"Where is the laboratory?" Luke asked the employee who volunteered to give them a tour.
She has a voluptuous body, blonde hair, and wearing black-framed eyeglasses that were too big for her face. Her eyes were fixed on Luke rather blatantly.
As she kept on pushing up her eyeglasses that kept on slipping down from the bridge of her nose. She would gaze at Luke dreamily.
She and Oliver exchanged meaningful glances as they snickered at how the poor girl was so enamored with Luke, who prefers glasses — but on men.
"This building — is the laboratory." She answered Luke while batting her long lashes.
"This whole building?" Luke turned around to look at Jess, and grinned meaningfully, "ANAT Pharma and Co. is indeed big time."
"Of course!" the blonde girl named Sue exclaimed with pride, "We are the third-largest pharmaceutical company in the world after all," she said with a smile.
"This laboratory is just one of the ANAT laboratories all over the world. This building has eight floors and seven of them are all laboratories that we used for our research."
"And the other floor?" Oliver asked.
"It's the lounge, cafeteria, some offices, and such," she answered Oliver but her eyes were still glued on Luke.
"Thank you so much for the tour, Sue. We didn't expect to get a full tour when we asked to see the premise." she said, looking at Luke who mouthed "Thank you" for it seemed like he was getting uncomfortable with Sue fawning over him.
"I think we have seen enough," she smiled at the girl who looked like she didn't want to end the tour because she kept on glancing at Luke.
Luke's eyes were throwing Jess a cry for help.
She grinned and felt the urge to tease Luke, but when she remembered that she had already teased him enough this morning, she smiled at the over-friendly Sue, and said, "We haven't had our lunch," she said, glancing at her wristwatch. "We will be back for the orientation on Wednesday."
But Sue has no plan to let them go, "Awesome," she said, clapping her hands, "We have the best food in our cafeteria. Today is Monday, we have Vietnamese cuisine. The pho, spring roll, and bahn mi are my personal favorites."
"We—"
"We are already here!" she exclaimed, not letting Luke finish his sentence.
They were in fact standing in front of the cafeteria, which was crowded with employees wearing lab coats having their lunch.
"Since we are already here, let's just eat. I suddenly have cravings to eat some pho," she said, smirking at Luke.
Jess doesn't understand why Luke was being uneasy around Sue. Although the girl was too friendly, Luke has always been good at dealing with people. But, ever since the talk between him and Oliver, he has been acting weird.
The four of them entered the cafeteria. And the first thing Jess noticed was how inviting the place was. It is clear that there are some tables catered for a large group of people for they have six or eight chairs, while most tables were with four chairs only.
It also didn't escape Jess' observation that there are some tables in the corner part of the room with just two chairs.
She liked the fact that whoever fixes the floor plan of this cafeteria, keep in mind the different groups of people who would have their meal. There are people who like to be themselves when eating.
Jess belongs to those groups. While eating, she prefers to avoid having a conversation. Especially when her mind is cluttered with thoughts about work. Hence, she and Luke always had their lunch in their secret place on campus.
Although it was lunchtime, the cafeteria wasn't as crowded as she expected. The four of them get in the queue to get their food. And just like Sue said, the food was all Vietnamese.
"Does the cafeteria always do this kind of thing?" she asked out of curiosity.
"Not always. We usually have a specific cuisine on Monday. Employees put their choices in that box," she pointed to a box near the cashier, "...for what cuisine we wanted. The regular menu for the rest of the week depended on the chef and some most requested meal."
"I see."
The conversation died down because Luke and Oliver weren't talking and Sue went back to staring at Luke.
She and Oliver got themself a huge bowl of pho and some spring roll, Sue wanted some pho too, but when she saw Luke ordered some banh mi, she changed her mind and got herself some banh mi instead.
Jess could not help but giggle at Sue's total adoration for Luke. She looks like a teenager who fell in love at first sight.
When they all sat down, Sue abruptly stiffened on her chair and covered her mouth to stifle a shriek.
They were all surprised by her antics and followed her gaze.
Jess' jaws dropped to the floor when she met Noah's eyes as he entered the cafeteria with Antonio following closely behind. He wore a blue vested three-piece suit. He was wearing glasses with a clear frame, which made his face look unapproachable, yet his demeanor screamed sexiness.
When Luke kicked her leg under the table, she quickly closed her mouth. She looked down at her bowl, praying that Noah would not approach their table. Her prayers weren't answered because Noah walked directly to their table and casually pulled a chair next to her.
Sue audibly gasped when her boss joined them at their table.
"I heard you guys had a tour?" he asked, watching Jess' expression.
"Yes, sir. I - I toured them around to our building," Sue informed Noah with her voice quivering in excitement.
Jess stared at the woman who just a moment ago was fawning over Luke but now shrieking over Noah.
"Miss Payton, right?" Noah smiled at her, reading the name on the name tag pinned on her lab coat.
"Yes, sir," she answered, nodding.
"I believe your break is already over."
Sue's already pale complexion went paler when she heard what Noah said. She quickly stood up from her chair and excused herself.
"Did you like the place?" Noah asked Jess as if he were asking if she liked his company.
"Why Mister Tiefenbacher, are you going to give me your company if I say, yes?"
Luke snorted.
Noah tucked some loose hair behind her ear and answered, "Yes."