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"I wonder about that. I wonder if my mind is indeed playing a trick on me. Or there must have been some sort of fantasy at play in this situation," Isaac said in a collected demeanor, contrasting Laurence's temper. "Last week, you told me your subconscious can still remember the things you might have already known before losing your memory. And yet, it's curious how it can't seem to recall this area you used to excel at. Is it because this involves intellectual skills, an aspect that amnesia can most likely affect? I don't remember Florence being this idiot where numbers are concerned."

You, rascal, are you trying to imply that I'm freaking dumb because I've never liked math?

"You also mentioned that day it was a bad habit of yours to stare at the space. Another thing, have you realized your tendencies to fiddle with your earlobe when you're contemplating? Did Florence Villena develop those quirks after he'd woken up from a coma as well? Because I'm pretty certain those were Laurence's old habits too."

"You must have gotten it wrong, sir," Laurence said, the resolve in his tone weakening as he acknowledged his odds of getting himself off the hook had been stacked against him.

However, he had not put up with all the crap the universe had flung at him—kept flinging until now—just to concede without resistance to this punk who thought he could do anything he wanted. If there was even a tiny percentage where he could outwit the young boss, he would not hesitate to exhaust it.

Once again, Laurence tried to push Isaac away from him. And once again, his attempt ended in vain.

He clenched his jaws, the discontent over the significant difference in their builds coming back to him.

Laurence studied the hand resting against Isaac's chest and glowered at the sight of his current wrist. He had never put much reflection on the downsides of having this slender figure because it had never given him any real trouble since he'd assumed the owner's life. At least he could still eat and drink whatever he liked, and that was the most important thing for him.

But at present, it embittered him to accept the reality that it was no longer easy for him to pull off the tasks he used to not have any problem doing in his original body.

Why are you so dainty, Florence? This arm's so delicate, I feel like it would break first before I could even push this punk back.

"I could not be wrong with those details about Laurence. It was a chance in a million I'd forget the traits of the person who has always mattered to me the most."

Inquisitive hazel eyes leaped, meeting the green ones. Unsure if he had misheard Isaac's latest statement, Laurence opened his mouth to demand the young boss to repeat himself. He promptly bit his tongue as he comprehended that the tiniest display of interest would only fuel Isaac's suspicion.

What the hell did you say? The person who's mattered to you the most?

Laurence gasped when Isaac wrapped his long fingers around his wrist; the cool touch sent a spark that began in the area of contact before it transmitted to his neck and cheeks.

The young CEO guided his employee's palm to the left side of his chest, where his pulse was more detectable.

"It's even more impossible for me to confuse these feelings I'm having right now." Isaac's voice remained as firm as his gaze, but a shade of softness had layered it. "Hope. Care. The yearning to be closer to him. Only he had ever made me feel those emotions again after I lost my mother. He was the one who had given me the desire to still wake up and look forward to tomorrow."

What kinda joke are you making now? Laurence gaped.

"I had never felt anything like this for Florence in the past. Compassion, perhaps, because I could somehow see myself in him. Respect, yes, since he was one of my most competent employees. Nothing more than that."

Isaac let go, just to hold the shorter man's chin in between his thumb and forefinger. At the sensation against his skin, Laurence squirmed.

"And you certainly have the same features as the Florence everyone had known, but isn't it strange? Since you came back here after waking up from a coma, the emotions I've only ever experienced toward Laurence gradually returned to me too."

The administrative assistant failed to stop another empty laugh from flying out of his lips. From the first day they had been acquainted with each other in high school until this year their paths had crossed again, rarely had Isaac spoken at length about anything, let alone the personal stuff in his life.

'Tis of the few times you're being talkative, and you decided to spout bullshit.

Slapping the other man's hand away from his face, Laurence reached for the collar of Isaac's black dress shirt and secured his fingers around the fabric.

The boss's inscrutable mien did not change. He lowered his arm to his side, carrying out every little movement with a calmness that infuriated his former upperclassman.

Laurence shot Isaac a death gaze.

Don't fuck with me. If I've been as important to you as you're making it sound right now, then where were you during the toughest years of my life? Why'd you not come and visit even once when I was in the hospital? Why'd you fucking leave the city without saying goodbye? Why the hell did you not see me even when you came back?

His grip on the CEO's top tightened.

Much to Laurence's further irritation, none of his reactions did anything to rub out Isaac's composure.

I've mattered to you the most? Do you seriously expect me to believe that crap after all this time?

With all the strength he had, Laurence yanked the young boss's collar, drawing their faces close to each other.

He ignored the obvious fact that the CEO had let himself be pulled to his height without putting up a struggle. Laurence pretended not to notice Isaac's nose, which almost bumped against his own. Or the mild aquatic fragrance that teased his senses. Or the flutter in his stomach when the boss's eyes flicked down to fixate on his lips.

Hey, Ice, do you take me for a pushover?

"If you're so desperate to meet that Laurence person you're talking about," he said with a hiss, voice thick with jumbled emotions, "don't ya think it's best you go to him instead of freaking the shit out of someone innocent with your delusions? I don't know what kinda game you're playing right now, but it ain't something I appreciate. Just go to that Laurence, whoever that is, and leave me out of this whole crazy fairy tale."

The lack of noise emphasized the tension in the atmosphere. It stayed like that for less than a minute, but for Laurence, it was as if the suspense had gone forever.

"Right. That was indeed my biggest regret. I should have gone sooner to him after coming back here to the city, but doubt got to me first," Isaac muttered, a shadow passing over his countenance. "I can't do it now. I can't go and see him now, no matter how badly I want to."

There lingered an edge to Laurence's question. "And why not?"

Unblinking, Isaac said, "I can't go to someone who's already dead."

Laurence blanched as the similar news he'd received more than a week ago punched him in the gut for the second time. It was the same thing Grandpa L had told him. And the same response had been triggered off of his core.

Only this time, the impact of the statement coming out of Isaac's mouth was more violent. Only this time, Laurence's denial turned up stronger.

"The—that's... Wha... What made you say that? Didn't you just say you haven't seen him yet..." Laurence slowed down once breathing became difficult for him. Queasiness gave him trouble uttering comprehensible sentences. "And... why are you... why did you assume he was... just because you can't find him, you already considered him... de... dead?"

Fingers shaking, he freed Isaac's shirt. All the energy in his limbs abandoned Laurence. If he wasn't already pressed against the long desk, he suspected he would have caved in by now.

A voice in the back of his mind recited assurances, encouraging him not to panic, because there must have been a huge misunderstanding in this case. He reminded himself that Grandpa L had only known about the supposed death of Laurence Villegas through the hearsay of his young tenants, who had a reputation for making up exaggerated fictions about other people. On top of that, he hadn't found his grave in the three known burial places in the city.

He knew it was ridiculous to hope that his body had survived and that someone else had possessed it in exchange. After all, it was hard not to have such an idea when no solid evidence could support the claim of his demise.

"I might have said I didn't go to him, but that doesn't mean I haven't found him," Isaac said, pulling Laurence out of the chaos in his head. "I've always been watching Laurence. Since the day he found me on the rooftop, my eyes have begun to follow him. As soon as I returned to Perlientas, the first thing I did was search for him."

The CEO stepped a few inches away from Laurence and gave his attention back to the potted plants on the table.

"I thought observing the situations from afar would be enough in the meantime. I've always regretted being so powerless and unable to do something for him when we were young, so I convinced myself to wait until I have enough to offer before facing him again. But that idiot..." Isaac's tone took a sharp turn. "He just went and died on me before I could muster the courage to meet him."

Torn between the chance to run for the door and the choice to stick around to listen to the young boss's tale, Laurence glanced around the room. In the end, his curiosity prevailed.

"I didn't assume he was dead. I was there when it happened. Laurence dared to draw his last breath in my presence, and no matter how desperately I called out to him on that night, he refused to open his eyes again."

Every sense of Laurence came full circle back to him. The events following the fateful incident on that evening replayed like a high-resolution record in his mind.

The shrill of sirens. People echoing their agitations. Shouts. More confused noises. And the distinct cry of his name.

"Rence! Laurence!"

The universe would have laughed at him for taking too long to figure out this riddle, even when the last piece of the puzzle had been under his nose all along. In his defense, the voice on the night of the accident had been hoarse with fear; never in his wildest imagination would he consider connecting it to a person with impassivity as his default expression.

Once he narrowed down the search, the sound of that certain man became clear in his memory. Deep. Full. Stripped of any feelings, it fit with Isaac's voice in every way.

Laurence had yet to absorb the whole discovery when the other man kept on with the revelations.

"I was mad. I was mad at him for meeting his end just like that. I was mad at myself because I was not able to change anything at all. I failed to protect him when we were younger, and I could not save him again after so many years. But do you know whom I can't forgive the most?" Isaac wavered. He heaved. A calathea's leaf snapped in between his fingers.

When he resumed talking, his speech had dropped to a darker, almost murderous tone. "The person who had devised to kill him."

That, of all the things the young CEO had said, was what rocked Laurence the most. Neglecting to weigh up the potential effect of his next actions, he lunged toward Isaac and grabbed the front of the boss's shirt one more time.

"What the fuck do you mean?"

But nothing could have prepared him for the reaction he drew out of the other man.

Isaac chuckled. It was brief, muted, that it pretty much escaped Laurence if not for the residue of a smile on the young boss's lips, if not for the irises that sparkled like green garnets. Glow had replaced the earlier black cloud on his face.

"If you're planning to keep this act that you're Florence Villena, then you might want to train yourself to remain unaffected about the things that have to do with the person you're claiming you don't know at all."

This was the first time Laurence had witnessed an expression this carefree on him. Isaac had peeled off the formal mask, leaving only the grown-up image and more confident version of the innocent high school boy from more than ten years ago.

At the moment, it was as if he was not the CEO of the ND Corporation. At the moment, he was just him. Just Laurence's former schoolmate. Just Isaac. Just Ice.

Caught off guard by the swing of the mood, Laurence could only stare in awe. His fingers stiffened on Isaac's shirt while the young boss reached to play with his mint-colored side fringe.

"Also, Rence, your feistiness and coarse language are showing. Those were the traits far from the well-mannered Florence people used to be familiar with."

A thread of questions gathered on the tip of Laurence's tongue, but he lost the momentum to launch any of them when three consecutive knocks interrupted their exchange.

"Mr. Ruiz, Odessa is here, said she was told to come to you," Marian called from the outside of the office. "But your door's locked. Would you like her to return later?"

"No. I'll talk to her now." Isaac looked in the direction of his secretary's voice. His manner of speaking reverted to being businesslike, but there was a trace of a twinkle in his eyes when he glanced back at Laurence. "Mr. Florence must have locked it by accident."

The young boss turned away, walked to his work desk, and took his post as if he had not been trying to drive his employee crazy a while ago. "We can continue discussing this whenever you're ready, Rence, so would you mind letting them in for now?"

With a mix of disappointment and relief, Laurence scurried to the door and opened it.

"Oh, good, you're—"

Ignoring the two women's weirded-out expressions, he beat a hasty retreat out of Isaac's office, unsure where his legs would bring him. Thoughts had gone haywire in his head.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! What in the hell is freaking going on here?