CHAPTER 54: LIKE IT

The pressure of his hands intensified.

She felt the searing heat where his palm pressed firmly between her shoulder blades, twisting the fabric of her lab coat and drawing her irresistibly closer.

Terrence’s fingers slid down her arms, slipping beneath the white cotton to caress the bare skin at her wrists, but before they could continue, she pushed him away.

"We can’t do it here... This is my laboratory."

"Then do you have a place in mind? I really want to do it right now," he insisted.

"Let’s just go back to my apartment. I’ll sign out early,"

Taking a deep breath, he nodded. "Alright. Your place it is,"

They walked side by side through the main hall. The bright lights and quiet hum of machines felt almost too normal after what just happened.

At the front doors, Anna paused to scan her ID card.

The security gate beeped as it unlocked.

"Dr Anna?" asked by man with blonde hair blue eyes being accompanied by four more doctors.

"Hello, Dr. John," she greeted, giving a small nod.

The blonde doctor nodded back, but his eyes stayed on Terrence, studying him from head to toe.

"Who is this guy?" John asked, his face showing hint of annoyance.

"He’s..." Anna paused, not sure what to say. She turned to Terrence, waiting for his approval, and he just smiled.

"He’s my boyfriend."

John’s eyes widened. If looks could kill, Terrence would already be dead.

"B-Boyfriend? I thought you weren’t ready for a relationship yet."

Anna turned away, the lights making her forehead slick and pale.

A conversation from two months ago returned to mind.

Back then, she told him she wanted to focus on her research and didn’t want to be distracted by dating.

John believed her completely. He even admired how dedicated she was to her work.

To him, she was one of a kind—beautiful, smart, and full of class.

But now his voice was climbing, feeling betrayed.

"So you’ve been bullshitting me this whole time?"

He was addressing Anna, but his gaze never left Terrence.

"You said— I asked you— You told me—"

"I’m sorry," Anna said, quietly but with a firmness that surprised even her. "It... just happened. I fall for him."

She felt Terrence’s hand circle her fingers between hers, warm and insistent, but in no way possessive.

"So that’s it, then? You lied to my face?" John’s version of heartbreak read like a clinical trial: controlled, measured, but doomed to fail from the start.

Anna said nothing. There was a time for kindness and a time for silence.

John’s jaw tightened. He couldn’t believe he lost to Terrence, who looked like a typical fuckboy in his fancy suit.

"You know this floor isn’t for visitors, right? If you read the rules, you’d know unauthorized personnel is not allowed here. Or don’t you know how to read? huh?"

Terrence’s face stayed calm, knowing it was just a sore loser venting his anger.

Another of John’s coworkers, a woman wearing blue scrubs with lines from her mask still on her cheeks, stepped in.

"We can call security if he doesn’t leave,"

The noise drew the attention of everyone nearby, and soon security really did show up.

"What is happening here?" Ivan’s voice echoed through the hall.

In an instant, everyone went quiet.

"Dr. Ivan, this man is in a restricted area. We need to kick him out," John said, pointing right at Terrence’s face. He looked smug, expecting to embarrass him.

"What do you mean? I invited him myself." Ivan raised an eyebrow.

John’s face, already pink, flushed a color that would have registered on any lab’s spectrum analyzer. "You... invited him?"

Ivan nodded. "He’s my business partner and also my daughter’s boyfriend. So what’s the problem with that?"

"Yes, but... company policy..." he sputtered, sounding about ten percent less sure of himself by the word.

"I make the rules here. I pay every one of your salaries. So instead of acting like children, get back to work."

The Russian doctor was nothing like the calm man he had been when speaking to Terrence.

Now he showed the intensity of someone who built a company from scratch.

The other researchers could only nod and quickly scatter.

Some of them even cursed John for putting them in a tight spot.

And to add insult to injury, Ivan became a different person when facing Terrence, his expression softening like an old man talking to his beloved son.

He even laughed and patted Terrence on the shoulder, then started congratulating his daughter for pulling it off.

And Anna? A flush rose to her face, bright as if she’d won the lottery.

The way she and her father acted made the doctors, all with IQs over 180, start to wonder if they were in some kind of prank show.

Terrence, on the other hand, wanted to hide his face and bury himself in the ground.

Ivan was an expert at glazing to the point of embarrassment.

So when he and Anna were finally back in his car, he let out a long sigh of relief.

"Your father is too energetic," he commented, while turning the engine on.

"Really? He’s usually grumpy with everyone except me, so I was kind of shocked by how much he likes you."

"Likes me? He looked like he was about to throw a party."

Anna laughed softly. "Well, he probably thinks you’re good for me. Or maybe he’s just happy I’m finally dating someone."

"Lucky me," Terrence said with a grin. "I get the overprotective father and the genius daughter all in one package."

"You’ll survive," she teased, giving his arm a light shove.

He smiled, then put the car in gear.

Alright. Let’s get out of here before he decides to follow us home."

Anna giggled. "Don’t tempt him."

Terrence stepped on the gas, and pulled out of the parking lot.

When they reached the building, the bellman gave Terrence a knowing look.

Anna was practically glued to his side, hugging his arm so tight it looked like she never planned to let go. She was getting a little too excited.

This intensity didn’t fade as they stepped into the elevator.

But as luck would have it, Effie was inside.

Surprise flickered across her face at first, but when her eyes landed on Anna, she quickly pretended not to know him.

Effie gave a polite nod and walked out without saying a word.

"Aun..." He wanted explain, but she just forced smile and shook her head.

"Did you say something?" Anna asked.

"Nothing. Let’s just go up," he sighed and pressed the elevator button.

On the top floor

Anna’s door was a thick panel of black-lacquered wood at the end of the hall, with an electronic lock like those in luxury hotels.

With a swipe of her card, the door breathed open onto an apartment that looked too extravagant.

Inside, the ceiling arched higher than the one in his own place.

The space was drowned in the blue dusk of the city, light slanting in through floor-to-ceiling windows.

Terrence saw a living area the size of a tennis court, punctuated by floating glass shelves that seemed to hover, embedded with pale LEDs.

The walls were warmed by abstract canvases: some just slashes of color, others with mathematical diagrams rendered so beautifully he almost didn’t recognize them as science.

He thought his place was impressive, with its ocean view, but this—this was something else

"This...this isn’t an apartment. I mean...You have an entire floor all to yourself?"

Heels clattered to the floor, tipping like dominoes across the smooth marble.

"Oh, you mean this? Yeah, my father bought it for my 18th birthday. It cost thirty-five million dollars,"

The reply came out so casual, like that amount was just spare change.

Her place was bigger than his entire net worth.

Terrence really shouldn’t have been surprised. She was the daughter of a CEO running a multi-billion dollar company.

Of course her idea of a "small place" was bigger than three of his houses stacked together.

"Let’s go to my room. I’ll take a bath first," she grabbed his arm and pulled him along.

Her room took his breath away. It had its own veranda overlooking the city, and off to the side was even a Jacuzzi.

"Let’s use that," he pointed.

She raised an eyebrow and nudged him. "You’re really naughty. You want us to do it there?"

"Yeah, to make things more interesting."

He already had plenty of experience with Effie and Emily on the bed and the sofa, but outdoor sex in a Jacuzzi was something every bachelor wanted to try at least once.

"Okay, but let’s shower first," she started to undress.

Following her lead, he stepped into the shower with her.

Water beaded down her collarbone, streaking through the salt and grit and the perfume of her hair.

Anna’s lips parted, pulling Terrence into a headlong, dizzying kiss.

The world shrank to the circle of his arms as she pressed in, cool tiles shuddering against her bare back.

She nipped his lower lip and then, hands slick and bold, traced the outline of his jaw, kneading shampoo into his scalp.

"You’re spoiling me too much," Terrence murmured as he buried his face against her bare chest.

Her skin was smooth and inviting, and he could feel the gentle rise and fall of her breathing, a soothing rhythm that enveloped him.

"Just let me do it. I like it ," she whispered with an endearing smile and kissed his forehead.

"I’ll wash your body too." she reached for the soap, lathering her palms, then pressed them flat and slick against his chest.