"The Rat in the Hallway"

Lovely shyly walked towards the living room. She was worried that she would have a bad impression in Sanno's father because she heard that he was strict.

"Oh, you're already here," Joy said when she saw the shy Lovely. The two of them had already known each other because she was always dropping by to eat dinner with them. "Come, I'll introduce you to my husband."

Dexter then stood up and approached Lovely. "I'm Dexter Angeldame. Nice to meet you, Miss Wenn," and he reached out his right hand to her.

Lovely quickly took his hand and shook it. "Mr. Angeldame! It's nice to meet you!"

"I'm an old friend of your father, Carlid Wenn," he said, giving a friendly smile trying not to scare her away. "I was always asking him for advice in terms of medicine when he was still in the country. Do you know that he's a pharmaceutical scientist?"

Lovely nodded. She smiled, reminiscing the days when she was still young, "He often brought me to the mountains to camp. He loves to examine plants." she chuckled at the thought of her fun memories with her dad, "Whenever we get home from the forest, mom would scold him, and chase him with a fishing rod! Ahh… I miss him so much..."

"Let's talk over dinner, I've set up the table," Joy told them, but then, she noticed that her son isn't around. "Where's Sanno?"

Lovely replied, "He said that he's just going to catch a rat… But I don't know what he meant…"

In the long hallway of the condo, Sanno walked slowly and as quietly as he could. He knew that someone was listening to their conversation. Even though he already had a hunch on who the person was, she needed to be caught at the moment, so that she wouldn't escape.

A woman was trembling as she held onto her cellphone tightly. When Sanno shut the door, she walked briskly away from their door, but it only made her more suspicious as her heavy steps were heard. She didn't expect that Sanno would open the door again to check on the hallway. As soon as she saw him walking towards her, she ran away from him, until she saw a safe hiding place. There she was, sitting in a dark corner.

Sanno knew where she could be hiding. There were only two corners left to hide, and the woman would surely be hiding in one of those. He slowly walked towards the first corner, and she's not there. He walked quickly towards the second corner, making his footsteps louder to make her hear.

The woman panicked, and her hands were full of sweat. Her hands were shaking, but she managed to click on her cellphone. She clicked the options button on the bottom of the audio file and looked for Sanya's email address. "Where is her name…" she murmured to herself. She couldn't find her name!

Suddenly, a shadow hovered over the crouching woman. "Can't find your batchmate's name?" Sanno said as he stood beside her. "Miss Macadamia… why are you so nosy?"

Trisha Macadamia is Sanya's batchmate, and she cared for her sincerely. She��s one of her colleagues that looks up to her. She could've been Sanya's ally, but the naive young scientist became blinded by love. Trisha knew that it was too late, that Sanya was too infatuated with him, but her righteousness led her in following Sanno's tracks. She wanted Sanya to know Sanno's true color.

Trisha stood up, ready to counter Sanno's words. "You cheater! You had a girlfriend, yet you pursued Sanya! I saw and heard everything!"

Sanno remained silent for a while, but later on, he just laughed.

Trisha was confused by his reaction, "What's funny?"

"My, my, you're nosy, but you got it all wrong," Sanno said, holding back his laughter. "Miss Macadamia, that's the daughter of my father's friend, and she's meeting her for the first time. She's new here, and I'm the only one close to her. Anyway, the bottom line is, I never cheated on Sanya."

Trisha wasn't convinced. "I doubt! I know there's something fishy about you and that woman!" She exclaimed, trying to get him to confess. "Everything's so suspicious about you!"

Sanno's face became serious, "Try me," he said as a challenge to her. He then placed his hand at the top of her head putting subtle pressure on it, while he leaned in closer near her ear to whisper, "If you try to fight me, I'll fight back, and you won't be able to handle it." His deep voice sent shivers down to her spine, and it got her trembling in fear. He went away, leaving her stoned in that dark corner.

Sanno came back to the room, and they were already eating.

"Sannooo! Where have you been?" Lovely asked him, as she dipped the roasted duck meat into the gravy.

"I told you, I just caught the rat," Sanno then sat beside a vacant seat in front of his father.

Dexter seemed to know that the rat he was talking about was a person, "Who?"

"Just one of my prey's concerned friends. But I had already warned her," Sanno said, as he took a part of the duck meat into his plate.

"Are you a predator, Sanno?" Lovely laughed, as she thought that it was a lame joke.

"Yeah, I am," Sanno dipped the chunk of meat into the gravy bowl.

"Then who's the prey that you were referring to?"

Sanno ate the duck meat, and then he just smiled at Lovely's question.

After dinner, they continued conversing in the living room. Joy served them premium green tea, and they all sat on the sofa. There was an awkward silence; nobody knew what kind of discussion should come first.

Lovely wanted to end that silence, so she asked, "So, Mr. Angeldame, what can I do to help your team?"

Dexter gave her an affirmative nod, and he replied, "First… can you tell me why your father suddenly went abroad?"