[This chapter is dedicated to LorenaMur. Thank you for your continued support.]
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Gareth continued walking to the opposite direction where June went after greeting her casually. He was acting like she didn't see June crying. Jess wanted to get angry but she didn't know what the two fought about. She just watched Gareth's back as he walked away.
When she could no longer see him, she continued walking to the cafeteria, thinking she already lost her appetite but she still had to eat. She wished it's already the weekend. She wanted to see Noah and Lucille.
And she used her strong desires to see Noah and Lucille to focus on her task until her last day, shoving the issue of Gareth out of her mind. With her being too busy with work, it wasn't difficult to do so. That's why, when Thursday came she only had a few things to do and had time to say goodbye to Dr. Sison.
"Jessica, I've received all the data and I'd say I'm impressed. I'm sure you'll still be a great help even though you're in the lab in Palo Alto."
"Thank you for believing in me. I'd always be grateful for your unwavering trust."
Dr. Sison just smiled fondly at her. "Is Noah picking you up?"
She blushed, seeing the teasing smile on Dr. Sison's face.
"Uhm, he will come to visit me on the weekend. And I was hoping that he would be informed that today is my last day." She was thinking of asking Dr. Sison for a favor about it to make sure that she can surprise Noah but with so many things to finish in such a short period of time, it escapes her mind. And now that Dr. Sison speaks about it, she just remembers it now.
"You don't have to tell me. Since you are technically still working with me, your last day here wasn't reported to HR yet. You can just go to the HR now," she pulled a piece of paper from the pile of documents on her table. "Look for Marie. You can ask her to file this after lunch tomorrow so that the HR at Palo Alto will get the notice on Monday." She smiled wickedly at her.
She was too shocked to react to what Dr. Sison said. She didn't realize that even if she didn't ask her a favor, the old woman had already thought of everything. When she was able to pull herself together a sincere thanks was all she could utter.
She accepted the documents Dr. Sison handed her, bid the kind old doctor goodbye, and headed to HR. She did what Dr. Sison instructed her and in no time, she was free for the rest of the day.
She has the whole afternoon of Thursday and Friday to do what she has to do before the weekend. However, she has a feeling that Noah would do something crazy like being here earlier so she decided to go out and do some shopping. She has to buy Luke some presents because she won't hear the end of it if she doesn't get a present for him that would satisfy him.
While she was shopping, she received a notification from the hotel that the penthouse that she booked is now available for her and she can come anytime she wants.
Reading the notice, she grinned. She already thought everything out. She asked Aadir if he would like to work for her for a few days and he eagerly agreed. He will be with her in the hotel. She's quite sure that Aadir and Lucille would hit it off. Soraya can take a breather and she and Noah can have fun without the guilt of abandoning Lucille.
It may be for a selfish reason but she doesn't want to keep lying to herself. She wanted to be with Noah as much as he wanted her. She already chose to be with him, there's no reason to do it half-assed. It's either she jumped or she didn't. No in between.
Once done shopping with her shopping, she doesn't want what she bought to be in the way. She had it packed and delivered to the villa. She can't have it in the penthouse since Noah has no idea that she would be joining them back in the states.
Aadir will take care of her luggage. She would just bring a weekend bag to the hotel for Lucille and Noah's vacation. She's planning to tell Noah about her plan to join them on their last day here.
She never likes surprises but the thoughts of Noah and Lucille, especially Noah's ecstatic reaction has been making her giddy and can't help thinking that she might end up liking throwing surprises even in the future.
When she arrived at the villa, June wasn't home. She tried to call her but her phone was left unattended. She ended up just leaving a message that she would be out of the villa tonight. While she was shopping, she decided that she wanted to sleep at the hotel tonight and just wait there for Lucille and Noah in the morning. That's why she packed her bags and had everything ready with the help of Aadir.
Once done with her packing, she called June again and her phone was still unattended. She left the villa with Aadir without talking to June.
When they arrived at the hotel it was quite late at night. She told Aadir to just leave everything and take a rest for the night. She also went to retire to bed as soon as they reached the penthouse because she was tired from all of the shopping she did the whole afternoon.
She sent the hotel to Noah and told him that she has to sleep early for she has work tomorrow. Which was of course a lie. She does not have to be at work tomorrow.
She didn't put on her alarm because she planned to stay in bed and take a rest. It's the reason why she checked in the hotel earlier. She wanted to have a good rest before Noah and Lucille arrived.
Thus, she was surprised to wake up with Lucille jumping at the foot of her bed, screaming "surprise!"