[This chapter is dedicated to cheetles. Thank you for staying around for the ride. Cheers from Noah and Jess.]
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Jess admired how the dress looked on her. She put her hands on her hips and did a half-turn in the full-size mirror. She's wearing a red wine sequined dress. The dress has a stretchy fabric that fits her body like a glove. She put on diamond drop earrings that her aunt gifted her for her eighteen birthday. It's one of the few pieces of jewelry that she truly values. 'This and that ring she bought using Noah's credit card,' she chuckled to herself. And probably the whole jewelry set her father gifted her when she finished high school and every piece of jewelry her mother used to own.
She chuckles to herself, watching herself in the mirror, thinking she does like jewelry even though she doesn't wear one often.
Satisfied with what she's seeing in the mirror, she smiled. She was glad she found a dress she likes on such short notice. She was picking up her purse when her phone rang. She glanced at the phone screen and saw Noah's name. He knew that she would be attending the said event with Gareth and Noah was grumbling since he found out. He even threatened to call Dr. Sison and tell her to send someone else.
She knew his threat was half-meant. Hence, she stopped him because she wasn't sure how many percent of Noah's threat to call Dr. Sison was what he meant. She pacified his tantrum by telling him it's part of her job. And she wasn't excited to go to the said event with Gareth.
That somehow made Noah stop grumbling about her attending an event where she would doll up and he wasn't the one next to her.
She picked up the call before it hit its fifth ring because if she didn't, Noah would just use it to throw a tantrum.
"Baby, open your camera. I want to see you." He didn't bother with greetings anymore.
She clicked her tongue and opened the camera of her phone. After what happened the last time, every time she answers his calls now, she makes sure that her camera is off, even when he was calling with a video call. That's why Noah's greeting is always 'open your camera.'
Before she opened her camera, she propped her phone on her vanity table, then stepped back for Noah to see her dress.
"Oh god! Baby, can you tell Dr. Sison, you have a stomachache?" He pouted like a child that elicited amused laughter from her.
"Don't be silly!" She rolled her eyes at him. "How do I look?"
"You look so breathtaking, I want to fuel the plane and steal you away."
She blushed and giggled like a teenager that got a compliment from her crush. "I know you'll like it."
"Yes, I like it. And you are going out without me."
"You can take me out when I come home." She smiled provocatively at still sulking Noah.
"When is that? You don't even want me to visit you."
Jess went quiet for a few minutes as an idea started to swirl around her head. She already got the exact date that she would be returning to the states. She wondered why Noah didn't know. Does his office was not informed of such information?
"Mm-hmm...how about a weekday?"
"What do you mean?" His brows knitted and he held his breath with anticipation.
"Can you visit me on a weekday?"
"I can. But Lucille won't talk to me ever again if I don't take her to visit you. I had to bribe her the last time."
'Lucille has school.' She chuckled to herself, thinking Lucille would also not talk to her if she let Noah visit her without her. But she didn't hear anything about bribing. "What did you do that you had to bribe your own daughter to talk to you?"
Noah's smile turned sleazy. "She's mad that I hid in my bedroom when I talked to you while she shared what she talked about with me."
Jess bit her lower lip when she remembered when was the call that made Noah hide in his bedroom. "Yeah, how will you explain to your daughter that you wanted to see me take a bath, you pervert!"
Noah threw his head laughing. "You answered your phone naked! Besides, you like it too, right?" His tone of voice went deeper and velvety with the undertone that Jess was too familiar now. He would use that tone with her when he is thinking of something naughty.
"Next time, I want to go inside the bathroom with you and I'll tell you where you should wash and for how long and how hard you should scrub yourself." His eyes were gleaming with desires and excitement that Jess couldn't help but imagine how glorious that shower would be.
"If you visit me next weekend, you might get lucky," she smirked at him, wiggling her eyebrows.
Noah gaped at her on the phone screen. Disbelief was on his handsome face. She decided that her last day at work would be on Thursday, she could check-in in a hotel and not yet go home, instead, she could ask Noah and Lucille to visit her on the weekend and they all could go back to the states together.
It would be a good surprise. She grinned wickedly, imagining Noah and Lucille's expression. Especially Noah. She put a mental note to ask for Dr. Sison's help to make sure that Noah wouldn't know her schedule for the surprise to happen.
"Jess, don't play with me." He squinted his eyes on her, trying to find any indication that she was kidding. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the seriousness in her eyes.
"I'm not kidding. I said you can visit me on the weekend so you can take Lucille with you. I would play a prank on you but I won't involve Lucille. So…" her voice trailed suggestively. "...are you coming or are you coming?" she giggled.
"You bet your pretty ass, Miss Zimmerman that I am coming!"