❦ . ❦ . ❦

He'd been had.

For the umpteenth time since he and Odessa had left the main office building a minute ago to have their lunch break, Laurence could not stop the urge to glance everywhere and check if someone was following him. Deep creases snuck in between his brows as he spotted the young CEO exit the company's front gate and make his way in the same direction they were taking.

Isaac had yet to notice him because the boss had his concentration on his smart watch.

Look in front of you when you're walking in public, idio—

Laurence's thought was cut short when he bumped against a solid object. A clank emitted from the impact.

Nonplussed, he jerked his head in front of him. He rubbed his tingling upper arm and gaped at the blue signpost near the entrance of a psychological center.

In white paint, the bold text, 'Mindfulness isn't difficult; we just need to remember to do it. – Sharon Salzberg' was written on the steel board as if mocking him.

"Are you okay, Rence?" Odessa came up to him and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah. Don't worry. My fault for not paying attention," Laurence said, taking a step back and turning to the approaching Isaac one more time.

The young boss had shoved his left hand in his pocket while he continued to saunter the road toward the Renascence Café; his eyes were now on his male employee. Even though Isaac was still a couple of meters away from him, Laurence could perceive the quirk of the other man's mouth.

He seemed amused, and Laurence might have appreciated this easygoing side of Isaac if the unexpected shift hadn't come at the cost of having his cover blown.

After casting a quick glare at the CEO, the male assistant resumed moving in hurried steps.

"Let's go," he told his colleague without so much as a glimpse at the woman.

His face tensed as his mind went back to the episode in the CEO's office a few hours ago. Question after question swam into his consciousness. He wondered since when had Isaac begun to suspect him. What had triggered off the hunch?

Laurence bit the inside of his cheek while he recalled the events of the recent weeks.

Was it only a coincidence when the young boss had bid him to come with to a construction project that the Black Crystal Builders were working on? Or was it a deliberate trick to see how Laurence would react to his past coworkers?

And what about the event last night? Did Isaac join them in the karaoke because the young boss wanted to observe him? He might be a tad presumptuous, but Laurence could not think of a more logical reason than that. And the certain song, that song which had almost driven the final nail into the coffin, it could be possible Isaac had intentionally left it to see if his former high school senior would pick it up.

The way he didn't give a rat's ass about everything, has it been an act all this time? He's one sly bastard if all of that had been planned. Laurence gnashed once he acknowledged he might have been one-upped by Isaac.

It's okay. This ain't the end of it. Letting out an audible exhale, he reassured himself that he hadn't lost in this head game yet. Until he admitted he was indeed Laurence Villegas, all Isaac could hold on to were mere speculations. Until then, the CEO's claim regarding his male assistant's true identity would be insubstantial.

Laurence touched his earring. He withdrew his hand the instant he remembered this was one habit that had given him away to Isaac. Doing it while he was certain the man was watching him would only prove the young boss's case.

But more importantly, what the hell did that punk mean by that?

Isaac's earlier words repeated in his mind; the voice replicated down to the faintest vibrations. Unambiguous. Grim. The voice of someone who was in desperate need to strike anything to release the vile feeling from within him.

"Do you know whom I can't forgive the most? The person who had devised to kill him."

"He really sounded like he wanted to hit something," Laurence muttered.

"What? Are you sure everything's alright, Rence?"

The question returned him to the moment. Laurence blinked. He halted on his steps. Raking his surroundings with his gaze, he realized he was about to walk past the start of the pedestrian lane.

"We're crossing here," Odessa reminded Laurence as though he was a child with a poor sense of direction.

"Oh." He showed the woman a crooked grin. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. Guess I'm a bit out of it today."

A frown appeared on Odessa's expression. Before she could say anything else, Laurence proceeded to traverse the pedestrian lane.

Odessa followed and picked up her pace. She slowed down when she caught up to the man. "Earlier... when you came out of Mr. Ruiz's office..." The rest of her words got buried under the traffic noise.

Laurence hastened as riders made a din with their vehicles. Upon reaching the opposite side of the street, he paused and waited for his female colleague, who had fallen behind.

"I'm sorry. I think you might have been saying something, but I couldn't hear it," he said as soon as Odessa rushed to him.

"I... ah, it's just that, you see, this morning..." The woman dithered, her dainty fingers finding the bow of her blouse. She fiddled. Peered sideways. Over her shoulder. Her focus stayed longer at the other end of the pedestrian lane where their company's boss had arrived.

The orange traffic light forming a raised hand stalled Isaac from crossing. Now that another person aside from Laurence was surveying him, the well-practiced nonchalance had settled back into the young CEO's system. He held both of his employees' stares, his eyes free of distinct emotion once again.

That's some skill to easily switch. The male assistant scoffed. At the effortless change of Isaac's air, Laurence could not help but be curious which of the man's characters was the realest him and which was a façade.

"You looked flustered when you came out of Mr. Ruiz's office... And, ah, I don't want to... It's not like I'm assuming things and I don't want to jump to conclusions, but, well, you see, we're friends..."

Odessa's continuous floundering forced Laurence to carefully listen.

"I'm just concerned, Rence, so I want to, you know, ask if something happened in there. It's okay if you're not comfortable telling me though. But I thought maybe I could help because you seemed worried earlier, and I mean, considering the rumors... I know it's not my business, but are you and Mr. Ruiz..." Odessa stopped, nibbled her lower lip. "I'm sorry. Maybe I'm overstepping after all."

It took Laurence a couple of seconds to untangle his colleague's garbled phrases. He had no idea what kind of impression he'd given to the people who had seen him when he'd hightailed it out of Isaac's office, but he supposed Odessa had decided to draw an image based on the foolish gossips about Isaac and Florence.

Confusion came over Laurence. He could not figure out why the woman had no issue bringing this up now when it was the same idle story she'd tried to hide from him before.

Opting to believe it was indeed a harmless concern from a friend, Laurence steered clear of questioning why she even cared. He also preferred not to touch on the tittle-tattle about the nonexistent office affair anymore.

The pedestrian light flickered and morphed into a green walking figure. People, including Isaac, strode across the road.

"Let's get moving first." Without further delay, Laurence wended his way toward their destination. Once Odessa matched his gait, he said in a soft voice, "You don't need to worry about what happened. It's true I was kinda upset because Mr. Ruiz chewed me out over a small mistake on the management report I submitted this week. Nothing serious. I was..."

He scratched his temple and feigned an exhausted sigh. "Yeah, guess I was just expecting him to cut me some slack since I'm still getting used to the paperwork, so I was shocked when he didn't."

Odessa's tinted lips formed a brittle smile. "I see. I understand," she said, but the lack of shine in her eyes told Laurence she might not have been completely convinced. "And I'm sorry for thinking... that you and Mr. Ruiz."

"Don't sweat it, really. By the way, he also talked to you after that, right? I hope it wasn't to scold you too."

Odessa shook her head. "He only discussed the temporary changes in my duties once Ms. Marian's maternity leave starts, and he advised me to assist you with the things you might have trouble with. Maybe Mr. Ruiz was hard on you earlier, only because he'd always believed in your potential and he hopes to see you improve. He didn't sound disappointed when he mentioned you."

Of course he wasn't. I was the more annoyed between us two.

Laurence mused back on how Isaac had insinuated that the incident on the thirteenth of January last year might not have been an accident.

But who in the world would want me dead? What were they gonna gain from someone who'd got nothing at all?

No, first of all, was that punk telling the truth? He ain't shitting on me, right?

Laurence fisted his right hand. When he'd run away from Isaac this morning, he'd managed to assuage his panic and will himself to calm down, so he could deal with this distressing surprise better. A clearer perspective had helped him consider that the statement might have been nothing but another trap the young boss had laid because he'd anticipated his former schoolmate would have a strong reaction to it.

That's not right. He looked too serious when he said it for it to be a stupid prank.

But whether Isaac had spoken the whole truth, one thing became obvious to Laurence: the young CEO had withheld the details from him for a certain reason.

Laurence was aware that as long as Isaac possessed this crucial information—a knowledge essential for him to understand his real fate on that night—the boss would always have the lead in this game of cat-and-mouse they'd just started.

Bastard, I ain't playing by your rules if you think I'm gonna go to you and demand you to cough up. I'll make sure to find out everything on my own, and you won't get any confession from me at all.

❦ . ❦ . ❦

"Oh, it's been a while, Florence." The woman standing next to Jino on the Renascence Café counter stopped chatting up a young male customer. She flashed the duo of office employees a pretty beam that caused her cheeks to become plump.

This was the first time Laurence had seen this person. Yet, he felt like he'd been acquainted with Violet for a long time since he'd heard a couple of stories about her from both Odessa and Jino. They'd never gotten the chance to meet sooner because the first few days he'd visited this shop, the female owner had stayed in the kitchen to fill in for her sick staff. And then, she had been out of town the following weeks for a business trip.

"I've heard what happened, and..." Violet's dimples disappeared as the brightness in her eyes lessened. "Anyway, I'm glad to see you doing fine now."

With a faint smile, Laurence reciprocated the friendly greeting.

The male customer in front mumbled, "It looks like it's getting busy for you now, so I'll just talk to you again later, Ms. Violet. Jino, too."

"Of course, honey. Don't let it get to you that much, okay? Feel free to always drop by if you need to blow off steam."

The young man nodded and went away with a cup of cappuccino in his hand. As he stepped out of the café, the female owner addressed Laurence and Odessa.

"Cute lad, that one. He was telling us about how he'd consumed the entire series of A Song of Ice and Fire because he discovered the girl he likes is a big fan. He said he checked it out, so he could have something to talk with her," Violet said, bubbliness coating her speech. She sounded like a parent sharing tales about the child she adored.

"That's kinda sweet." Laurence turned his head around. Through the glass walls, he caught sight of the young customer in question staring at the ground before he disappeared in the crowd. "Doesn't look like he's very excited though?"

"Yeah, well, who wouldn't be bummed? He said he had to stay until past midnight binge-watching Game of Thrones and he even read all the novels, though he was never into reading books. All that, only to discover in the end that the lady already agreed to go out with her childhood friend."

"Oh, tough luck." Laurence smirked awkwardly. As interesting as the story was, he wasn't sure if it was alright for him to engage in a conversation about a random person he didn't know at all.

With a quiet laugh, Jino joined the conversation. "The crazy things people do for the one they love, huh? So anyway, what's your order, Ms. Odessa? Mr. Florence?"

Before either of the two office employees could answer, Violet gave a playful pat on the male attendant's arm. "Didn't that remind you of someone not very techy, but took an online computer course, just to impress the I.T. lady next door?"

"In fact, it reminded me of someone with a phase of being into RPG because the man she was interested in was a fervent gamer, Ms. Violet. Who was it that wanted to study coding again? Because her crush dreamed of developing his own game?" Jino grinned. He placed his finger on the till, ready to register the customers' orders.

Laurence chuckled, enjoying the exchange between the two. If only all the employer-employee relationships could be this nice.

Realizing his companion had become silent, he glanced at his side.

Odessa had returned to fiddling with the lace of her blouse. An odd smile tugged at one corner of her mouth while she wore a vacant expression. "Wasn't that the same person who inspired you to set up this café?"

"You remember?" Violet asked, her tone sinking into a wistful murmur. "Yeah, but it's all in the past. Now it was Isaac..." She trailed off, fixed her gaze over Laurence's shoulder. Her face broke into a grin. "Oh, you're here."

All attentions snapped to the newcomer.

In response, Isaac bobbed his chin. He repaid Laurence's glower with a lift of his brow.

Not thrilled to spend another minute near the man's presence, Laurence told Jino, "I'm actually going for a takeout. Just the drinks since Mom and my sister packed me some lunch today."

"Got it. And what drink would it be, Mr. Florence?"

"Ah, is that blended tea you gave me and Odessa last time up on your menu yet? I got the chance to open it the other day, and..." Laurence tilted his head in a pensive gesture, his brain conjuring up the floral and malty tang of the steeped leaves. "I'm still curious about the variety of black tea you guys used for that."

If Jino had a reply to Laurence, no one would know, since Violet cut in with a gasp. She clasped her hands. "So it's true! I had a hard time believing when Jino told me you've suddenly become versed in coffee and tea, but witnessing it now... How did it even happen?"

Laurence mentally slapped himself. It wasn't the woman's excitement that prompted him to believe he'd done another slip-up, but the sound—something like a cross between a throat-clearing and a suppressed chuckle—that came from behind him.

Scowling, he played oblivious to anything around him. He shrugged off Violet's eager curiosity. Ignored the back-and-forth flick of Jino's stare between all of them. Or the way Odessa had been acting strange.

However, try as he might, he could not shut down his hyperawareness of Isaac. A tingling sensation crawled along his nape.

Now that he thought of it, something similar to this had happened before. The few times the young boss had put him under close observation, he'd also been talking about coffee and tea.

Fuck. Was that why he'd been eyeing me like a hawk all those times? Had I been exposing myself to him as early as then?

Laurence's posture grew rigid in frustration. Hell, how was I supposed to know this punk would care so much about the smallest details about me?

AN: Hello, so I know I said I was going to take a month's break after this chapter, BUT... Well, this may be a good news, lol... Since I thought a break that long would only give me an excuse to procrastinate in writing, I decided to just upload chapter 21 on the 10th of October after all. And then, I'll be updating randomly after that; I won't be following any posting schedule anymore. :)

It's taking me a lot longer to write this story than I've originally wanted since there's so much going on with the plot (and my life, lol). It isn't so bad though. I'm kinda  learning to enjoy the slow process of figuring out everything along with my characters. :P