Eleanor shot up from her chair, yanked open her office door, and ran toward theb. She stood excitedly next to Ryan, who couldn''t hide his own excitement. "We justpleted thirty-two simtion tests, and the response consistency of the target neurons reached ny-three percent, far exceeding our expected threshold."


    Eleanor asked calmly, "What''s the margin of error?"


    "Completely within the safe range," Ryan replied, pointing to theputer. "More importantly, the neural wave you constructed has formed a stable connection pattern with the surrounding functional areas. As long as Mansfield has the basic capacity to receive external signals, we might actually be able to wake him up.''


    Eleanor felt her heart pound. For the first time in three months, a ray of hope had broken through.


    "Eleanor, we have to run the next test immediately," Ryan said urgently. Eleanor nodded. It looked like she would be getting home eventer tonight.


    She sent a text ton. [Can you put Evelyn to bed tonight? I need to stayte.] [Howte?] he replied simply.


    [Probably after midnight,] she texted back, unsure.


    [I''ll send Gavin to pick you up.]


    [No need, I''ll have one of the Ellingtons'' drivers take me.] She didn''t want to trouble his people.


    Eleanor frowned but finally relented. [Okay.]


    She continued testingte into the night, and the results were even better than expected. By the time she grabbed her bag and left theb, it was one in the morning. The entire city was asleep.


    Gavin, however, was wide awake, waiting for her by the car. He opened the door for her like a gentleman. "Miss Sutton, after you."


    "Thank you, Gavin. I appreciate you waiting," Eleanor said gratefully.


    "Not at all," Gavin replied with a smile as he got back in the driver''s seat.


    It was two in the morning when Eleanor got home. She was so exhausted that she took a quick shower and fell asleep immediately.


    When she woke up, it was already ten the next day. Eleanor checked her phone and saw a message from Ryan saying there was a meeting at two in the afternoon, so th so there was


    no rush to get in.


    She was thirsty and a little hungry. She went downstairs, her long hair loose around her shoulders.


    Halfway down the stairs, she saw a tall figure sitting on the sofa.


    "You''re awake?" he asked, closing the file.


    Eleanor looked at him, surprised. "Why aren''t you at the office?"


    "It''s Saturday," he reminded her.


    Eleanor felt a sh of annoyance with herself. She had been so busy she''d lost track of the days. "Where''s Evelyn?" she asked.


    "She was begging to go to my mom''s ce this morning, so I dropped her off. Joslyn has a half-day off, but she made some oatmeal in the kitchen."


    Eleanor suddenly remembered something. Her hand flew to her chest, and she quickly turned and ran back upstairs.


    She wasn''t wearing a bra under her long nightgown.


    Downstairs, the man''s gaze lifted to watch the woman flee up the stairs. A slight smile yed on his lips.


    Some of her habits hadn''t changed hadn''t changed orall.


    When Eleanor came back down, she was dressed in casual clothes. She went into the kitchen and found that along with the warm oatmeal her favorite kind there was a te fresh fruit and toast prepared.


    of


    Eleanor scooped some oatmeal into a bowl and came out, asking the man on the sofa, "Have you eaten?"


    Seeing that Joslyn had made enough for at least three people, Eleanor prepared a second bowl.