Chapter 203 - Soft As Marshmallows

[This chapter is dedicated to BedHeadBookworm. Thank you for your continued support of our story. I appreciate your support and I will always be grateful.] 

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"I will miss you, too." She tip-toed and kissed him on the cheek, "Let's continue this talk at the dinner table, shall we?" 

Noah found himself nodding his head like a good boy. He was such a good boy that he let Jess send him home after dinner. She brought another research paper to read and does not want to be disturbed with her reading. 

He wasn't really going to complain because he understood how time-consuming a research study was. He was once a student and studied the same field as Jess.

Now he has Antonio and other people to do the job for him but Jess has to do things on her own. And he understands that Jess has to work hard to prove herself to be Dr. Sison's assistant.

The position she has was one of the coveted positions for other researchers and it was given to Jess who happened to be just an intern. He knew the urge to prove once capacity, especially with Jess who happened to be competitive in most things. 

He was sad and lonely like a young boy that he was sent home. But he did what Jess asked.

He couldn't help but laugh when recalled what Jess told her as they said goodnight at her door.

'Be a good boy and do it for me.' He shook his head in amusement. He is many years ahead of Jess to be treated like a 'good boy' but, here he is. Being a good boy. Home alone in his empty apartment. 

He now understood why Jess didn't choose this apartment even though it has the best view because if you were alone in this house, its walls and empty corridors would make you feel lonely. 

Jess being here before intensified how empty his house was whenever she wasn't here. The house turned cold whenever her presence could not be felt inside the house. And he now wondered how he would survive the fact that this would be the situation once Jess flies out to India.

His mocking laughter echoed through the empty walls. He never thought there would be a time in his life that he would feel like a boy, scared to be left out. He truly wanted to keep Jess at his side at all times. 

An impossible thing to wish at this point in their life. They were both chasing after their respective dreams, him, his goal to be the CEO of their family business, and Jess with her dream to be successful in her chosen field. 

And it just happened that both of the dreams they are chasing require a lot of time that would keep them away from each other. He had planned to be with Jess at this time, sending Markus to India instead of him going himself because he knew that in the next month he would be the one who would be extremely busy. 

The new branch and the upcoming shareholder annual meeting, would take him away from Jess. 

"Hey, loverboy!" 

Markus' mocking face appeared on his laptop screen. Since Jess sent him home, he decided to be a good boy and work instead of wallowing in self-pity. Hence, he decided to call Markus to get some updates. But his friend has a different idea and that's to gloat from his misfortune. 

"Don't start, Markus." he gave his friend a deadly look from the computer camera. 

He was the one who called him when he was at Jess's house and eagerly told him the news to piss him off. Before Jess could even tell him her good news of being invited by Dr. Sison joined her to oversee some research abroad, Markus called him because he had heard that Jess would be in the entourage of researchers that would come to India. 

Markus couldn't let the opportunity to laugh at his misery for he was still angry at him for sending him to India when he was supposed to be in Dubai, working on his business ventures that were out of the family corporation. 

"Imagine working side by side with Miss Zimmerman here," Markus grinned, hell-bent on making him suffer. "You can go out on a date after work. You can consider it as your first trip together as a couple. Since the trip in San Lucas wouldn't be considered as something as a trip together since you just stalked her." 

"Shut up!" 

Markus roared in laughter.  "You wouldn't mind if I take Miss Zimmerman for dinner, would you?" he grinned, watching Noah's face getting nastier with everything he would say. 

Noah heaved a deep sigh. The fact that Markus was pressing his button was obvious to him. It was his way of getting revenge for what he had done. However, imagining those things he said he could have done with Jess if he had only done what he was supposed to do. He won't deny that he had deep regrets. 

Imagining taking Jess for a stroll, taking in the culture of the city, introducing her to things that he enjoyed whenever he would visit the said country. Flying together, working side by side. He had tons of regrets. 

He was tempted to pull Markus out of India and replace him but he knew if Jess would know that he did that she wouldn't like it. She wanted to be her own person. She wanted to learn under the supervision of Dr. Sison. And if other people in his company would know that he plays favoritism, Jess wouldn't like it. 

He remembered the time that she told him the news of being chosen to work under Dr. Sison, she had to ask him directly if he had something to do with it. He knew for a fact that she wouldn't want anybody to be the reason for her getting something. 

Jess wanted to achieve things for her. She doesn't want to be favored. And those characters of hers made him fall for her deeper than he already is. 

"I would like you to watch over her. Keep her safe and make sure she is doing okay." 

"Are you sure?" 

It was his turn to laugh when he heard Markus' questions. He realized Markus was pushing his button so he would change his mind and bring him home and be sent to Dubai. 

"Too bad for you, Markus. Miss Zimmerman wouldn't like it if I did that. So, I'll just suffer imagining all the things we could have done together over there. But no, I'm not taking you home. Stay there and keep Jess safe." 

Markus clicked his tongue. "It would be fun to spend time with Miss Zimmerman. Don't blame me if she ended up dumping you and choosing me instead." 

"You wish!" 

"Oh, so you are feeling confident, huh?" 

"I'm not that confident. I just know Jess wouldn't mix business with pleasures. That's the reason why I won't do what you wanted me to do." 

"You are telling me that Miss Zimmerman is different from your ex-wife?" Markus tried to probe what was the real score between Noah and Jess. The stories he heard were from Antonio. Which wasn't much because Antonio was too loyal to Noah and adored Jess. 

He won't tell him something juicy about Noah and Jess. 

"She is different. And I'm saying that with no thought of comparing them. Jess is her own person. She has her own thing and it would be an insult to compare her to Nicole. While my relationship with my ex-wife was a good thing that turned sour, she is still the mother of my kid. As much as possible I want to keep the respect. I don't want Lucille to lose her mother." 

"Tch, sometimes I wonder when you become a saint, Noah. If what Nicole did to you was done to me, there would be a bloodbath." He said in all seriousness. Markus knew himself that he wouldn't ever let go, let alone forgive the infidelity of his woman. 

Noah didn't only let go of his ex-wife's infidelity but also continued to provide for the bitch and let her have full custody of the young miss. He knew that Noah also had some problems in the past, but his problem has nothing to do with ruining their family. 

But that was just his opinion as a friend. Noah thought differently. He was guilty of his alcohol problem and being a workaholic as the reason for Nicole's cheating that drove their marriage into a divorce. 

"I am no saint, Markus. You of all people should know that. I also have made mistakes in the past that I wasn't proud of and to be honest if I would face the same situation, I would probably do the same thing." 

Markus agreed in silence. Noah indeed wasn't a saint but that's at work. When it comes to family and most especially his daughter, Noah is as soft as a marshmallow.