Chapter 263

"Every time Dad and I fail at hiding his secret stash, we analyze our mistakes and pick a better hiding spot." Evelyn Langley nibbled on her popsicle stick. "But Mom has radar vision—she always finds it no matter where we hide."

She suddenly noticed the man beside her had gone quiet. "Professor? Are you listening?"

Turning, she unexpectedly met Adrian Klein's fathomless gaze.

The night breeze scattered her loose hair tie.

Her cascading hair shimmered under the streetlamp like liquid gold.

"Hmm." His voice was husky. "Your mother's quite perceptive."

Evelyn averted her eyes, throat tightening. "She writes mystery novels."

Those labyrinthine cases and meticulous deductions were her mother's literary domain.

If her father taught her worldly wisdom, her mother gifted her boundless imagination.

"What about your childhood, Professor?"

"Reading. Problem sets. Exams."

"That's it?"

Adrian watched neon lights ripple across the river's surface. "When I was five, I found a book in Grandfather's study—The Way Things Work."

His eyes suddenly brightened. "I couldn't even read 'physics' yet, but it fascinated me more than any toy."

Evelyn saw sparks dancing in his gaze.

"Zhuangzi said: To judge the beauty of heaven and earth, to analyze the principles of all things." His voice softened. "Before physics, my world was monochrome."

His eyes found hers. "Then it became technicolor."

And now, perhaps, had gained another hue.

Melting popsicle dripped onto her hand. Evelyn sprang up. "We should head back."

She angled away from his gaze, pulse hammering.

Adrian watched her retreating figure, experiencing unfamiliar helplessness.

——

That night, Evelyn tossed in bed.

Behind closed eyelids, Adrian's intense stare materialized in the darkness.

Then Nathan Evans' icy expression flashed through her mind.

Those years of lovesick folly. Those days of humiliating devotion.

Her eyes flew open.

Why repeat past mistakes?

Having clawed out of one abyss, must she leap into another?

She booted up her laptop, letting research data flood her thoughts.

The academic world was pure. Safe.

——

At dawn, when the lab door opened, Natalie Blanchet and Vincent Macmillan turned in unison.