He paused, his tone bing more serious. "My asking you to look after Eleanor is as a friend. As for your rtionship with her, let things take their natural course."


    Xavier detected a sense of resigned surrender inn''s words, which surprised him. n, what exactly is this personal matter you''re dealing with abroad?"


    "Just some personal business,"n replied, his calm exterior revealing nothing.


    "If you need me or Henry, don''t hesitate to ask," Xavier said with a nod. "I''ll look after Eleanor and Evelyn. Don''t worry, just focus on what you need to do."


    "Thank you."n nced at his watch and stood up. "It''s about time. I need to get to the airport."


    "Alright. Be safe, and have a good trip," Xavier said, rising as well.


    They walked out of the coffee shop together. The easy understanding they''d shared since childhood meant no more words were needed as they went their separate ways.


    Walking back through theplex, Xavier felt a sense of unease. He rarely sawn ask for help, and it felt like his old friend was hiding something.


    Of course, looking after Eleanor was something he was more than willing to do— in fact, it was exactly what he wanted.


    That evening, Eleanor was chatting with her daughter, who was cuddled in her arms. Evelyn suddenly asked with a little pout, "Mommy, why didn''t you tell me Daddy lives downstairs?"


    Eleanor froze, realizing that whenn had carried her downstairs on Friday night, Evelyn must have woken up and figured it out.


    "Did I not? Mommy must have forgotten," Eleanor said, trying to deflect.


    Evelyn tilted her head, thinking hard, then snuggled closer. "You definitely didn''t tell me."


    Eleanor chuckled at her daughter''s adorable seriousness and hugged her tight. "Alright, you caught me. It''ste now, time for bed."


    Evelyn obedientlyy down but then popped her head up again. "Mommy, can I stay at Daddy''s house again sometime?"


    Eleanor kissed her forehead. "Your daddy isn''t usually here. We''ll see, when he''s back in town, okay?"


    "Okay," Evelyn mumbled, her lips still in a slight pout.


    The next morning, Eleanor dropped Evelyn off at a winter break camp organized by her school, a program designed to help working parents and enrich the children''s holidays


    The Meridian Dynamics sign gleamed in the sunlight. Faye sat in her parked car her hands clenched tightly on the steering wheel, unable to bring herself to get out.


    She was here for her re-test. She''d heard from colleagues that Joel''s evaluations were notoriously inconsistent, so she had no idea what to expect.


    Most of the others who had applied for the transfer had already given up. Getting into the civilian projects division was no easy feat.


    After a few minutes, Faye took a deep breath, pushed open the car door, and walked into the impressive Meridian Dynamics building.


    She went straight to the examination room.


    A few other colleagues taking the re-test were already there, and the atmosphere


    was tense. Faye found a seat, determined to give it her all.


    She had initially thought her connection to Vanessa would be enough to get her a prime position in the new division with a single word from Tan. But with toel inplete. control, connections meant nothing.


    At nine o''clock sharp, Joel, the project lead, entered. His expression was stern, and he wasted no time on pleasantries, immediately handing out the exam papers.


    "You have two hours," he announced sinctly.


    Faye quickly scanned the paper. The questions were harder than she had anticipated, covering advanced technologies andplex decision-making scenarios.


    Still, she had an advantage over her colleagues from other departments; she had spent thest two years working on Meridian Dynamics'' core projects.