So— Nothing happened to him?

"Yes. Any problem?"

Anna eyed Tom suspiciously. This was so unlike Tom. He was never so serious nor curious about anything but this was actually becoming something else.

"What so you mean by 'Yes. Any problem?' You think whatever you're doing is normal right now?" She looked pointedly at him when she asked.

"What's so bad in wanting to know more about my bodyguard? This is someone that lives with me in the same apartment for crying out loud!" 

"We all know this is more than just 'wanting to know more about her'. Who are you kidding?" 

Tom opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. 

Joel, who had been quietly watching the both of them, began to chuckle. "This is interesting."

"What's amusing you?" Anna frowned at him. 

"Nothing really. It's just a bit difficult to wrap my hands around the fact that Tom likes his bodyguard. Never seen him so curious about someone else's boyfriend."

"I. Don't. Like. Her" He said firmly through gritted teeth as he tried his best not to get annoyed.

"So can you focus on Amanda instead since I believe she would want to kick off from where you both left off. You still like her right?" Joel teased with a grin.

"Do you both think you are my parents?" Tom asked them with a straight face. 

"Let's drop this topic and move on to something else can we?" He asked them casually before relaxing on the chair.

 "So how did it go with the movie last night?" Joel remembered to ask with a cheeky grin. 

Tom had been so focused on getting to know about Lisa's boyfriend that he had almost forgotten he was supposed to cuss Joel for that suggestion.

"Hello? I thought we were supposed to drop that topic?" Anna rolled her eyes at the both of them.

"Fuck You. Joel! Last night was the worst night of my life" Tom said with a deep frown as the memories from last night flashed through his mind. 

"What? What happened?" Joel immediately sat up to ask curiously.

Tom didn't want to tell them he had been scared to the bone. Instead, he chose not to say anything concerning that.

"I don't know how you were able to become a famous writer when you're so dumb. Germany didn't even flinch one bit!"

Anna giggled at Tom's words. 

"Maybe he's not sensible most times, but his books are really nice. I'm sure he would have had a lot of fans trooping to his house everyday if they knew he was the one behind those gems"

Joel smiled proudly before lifting a glass in a 'cheers' gesture to Anna. 

"Gem my ass" Tom scowled at him.

"But on a serious note, which type of movie did you both see last night?" Joel asked curiously. 

"Horror!" Tom shook his head as if trying to shake off last night's memory. 

"You got scared instead?" Anna looked at him with amusement dancing in her eyes when he quickly blurted out a "NO!"

"Oh mi gad! You got scared didn't you?" Joel raised one brow in a mock gesture but quickly stopped when he saw the dark glare Tom was giving to the both of them. 

"Alright alright. What about Romance? I could recommend you some really nice Romance movies with a slice of Tragedy. Trust me on this." Joel hit his hand on the table before declaring "Germany is going to cry."

Tom didn't know why that sounded funny. But he laughed out. 

"Germany would cry? You wish!" 

Anna was mute and simply watched both guys. It was rare to see that they were still talking about one girl for the past hour. 

She suddenly remembered something and lifted the nylon bag that had been lying beside her. 

"Oh here. I saw these chocolates when I went to the mall today. They looked really nice and tasty so I decided to buy for you both also. And trust me, it's wonderful!" 

She placed her hand inside the bag and took out the two bars of chocolates before handing the both of them— one each. 

"Just one?" Tom asked with a frown. 

Anna nodded. "Yes. Just one. And it's really expensive you ungrateful ass!" 

"Thank you Darling. You're the best person in this group." Joel praised. 

"Tell me something I don't know" She replied back haughtily.

Tom looked at the chocolate. 'Coco-choco'.

He sure had never seen this one before and couldn't wait to know how it tasted. 

"Anyway thanks." Tom said with a shrug. 

"So about Amanda? What's the 411?" Anna asked curiously. 

"We agreed to fix another date. Well that's that about that. Right now I just need to call this guy to know the idiot Germany is dating" He said as he lifted the file. 

"Why is he an idiot? You don't even know him!" Anna was really getting tired of him now. She could not just understand his attitude. Even though it was obvious he liked her, he kept denying it. And now, whoever she was dating was an idiot?

"Anyone aside from him, every other guy is an idiot and shouldn't be around his precious Germany." Joel interpreted to Anna before turning to look at Tom. "Right Tom?" 

Tom said nothing. He only relaxed back on the chair and took a sip from his wine glass with a big smile on his face.

But he began to wonder why he was suddenly obsessed with something that was not supposed to be his business. 

'Quite weird' He thought to himself.

          ************

Early the next morning, he woke up earlier than usual. Even though it was just six in the morning and he knew it was not yet working hours, he placed a direct call to the PI who answered with obvious annoyance in his voice.

After introducing himself as the CEO of BEST, the man didn't need anyone to further tell him that the man he was on the phone with was Mr Hwang's son who was probably going to become the next governor. 

He patiently listened to all Tom had to say and after their long conversation, they were able to arrive at a conclusion. So Tom sent an E-mail of all he needed to know about 'Kim Berlin' for him to know whoever she was dating.

"Perfect!" Tom said with a smile once he was done and strolled into his kitchen. 

First, he placed the chocolate inside his fridge and took out a bottle of water to drink. But before he could close the fridge, he paused to run his eyes over his well stocked fridge and wondered why it didn't look as full as it used to be. 

There was a special chocolate he liked a lot and had bought about five of it. 

He could remember eating only one since he was trying to watch his sugar intake, but right now, he could only see two left inside.

"Or did I eat more?" He wondered.

Since he could not remember, he let it slide and locked the door but jumped when he saw Lisa beside him. 

"Good morning Mr Hwang" She greeted with a bow and her usual poker face.

"Germ—" He tried to control his breathing. Seeing her all of a sudden had startled the hell out of him. 

"I just came in. I heard sounds in here." She explained why she was in the kitchen, in the most concise manner. 

"Oh. Yes. Hmmm— How did your date go?" 

'Please tell me he died' Tom prayed in his mind. 

"Very well. He sent his greeting to my boss" She answered with a straight face, hoping that he would stop there and not ask further.

"So— nothing happened to him?" He raised a questioning brow at her.

He saw her brows furrow before she asked.. "Something like?" 

Tom eyed her and decided to let it slide. It was obvious her boyfriend didn't choke or drown.

But as he was about leaving the kitchen, his curiosity got the best of him and before he knew it, he shocked himself and her by asking..

"Did you spend the night at his place?"