Not a robot after all

Joel kept trying to call Tom and Anna as he drove but none of them were taking their calls. 

"Who is Anna?" The lady beside him asked for the umpteenth time. She had been asking him that same question ever since they were at his place but he had not given her any answer. 

"A childhood friend. My friend" He said with his gaze still on the road. 

"Your friend?" She asked while giving him a skeptical look. Although she was happy he was finally talking to her.

"Yea."

"Is she missing or something? Why are you anxious?"

"Long story." He said before pulling over in front of her flat.

"Do have a nice day sweetie. Thanks for last night" He said before moving closer to plant a kiss on her cheek. 

"I'll wire you enough money to take good care of yourself. A princess like you deserve better." He said with a smile. 

She pursed her lips and looked at him with sad eyes. "Can we meet again?" 

"Probably" He answered nonchalantly.

"What if I don't need your money. I like you" She confessed with a small smile. 

"No baby. You aren't permitted to like me. I told you before remember?" 

"Is this about your childhood friend? Do you like her?" She asked while looking at him suspiciously.

Joel could not help it, he laughed out. "No no.. jeez. She's like my little sister. I'm not just into the relationship stuff."

"Are you sure?" She peered curiously. It didn't seem so to her.

"Of course. And dear, I am so sorry for yelling at you earlier. It's not in my nature to yell at princesses. I slept past the time for a meeting so I was a bit bitter." He explained apologetically. 

A smile appeared on her face when she heard him apologize. It was rare for guys to apologize to her like that so she was really touched. 

"Let's have dinner sometime. Bills on me." She offered with a bright smile plastered on her face.

Joel returned her smile before nodding. "Alright. Have a nice day princess." He said and waved her goodbye when she got down.

          **********

Lisa had no idea why she was very uncomfortable.  She knew she was a bit uncomfortable with Tom helping her apply cream to the scratch on her face, but why hadn't he said anything to her yet? 

Tom was always a talkative, but now, he was so quiet that she was becoming to feel uncomfortable.  

His earlier outburst still surprised her. She was even more surprised because she hadn't thought about killing him for raising his voice at her. 

What was happening? Was she becoming soft or was she now getting accustomed to her new job? Or probably the desire to succeed in this mission was making her accept everything that was being thrown at her? She was simply confused by everything.

She heard his phone ring again from the room.

She had heard it ring a couple of times since his father was around and was sure he could not hear it ringing because the phone was inside his room. 

"Your...phone is ringing" She informed him. 

"I'll get it when I'm done." After a little pause, he said "Let me know if it hurts you" 

As he slowly applied the cream, he tried to focus on what he was doing. It was the first time he was this close to her. Everything was even more awkward because he was using his left hand. 

Was this still necessary? This cast was making things quite difficult for him.

As he continued to treat it, he had flashbacks of the past when he was still younger and helped his mother to treat her wounds. 

"Does it hurt?" He would always ask his mother but she would smile and shake her head. 

"I am fine. Told you I'm strong" 

He swallowed hard and turned to look at the side while blinking rapidly. 

Lisa felt him stop so she turned to look at him.

Was she supposed to ask him whether he was okay or not? 

As she thought about what to say, he suddenly turned back to continue what he was doing and was shocked when his face came in direct contact with her face. 

They both stared at each other for a few seconds before Lisa turned her face away.

Tom cleared his throat awkwardly and moved closer to blow on the part of her face where she was scratched. 

Lisa's body stiffened when she felt his breath on her and unconsciously, she turned to look at him. 

Her eyes widened when she saw Tom was very close to her and even worse, his lips were only a few inches away from hers. 

She wasn't the only one surprised because Tom's eyes was also wide opened as he stared at her.

Slowly, his eyes dropped to her lips. She wasn't  wearing a lipstick but it was very red.... and inviting. 

He wondered what would probably happen if he covered the remaining distance between them and kissed her.

Was she going to push him away? Was she going to hit him? Would she allow him? 

These thoughts ran through his mind as he continued to look at her lips.

Lisa wasn't stupid. She could guess what he was thinking by the way he stared at her lips. She had seen the desire in his eyes and it wasn't the first time she was seeing it so she easily recognized what the look in his eyes meant.

If this had been a mission where she had to seduce someone to get an information,  she would have covered the distance between them already. But this wasn't that sort of mission. 

"Mr Hwang?" She called him in a low voice that startled her. 

"Hmmm?" He answered with his gaze still fixed on her lips. 

"I'll take care of the rest" She said before taking the bandage from the box and hurriedly stood up before disappearing to her room.

Tom remained sitted there as he scolded himself for not taking the risk and going for it. 

But when he remembered her widened eyes and how she had hurried to her room, a big smile appeared on his face. 

"She's not a robot after all" He said to himself.