You didn't cause any of this

"And that was how I got her number" Treasure was done narrating how she met Anne.

"wow, …that's… that's all I can say" Dexter replied.

"Dexter, were you even paying attention to me?" Treasure asked Dexter suspiciously. She already figured that his mind was somewhere else.

Dexter laughed nervously "Of course I am"

"I don't believe you," She said and playfully poked his chest with her finger.

"Ouch!!!" Dexter shrieked, touching his chest due to the sudden sharp pain he felt. It only hurt him because of his fractured rib.

"Umm, are you okay? Is everything alright? I'm really sorry I didn't mean to hurt you I must've poked you too hard…" Treasure sincerely apologized. She didn't mean to hurt Dexter at all.

"gotcha!" Dexter laughed softly. He laughed because he was happy at how Treasure suddenly became so concerned about him.

The truth is that Dexter actually felt a pain in his chest as Treasure poked him but he didn't want her to know he was hurt. He'd rather pretend like he was okay.

Treasure rolled her eyes and folded her arms to her chest feeling pissed already. She didn't like the prank because she was really worried.

"Hey, I was only teasing you," Dexter said softly after noticing that Treasure was upset.

"well don't do that again. I might not believe you the next time" Treasure said.

"I'm sorry" He apologized.

Dexter's eyes met a grey color car that was parked not too far from where he and Treasure were standing. The car turn signal lights were blinking like the driver was trying to signal Dexter.

It was Noah's car and he just arrived. He was at the G. T clothing boutique when he received Dexter's text.

"Treasure please give me a second," Dexter said and he typed on his phone.

'boss, I've seen you, you can stop playing with your car lights please' he sent the text to Noah.

Noah immediately stopped the turn signal lights as he read the text from Dexter.

"don't tell me this kid called me here to play a bodyguard role" Noah groaned.

"Treasure there's an ice cream parlor a few blocks away from this street... you know, they sell the best ice cream and I was thinking if you could umm... come with me so we can have ice cream together… probably during the weekend" Dexter said to Treasure, hoping she'll agree to it. He enjoys her company a lot and he wanted to spend more time with her regardless of the strange man's threats telling him to avoid her.

Treasure bit down her bottom lip thinking of what and how to respond. She has never officially gone out with a guy before and she was nervous about it. Despite that, she wanted to go out with Dexter but she thought of how her brother, Kim would react to it. Kim doesn't like Dexter at all since he works with the cops.

"What do you say?" Dexter asked, praying in his heart that Treasure would say yes.

"uhm…" Treasure muttered, giving Dexter a searching look. Her eyes were darting left and right and then her eyes met a red dot light on his shirt where his heart was located.

"Dexter, what is this??" Treasure asked anxiously

"What?" Dexter said.

"there's a red light on your shirt," She said, pointing at the red dot light on his shirt.

"DEXTER GET DOWN!!!" Noah yelled at the top of his voice as he began firing shots at a man who was pointing a gun at Dexter.

Noah had seen the man, all dressed in black pointing a rifle at Dexter from the rooftop of a building. Since it was from a far distance, Noah didn't have a clear view of the man but he was certain that it was the psychopath, Shawn Colbert. The strange man who is Treasure's stalker and after Dexter's life.

Treasure and Dexter immediately bent down as they heard the loud gunshots. They were both in shock about what was going on especially Treasure.

Noah fired gunshots at the strange man but he missed all of them because of the distance.

Bang!

The strange man managed to shoot Noah's arm.

"Shit!" Noah cursed, holding his bleeding arm, enduring the excruciating pain he was feeling.

"What is happening?" Treasure said in a panic tone, feeling very frightened.

"Treasure, just calm down okay?" Dexter said trying to calm Treasure down even though he was also feeling paranoid.

A few minutes later, Treasure and Dexter noticed that everywhere was now quiet and they both stood up to their feet.

The strange man who had just shot Noah turned his attention back to Dexter.

"STOP PLEASE!!" Treasure screamed at the strange man who was pointing his rifle at Dexter. She recognized the strange man to be her stalker.

She stood in front of Dexter with her arms wide apart looking up at her stalker who was standing on a rooftop. Treasure was covered with fear and her eyes were red like she wanted to cry. She was scared to death that her stalker was going to shoot Dexter but surprisingly, her stalker left the scene with his gun.

Meanwhile, Dexter was dumbfounded. He felt his body stiffen at what just happened. He couldn't believe his eyes at what he just witnessed.

"Dexter are you alright??" Treasure asked Dexter worriedly. She was still feeling very tense and if something had happened to Dexter, she would've definitely gone nuts.

"…my… my boss" Dexter whispered to himself with his chest heaving up and down. His heart suddenly began to beat fast and he was afraid that something terrible had happened to Noah.

Dexter rushed to where Noah parked his car with Treasure following him from behind not having a clue of where Dexter was rushing to.

They both saw Noah resting in the driver seat of his car clutching his arm that was bleeding nonstop. Noah had managed to remove the bullet in his arm before Dexter and Treasure approached him.

"no no no oh my God! boss you're bleeding" Dexter said with anxiety.

"I can see that" Noah answered with gritted teeth. He was in severe pain but he was trying as hard as he could to hold it in.

"I'm so so sorry, this is all my fault," Dexter said like he was about to cry.

Even though Noah was sometimes hard on Dexter, Dexter still loved him like a father because of Noah's good advice to be a responsible man no matter what. His heart sank seeing Noah in so much pain and he felt guilty about it. If only he didn't call Noah to come and watch his back, he wouldn't have been in this mess. Dexter was sad and he couldn't blame himself enough.

"aargh," Noah groaned loudly with a clenched jaw.

"Sir, wh.. what should I do to help?" Treasure asked, also feeling very worried. She saw how remorseful Dexter looked, seeing Noah in that condition and it made her distressed even though she had no idea who Noah was.

"Young miss, please call an ambulance," Noah muttered.

*****

At the hospital,

Carl was in the waiting room, walking back and forth. He heard about Noah's attack and he became restless about it. Although it wasn't a life-threatening injury still, it could've been worse and that was what scared Carl.

He was at least happy that Noah was okay but he was also worried because whoever attacked Noah was still on the loose. Carl is at the point where he's afraid of losing his loved ones because the fact that his best friend is in a coma was troubling him and now, one of his favorite employees just got shot. Carl was devastated and upset.

He was supposed to see Noah in his ward but he wanted to give him and Dexter some space that was why he was in the waiting room.

Meanwhile, Treasure was also in the waiting room, sitting down on one of the chairs. She had been stealing glances at Carl because she recognized him to be a prosecutor and the current president of NYPD. Treasure being an aspiring reporter knows all about Carl. She always watches his interviews on the news because she was a huge fan however, Carl had no idea who Treasure was.

..

Meanwhile, at Noah's ward

Noah was sitting down on the hospital bed, resting his back on the wall. His left arm was wrapped with a bandage where he got shot.

"…it's just a minor injury, it's nothing serious. This isn't the first time I've been shot with a gun." Noah said to Dexter who was sitting down on the hospital bed near him.

"Boss, it doesn't matter. I'm the cause of this. I would've asked you to come with backup… This is all my fault" Dexter kept blaming himself. His eyes were teary and he felt genuinely sorry for putting Noah in this condition.

"kid, you didn't cause any of this. I was the one who wasn't careful enough. If that man had shot you, I would never have forgiven myself" Noah blurted.

"What?" Dexter exclaimed silently with a soft smile.

Noah rolled his eyes after realizing that he just admitted to Dexter that he cares a lot about him. Noah usually tells people that he has no emotional feelings for people but that wasn't so true. When the strange man pointed the gun at Dexter, Noah's heart skipped. He panicked like he had already lost Dexter because he genuinely cared for him like a son. Thank God he saw the strange man in time to fire shots at him.

"Hey! Don't be surprised. I'm not really a heartless boss" Noah said and Dexter laughed.

"I'm really happy you're okay," He said and he gave Noah a side hug.

Noah chuckled and hugged Dexter too.

Dexter's phone rang and it made him disengage from the hug. He checked his phone to see who was calling him and he saw that it was his sister, Anne.

"Excuse me, boss, I have to take this," Dexter said and Noah nodded his head.

"hello Dex, how are you?" Anne said on the phone.

"I'm good sis," Dexter muttered, leaving Noah's ward.

"Are you sure? You don't sound good… Where are you? You told me you're going to come home early and this is past 7 pm" She said on the phone.

"Anne, I'm at the hospital," he said. He was standing at the doorstep of Noah's ward.

"What!? Are you okay? Dexter, are you hurt? Please talk to me. Which hospital?" Anne bombarded Dexter with a series of questions and Dexter could hear her voice shaking on the phone. She sounded so worried and anxious.

"Anne, Anne! I'm fine just calm down" Dexter said but Anne wasn't buying anything he was selling. She knows how stubborn her brother can be. He can be badly hurt and lie to Anne that he's perfectly fine.

"Don't tell me to calm down. If you're fine then why are you in the hospital? Huh?" Anne questioned anxiously.

"It's my boss, Detective Noah. He… he got hurt" Dexter said in a low tone.

"Oh no," Anne exclaimed softly on the phone. She was worried and she was sure that Dexter was feeling sad about his boss.

"Text me the address of the hospital, I'm coming right away," Anne said and hangs up.