Eleanor looked up at him, not forgetting that he had sent someone to secretly photograph her with Joel and had even confronted her about itte at night.


    "So, you really thought Joel and I were dating back then?" Eleanor asked, resting her chin on her hand.


    "Then you tell me, why did Joel give up a promising career at a topb in Montir toe back for you?"n retorted sharply.


    Eleanor brushed her bangs from her forehead, unable to exin. She couldn''t help but ask, "You investigated Joel?"


    "Completely,"n admitted freely. "But there was one thing I did wrong."


    "What?" Eleanor frowned at him.


    "Joel repeatedly reminded me of your abilities, but I ignored him. If I had known how capable you were sooner, I wouldn''t have let Professor Langley kick you off the team,"n said, his voiceced with regret. A bitter mix of regret and longing swirled in his chest, a weight he couldn''t shake off.


    "I was too hostile toward Joel. If I had taken his warnings seriously and recognized your talent and potential earlier, perhaps you wouldn''t have been wronged, and you wouldn''t have had to work so hard to graduate early just to prove yourself."n paused. "The whole thing was my fault."


    Eleanor listened in silence. That period had indeed been difficult, a low point in her professional life. Being excluded from the team had turned her dreams and achievements into a joke.


    "Was the ultimate goal of the team you had Professor Langley form to research leukemia?" Eleanor looked directly at him.


    Eleanor shifted her gaze out the window. "So, when I asked you if you were trying to save Vanessa, you didn''t answer me."


    It was precisely his silence that had led Eleanor to believe he intended to use her mother''s donor material to save Vanessa, which had nearly driven her mad with anger.


    "I''m sorry. At the time, I-I couldn''t tell you," fan said, his voice low and hoarse He couldn''t possibly have answered her then. The ultimate goal of the entire team he had


    assembled was to save her


    He hadn''t considered Eleanor''s situation. With several of hispanies undergoing major transitions, he had assumed she would return to family life after being excluded from the team.


    But he never expected her to take elerated exams and hand him divorce papers.


    He could have given her anything she wanted.


    But by then, what he wanted to give was no longer what she desired.


    The sunlight streamed through the ss. Lost in her memories, Eleanor''s expression grew distant. Most of the time, she liked to see things her own way.


    So, ack ofmunication had been their biggest problem.


    Only now did she learn that the ultimate purpose of that exorbitantly expensive research project had been to save her own life.


    "In the end, your achievements showed me that the most brilliant person on that research team wasn''t Joel. It was you,"n said with a bitter smile. "I was so stupid. After going in a huge circle, I found out the genius researcher was looking for was you all along."


    Having been part of the whole affair, Eleanor could see how things made sense when viewed from a different perspective.


    A bitter feeling washed over her. It was as if fate had been ying a cruel joke on them. Right and wrong were hard to judge now. He had his own constrants and considerations, and she had endured a very real pain.


    "Let''s eat," Eleanor said, looking up. The food had grown a little cold.<pn nodded. He reached out and ced a piece of shrimp on Eleanor''s te. "Your favorite."