The best ever!" 

He just chuckled softly and watched her eat with so much gusto. 

"Thank you for making me breakfast," she puckered up her lips and gave him air kisses. 

"When you are done with your coffee, make yourself presentable for your visitor who has been knocking at our door early in the morning might come back again." 

"Visitor?" 

"Noah's daughter." 

She spat the coffee when she heard that Noah's daughter was looking for her. 

"Why is she looking for me?" 

"That you have to ask yourself. Her nanny was with her the first time she knocked. She then returned with a handsome man – who she was calling Uncle. From what I understand in their whispering, Noah didn't know that she has been dropping by looking for you." 

The waffles that she had eaten felt like a stone that was sitting on her stomach. She felt stupid feeling nervous when she heard that Lucille was looking for her. 

"What time did you come back last night?", she asked, changing the topic. 

"I didn't check the time, but when I entered the house I saw Noah came out of your room naked." 

"W-what are you talking about?"

"The guy was missing a shirt! Which I find…" he knitted his eyebrows and squinted on the shirt she was wearing, "a blessing! Imagine seeing Noah's washboard abs, welcoming me home. That was something!" he did chef kiss on the air. 

Her throat went dry and she had the urge to pour the hot coffee on his head, for she knew that Luke was playing her. However, she also knew that if she shows any hint of annoyance it would just make him tease her more. 

"Was Ellise still here when you came back?" 

"I didn't see her. But I'm pretty sure she wasn't here at that time because Noah would have a lot of guts to get naked with her in the room." he threw his head back laughing like a maniac. 

"You're impossible!" She stood up from the chair and went inside her room to take a shower. 

"Make sure to change your shirt. Miss Lucille might recognize that the shirt you are wearing is her daddy's. 

She rolled her eyes, as she stripped off Noah's shirt. She took a warm shower and changed into another white dress. 

She was scrubbing her hair dry with a towel when she got out of her bedroom and saw Lucille sitting on a stool on their kitchen island eating some waffles and drinking orange juice. 

A man and a woman in their late twenty or early thirties were sitting on their couch, drinking coffee. 'Who are these people?'

"Good morning, Miss Jess. Sorry for the intrusion." 

She smiled at Lucile, throwing a questioning look at Luke, who just shrugged off her silent question. 

"I'm here to say thank you for the get-well present that you and Miss Ellise sent over. I adore them! I think they are lovely!" 

She smiled again, for she doesn't know what to say but "You're welcome. Glad to see that you are feeling well now." she said, eyeing the second piece of waffle on her hand. 

She noticed that Lucille, except for her eyes, looked a lot like her mother than Noah. Another thing she noticed was she has a great vocabulary for a child of her age.

"Papa was just being dramatic." she scrunched her cute nose, "It was nothing but a stomach ache. Nothing a bathroom break can't take," she giggled when Soraya threw her a warning look. 

She ended up giggling too. She found it endearing and hilarious at the same time to hear her calling her father as dramatic. She could imagine Noah being overly dramatic. 

"Oh, by the way, excuse my bad manners," she jumped from the stool, and she and Luke exchanged an amused look as they watched her went to stand next to the couch and introduced the strangers in their living room. 

"Miss Jess and Mister Luke, this is Soraya. She is my piano teacher. And this man that Mister Luke finds handsome is my uncle Jin. He is my father's friend." 

They all exchanged pleasantries while she pinched Luke's arm, hearing that he was already flirting with Noah's friend! 

When they all sat down, she had a good look at Soraya and Jin. She had security around her when she was young and these two clearly screamed security. But she admired Noah for trying to downplay the relationship of Lucille's bodyguards into something that is acceptable for a child her age. 

She remembered having security when she was young and she hated them for doing their jobs. With Lucille, she could see that she has a good friendly relationship with them. She giggled happily with Jin's jokes like how a child would laugh at a silly uncle. 

"Mister Luke --" 

"Just call me Luke, calling me mister is not sounding good." 

Lucille tilted her head and glanced at Soraya. She smiled at her action. She was throwing a silent question on how she should react to what Luke said. 

"He wants you to call him Luke since Mister Luke makes him feel old," she explained, clearing up her confusion. 

"Uhm, should I also call you Jess?" she bit her lip. 

She laughed softly. She could see why Noah is crazy over her daughter. She's just too adorable. 

"Call her Little Miss Jessie," Luke said.