There's no love without pain

THE NEXT DAY,

Dexter has been thinking about Noah's plan in capturing Treasure's stalker and he is still not comfortable with it because he didn't want to involve Treasure. He is worried that it might be too dangerous if Treasure was included in the plan. Dexter knew that Treasure is scared of the strange man because she has literally cried in his arms begging him to stay away from that psychopath.

The good news is that Dexter now looks better than before. His bruises have now healed and he's much stronger. He has taken off the rib belt he used in wrapping his chest because it was somewhat inconvenient for him. Although, he has to avoid strong physical activities such as running, jumping, and so on because of his fractured rib so it wouldn't result in anything serious.

Right now, he's at work with Audrey, explaining to her why he wasn't at work yesterday due to some personal reasons. He didn't admit to her that he wasn't feeling well not to worry her.

"Okay I understand but you should've at least called me instead of leaving me hanging," Audrey said to Dexter.

"I'm sorry, my bad," Dexter said.

"It's okay… Are you free tonight? I wanted us to have dinner together" Audrey said.

"dinner?" Dexter said and she nodded with a sweet smile.

"I… I.. I don't think it's possible" Dexter said, feeling a bit nervous to turn her down.

He wasn't comfortable with the idea of having dinner with Audrey again. The last time he had dinner with her was because he wanted to take his mind off Treasure but now, things are different. Rather, he prefers to have dinner with Treasure.

"Why? Are you busy?" Audrey asked.

"ye.. yes I'm sorry" Dexter responded.

Audrey sighed deeply. She really wanted to spend some time with Dexter. Meanwhile, Dexter could see the disappointment on her face. He tried his best not to look at her face so he wouldn't feel bad for turning her down.

"it's cool, maybe some other time," Audrey said and Dexter gave a tight smile.

…

Carl was sitting down in his office and Noah walked in.

"good morning boss, Cassandra said you wanted to see me," Noah said to Carl, sitting down on a swivel chair opposite him.

"Yes. You didn't give me your reasons for not coming to work yesterday" Carl said.

Noah laughed silently. "did you call me here so I can explain myself?"

"Of course, I'm your boss after all" Carl replied with a straight face and Noah gave Carl a 'since when' look.

"I had something important to take care of," Noah said. He knew he'll spend so much time in Anne's house by asking Dexter about the strange man that was why he texted Carl he wouldn't come to work yesterday.

"what's more important than coming to work?" Carl replied sternly, frowning at Noah. Noah was unknowingly upsetting him by not giving him a straight answer.

Noah scoffed. "prosecutor Carl, did I do something wrong? Or are you rehearsing how to sound like Sasha," He said jokingly.

"Noah, I'm not in the mood for jokes. I saw you outside the company yesterday…"

"…so what?" Noah said.

Carl squinted his eyes at Noah. "is she the reason why you didn't come to work?"

"Who are you talking about?" Noah chuckled knowing fully well that Carl was talking about Anne.

"Oh, God! You know who I'm talking about, I'm talking about Anastasia… Did you skip work because of her?" Carl said.

"if I say yes, would you fire me?" Noah said casually and Carl glared at him.

Noah added "Let me answer that for you. You can't fire me because you need me. You're the one who called me here to work with you because you know I'm the best detective there is in New York so…"

"…it still doesn't give you the right to do whatever you want in my industry" Carl interrupted.

"Prosecutor Carl, why are you so angry? …it's because you saw me with Anastasia right?" Noah said.

Carl felt his tongue tied in his mouth. He didn't know how or what to respond. He has told Noah time after time that he has moved on from Anne but it still bothered him when he saw Noah and Anne hugged.

'it was just a hug but why do I care?' Carl said in his head.

"Well, since my question left you speechless, I guess I have to leave…" Noah said and just then, his phone rang.

He checked his phone and had a quirky grin on his face. "Oh please excuse me, it's the beautiful Anastasia"

Carl gave Noah a dark gaze and Noah could smell Carl's jealousy.

"What's up pretty face…" Noah said on the phone and winked at Carl.

"yes, I'm at work... Sure I'll send it to you right away…. Oh, and I might as well visit you later this evening" Noah said on the phone and he teasingly raised his eyebrows at Carl.

Carl was angry at Noah's last statement. He felt really jealous. He's already assuming that Noah and Anne are becoming more than casual friends

"Take care of yourself pretty face," Noah said and hung up.

"Isn't she so cute?" Noah said to Carl smiling.

"why are you doing this?" Carl said in a low tone that sounded depressing.

"doing what?" Noah acted confused.

Carl sighed.

"Noah, you're old enough to be her father," he said in a serious tone.

"pff! That's if I gave birth to her in my early twenties and I honestly never had time for women at that age. And as for Anastasia and I, age is just a number."

Carl had a sad look on his face. Maybe if he had been sincere about his feelings for Anne, Noah wouldn't have hit on her.

Seeing Carl's sad face like he was about to break down made Noah burst into loud laughter.

"You really think I have feelings for Anastasia?" Noah said amid his laughter. "oh, my God! you should see the look on your face"

Carl heaved a sigh of relief. He now realized that Noah was only toying with him.

'what was I thinking? Noah and Anne? Geez, I'm so stupid' Carl thought to himself.

"Prosecutor Carl, what do you take me for? I'd never hit on Anastasia and I don't even see her that way. As a matter of fact, I see her like a daughter nothing more" Noah said truthfully.

Hearing Noah's confession made Carl feel relieved. He was happy inside him but he didn't show it on his face. As much as he wants to move on from Anne, he didn't want to see her with anyone else. At least not now that he's still grieving.

"yeah, but I saw you too hugging so close and you took her in your car and drove off and.. and I thought you didn't come to work yesterday because of her," Carl said.

"why does it bother you? I thought you said you've moved on from her" Noah asked.

Carl had a long sigh and rested his back on his chair "I thought so too" he muttered.

"But Noah, how did you manage to move on after your ex-wife divorced you?"

"My first ex-wife or the second one?" Noah asked and Carl couldn't help but laugh. Thanks to Noah Carl finally laughed for the first time in a long time.

"it doesn't matter I just wanted to know how you moved on," he said, sitting down erectly.

"Simple! Thank you, next!" Noah said,

"You just jump into another woman?" Carl questioned.

"Okay I wanna ask you a question, would you rather move on from Anastasia permanently so you can be free from getting hurt or be able to make her fall deeply in love with you?" Noah asked Carl.

"umm… well…" Carl muttered stroking his forehead like he was thinking very hard.

Obviously, he wants Anne to fall in love with him since he hasn't moved on yet but he doesn't want a situation where she'll want him today and despise him the next day. It scares him a lot.

"I think I wanna move on from Anne permanently," He said.

"What?" Noah exclaimed silently.

"I said I wanna move on from Anne. I wanna be free from getting hurt all the time... Ever since I fell in love with Anastasia it has brought me nothing but pain. One minute I feel like I'm the most important person in her life and that she loves me so much but whenever I feel that way, she puts me back in my place. She reminds me that I'm nothing to her and that no matter how much I try, we can never be together… Do you know how much that hurts?" Carl sighed.

"I really need to move on from Anne so badly. I wanna forget her" he said sadly and Noah could tell that he was brokenhearted.

"Boss, You should know that good things don't come easily and also, there's no love without pain. And uh... I think that Anastasia is only insecure about long-term commitments. I don't want you to give up just yet because I strongly believe that the both of you are meant to be together." Noah said.

"Noah no. I am completely fed up with anything that has to do with love. I am tired of the false hope that everything is going to be okay… I am so tired" Carl lamented.

Noah saw that Carl was really sad and sick of everything. He knew that Anne is in love with Carl because of how she cried in his arms for being with someone else and he felt bad for her. He felt bad for her because she loves Carl but now it was too late for her to come back into his life. Carl desperately wants to move on and forget about her.

********

Anne was walking on the streets with a package in her hand. She was on her way to deliver some cupcakes to Noah's neighbor who is an elderly woman in her fifties.

Anne was on a black crop top and blue skinny jeans that were ripped, revealing a bit of her thigh and her knees. Her hair was let down, center-parted. She looked really beautiful like an angel.

Her phone beeped and she checked it. It was a text from Noah. She has been expecting his text. Noah sent her his neighbor's address and that was why she called him earlier. Noah's neighbor was looking for a baker who would deliver some cupcakes and Noah had to text his neighbor's address to Anne.

'Thanks a lot' Anne typed on her phone and sent the text to Noah.

She was just about to put her phone back inside her pants pocket when a notorious kid seized her phone and ran as fast as he could with it.

"hahaha," the kid laughed as he ran down the streets holding Anne's phone.

The kid was a thief who sometimes gets away with stealing people's stuff since he was just 9 years old.

"no no no no come back with my phone" Anne yelled, chasing after the little boy that stole her phone.

The kid was so fast that Anne was about to lose track of him. She could've let it go and buy herself a new phone but her contacts are so dear to her since she is a businesswoman.

"stop that little thief!" Anne yelled while running as fast as she could.

However, nobody was actually paying attention to her regardless of her yelling and running on the street. It was as if she was talking to herself because everyone around was minding their business.

Anne stopped to catch her breath with her hands resting on her knees.

"fuck!! if only I had saved all my contacts in the cloud"  she said, breathing heavily.

She looked inside her package and saw that the cupcakes were still intact. "thank God" Anne said under her breath.

She searched around with her eyes to look for the little thief but she couldn't find him anywhere. She has lost track of him and her hair was now a bit messy from all the running.

"Dang it!!" Anne yelled in frustration, as she angrily stomped her feet on the ground. She felt very pissed because she has to start afresh in getting all her contacts back.

"excuse me, ma'am, I believe this belongs to you," A young lady said to Anne giving her back her phone.

The young lady was firmly holding the little thief who was trying his best to escape from her strong grip.

Meanwhile, Anne's face lit up with happiness as she saw her phone. She was more than happy and relieved to have gotten her phone back because she thought she had lost it for good. All thanks to this good Samaritan.

However, Anne had no idea that this young lady standing in front of her was none other than Treasure. The girl whom she despises for causing her brother Dexter to have a fractured rib.

Treasure on the other hand also had no idea that this beautiful lady who she helped was Dexter's sister, Anastasia.