Chapter 244

Knowing someone was coming to pick her up, Eleanor Roland didn't arrange for a driver.

Adrian Klein was punctual as always, arriving in ten minutes—two minutes early.

A light drizzle began to fall. Adrian peered through the windshield.

Through the rain, Evelyn Langley approached in her cheongsam, moving with effortless grace like a scene from an ink-wash painting.

He hesitated for a moment before quickly pulling over.

Grabbing an umbrella, he stepped out and hurried to her side, opening the car door for her.

As she bent to enter, his hand instinctively shielded her head from the doorframe.

"Thank you."

Once seated, she smiled at him. "Sorry to trouble you again, Professor Klein."

She'd planned to take a cab, but the sudden rain made it impossible to hail one.

Across from the hotel, Beatrice Merouin waited under a pavilion for the valet. She squinted as Evelyn got into a black Volkswagen.

Though she couldn't see the man's face clearly, the umbrella bearing the distinctive "RR" logo stood out sharply.

Beatrice curled her lip in disdain. These days, any pretty girl thought she could climb the social ladder.

She'd thought this one might be different, but...

Men really had terrible taste, lining up to be taken advantage of.

......

Inside the car, the so-called "fool" sneezed.

His cold was almost gone—why was he sneezing again?

Evelyn noticed the new ornament hanging below the rearview mirror—an agarwood charm strung on a Chinese knot, adorned with two jade beads.

"You hung this in your car?" she asked, delighted.

Adrian kept his eyes firmly on the road, not daring to look too long at her in the cheongsam.

"Agarwood is calming. The back has an Arabic prayer for safety—it pairs well with the knot."

Evelyn gently turned the charm over, studying the unfamiliar script.

"So this is Arabic..."

"Mhm."

"You know Arabic?"

"A little."

"How do you pronounce this?" Her fingertip traced the engraving.

Adrian recited the phrase with flawless pronunciation.

She repeated it twice, mastering it quickly.

"Like that?"

"Perfect," he nodded.

"When did you learn?"

"Six years ago. I needed to read an Emirati physicist's original work—the translation wasn't accurate enough, so I studied for six months."

Evelyn's eyes widened. Learning a language just for one book?

......

With data analysis still to complete that evening, they ate a quick dinner before returning to the lab together.

By midnight, the lab was empty except for the two of them.