Even Bacteria Get Respect

"My apologies. I wasn't looking where I'm going."

She doesn't want to apologize to this man, however, with the information she learned from Luke it would be beneficial for her if she could keep a civil relationship with him. He is still the representative of the ANAT and Pharma Co after all.

She forced herself to give him a small smile before turning around the darn blind corner when she heard him calling her name.

Her heart jumped and constricted when she heard her name spoken out of his mouth. Her feet moved like they have a mind of their own, ceased from stepping forward, and slowly turned around to face him.

She may or may not gathered tendrils of her hair and softly tucked them behind her ears.

"Yes?" She hopes to God that her voice didn't betray her who's trying to be casual about their conversation.

"Is this the way to the back exit?" He was pointing in the same direction she came from.

And for the second time that day, Jess begged for the ground to just swallowed her alive. She is studying Microbiology with a concentration in virology. She knew that in the field of Science, an assumption would not take you anywhere. You need data to prove your hypothesis.

Yet here she is, assuming the hell of everything out of this man. She cringed inside with how he could make her felt stupid and giddy like a disgusting teenager on her first crush.

"Yeah, go straight and take the right on the first corner. Just walk straight until you reach a gray door at the end of the corridor. That's the exit door that you are looking for." she sighed.

'Good job on giving a detailed direction, Jess.' She silently lectured herself as she waved him goodbye, not trusting her voice to talk more than what he asked for.

"Thank you," he said.

He was observing her face again with such intensity where anyone would mistake it for something more. But Jess, already burned twice that day didn't think of anything other than Noah Tiefenbacher is a weirdo that she needed to kiss ass to get the internship from the ANAT and Pharma Co.

A very good looking weirdo with summer sky in his eyes, she smirked inwardly with how the course of her thought shifted to R-18 in a blink of his eyes.

"You looked quite familiar, Miss Zimmerman. Have I known you before?" he gave her an engaging smile. This time his smile looked like an honest one because his eyes were smiling together with her mouth.

Jess learned from experience that, he has the ability to make her smile and feel like shit at the same time.

She cocked her head to her right because she was told that her left face is her best side. She smiled at him suggestively and with a cold tone enough to make any liquid reached its freezing point.

"Yes, you know me from before." she fluttered her lashes to him, smiling shyly.

"Ugh," Noah faked a cough watching this young lady shamelessly flirting at him.

"I was the girl who you admonished at the lab this morning for ogling at your handsome face. There were three of us, but then you singled me out of the group. Thank you." her voice was oozing with sarcasm.

Noah was taken aback when he realized what she was saying. Indeed it was a jerk move on his part. He passed his anger towards her and no reason was valid enough for his rude action.

He was on the phone fighting with his ex-wife when the professor handling the team decided to pull him to the lab to be introduced to all the team members where he will be joining starting next week.

"If you don't want girls to stare at you, stop being so damn attractive!" she blurted out before she turned around and dashed back to the laboratory. 'Nice job being so childish Jessica Joy.' she repeatedly told herself off in her head while she ran away from the embarrassment.

Noah chuckled to himself as he watched the young woman sprint back to the laboratory. She was clutching some documents tightly in her arms, her white coat was flapping behind her with the hurried steps she was taking.

He shoved his hands on his pants pocket as he turned around to find the back exit where his driver was waiting.

He has already taken some steps but he couldn't help himself but looked back to see if he could still see the back of the fleeing Miss Zimmerman. He laughed softly thinking to himself how adorable she is.

Too bad, it seems like she already had a bad impression of him. Should he apologize and take her out for dinner, he thought. But then, he remembered that before the end of this summer his father would officially turn over the company to him and he has no time to play around, however, adorably charming Miss Zimmerman is.

Jess panting from that sprint she did, leaned on the cold metal door of the lab. She hugged the clipboard on her chest. She breathes in and out trying to keep her heart from having a riot inside her chest.

"I must be insane," she mumbled to her herself in the dark. She couldn't believe that she would lose her composure over such a thing. The blue-eyed jerk could evoke all the strange emotion from her.

She could be petty and unreasonable when her pride is in the line. And the bastard crossed the line. How could he sleep with her and treat her like she was as insignificant as a thrown candy wrapper on the street.

How could the bastard forget her? Was she really that forgettable, she wondered as she made her way to the freezer where she kept all the specimens to collect the data for the day. She opened one of the drawers of the freezer and carefully took out a tray of test tubes.

She pulled a stool as she gently put down the tray of test tube next to the microscope. Pulled out pair of latex gloves before sitting down. Looking down the microscope watching the bacteria she has been cultivating for over a month, a thought comes to mind.

She has treated these bacteria better than that jerk treated her. She bestows these bacteria under the microscope with significant respect than that jerk has ever given her.

He is a damn coward that hides behind his poor memory. She didn't believe for a second that the bastard has forgotten her! In the span of what -- two months?

"Tiefenbacher, I would make you grovel in regrets under my feet!" she swore to her bacteria.