The nended smoothly. The moment Eleanor stepped off, her phone buzzed with a text.


    [Let me know when you''vended.]


    She replied, [I''ve arrived. Thanks for checking.]


    Behind her, Lanny pushed her luggage, having seamlessly taken on the role of her bodyguard.


    "Lanny, thank you," Eleanor said to him.


    "It''s my duty," he replied.


    Just then, a private car pulled up in front of Eleanor. After a brief exchange with the driver, Lanny turned to her. "This is the car Mr. Goodwin arranged for you. Please, Miss Sutton."


    Eleanor looked at the luxury car and said nothing more, obediently getting in. She knew that any refusal or polite protest at this point would seem forced.


    Sincen had already gone to such lengths, the best she could do was ept. The car drove smoothly toward the city, with Lanny in the front passenger seat. The conference was being held at a top university in Montir, and her hotel was conveniently located just two hundred meters from the campus.


    After checking into her room, Eleanor unpacked and got back to work, preparing for the busy week ahead.


    After typing for half an hour, her eyes felt dry. She gazed out the window at the foreign streetscape, and the thought ofn''s arrangements for this trip rippled through her heart like a pebble dropped into a calmke.


    She knew he was using his own methods to quietly make amends, to get closer to her again.


    Eleanor closed her eyes. So much had happened in the past three years. Many misunderstandings had been cleared up, and her feelings towardn had shifted from the coldness of their divorce to a calm eptance of his presence.


    His thoughtful arrangements, made without her knowledge, no longer seemed to provoke resistance in her.


    Even tricking her onto the ne had been a well-intentioned gesture.


    In the evening, the weather was pleasant, so Eleanor took a walk to the university campus. She watched the young, vibrant faces around her, all full of energy and life.


    Seeing a few girls hurry by, clutching books to their chests, Eleanor was suddenly reminded of her own, youth. She had been just like that, always carrying a book wherever she went, as if she wouldn''t know what to do without one.


    Eleanor found a bench and sat down, soaking in the campus atmosphere.


    "Oof!" A few feet away, a boy and a girl collided. The papers in the girl''s hands scattered across the ground. The boy immediately apologized and knelt to help her pick them up AS they both reached for thest sheet, their hands touched and sped together for a moment.


    They both pulled back,ughing shyly.


    The evening sun cast a golden glow on them, highlighting the sweet, innocent beauty of youth.


    The boy invited the girl for a drink, and she happily agreed.


    Watching them disappear, Eleanor felt as if that scene had been a key, unlocking a long-sealed box deep within her memory.


    Time seemed to rewind to an early summer afternoon, at a corner in the hospital.


    She had just graduated from high school and had been epted into Ashford Medical University. She loved to take a book to the library. cornerin her father''s hospital ak reading while she waited for him to finish work.


    And on that particr day, she had run into someone. She was in a hurry, and so was he. Before either could react, they crashed into each other with a heavy impact.


    A stack of papers she had just printed scattered across the floor. She didn''t even have time to see who she''d hit.


    She quickly apologized and bent down to pick up the papers.


    She felt the other person kneel down as well. She saw a pair of long, clean hands helping her. On the veryst sheet of paper, her hand reached out just as his closed over it-